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00:00Western Russia 1943 vast German and Soviet armies clash in history's greatest and deadliest tank
00:10battle the earth was trembling as if there was a huge earthquake 2,500 German panzers and assault
00:19guns face more than 5,000 Soviet tanks by the time it's over the casualties will reach more
00:25than 200,000 the gunners told me later that all they saw were grey wars they were just firing and firing
00:36their earth and sky were burning this is the bloody battle of Kursk
00:47tanks were on top of tanks
00:52soldiers on soldiers sheer terror
01:22July 5th 1943 day one of Hitler's operation citadel more than 800 German tanks roll across the Russian
01:34plain towards the town of course waiting for them are the Soviets defending their homeland with the
01:40biggest tank army ever assembled this is Hitler's final attempt at turning the tide of war on the eastern
01:51front a war that for the last several months has been going very badly for the Germans
01:58since their disastrous defeat at Stalingrad in February of 1943 Soviet forces have been relentlessly
02:13battering the Germans forcing them into a 180 mile fighting retreat back towards Germany by the end of
02:23the winter the German army on the eastern front is shattered and teeters on the brink of destruction
02:28but Hitler is determined to reclaim the initiative in the east and he makes plans for a massive counter offensive
02:41his plan is to launch a large-scale pincer maneuver to cut off the Soviet held salient centered on the industrial town of course the goal encircle and destroy the half-million Soviet forces in the course bulge
02:56but the battlefield is huge 200 kilometers long and 150 kilometers deep most of it rolling farmland in the wide-open spaces of the fabled Russian steppes it's ideal for tank warfare
03:15it's a formidable objective and over the spring and early summer the Germans amassed two entire army groups
03:24780,000 men close to 10,000 guns and 2,500 tanks an immense force that will shake mother Russia to the core
03:36but this build-up has not gone unnoticed and as the Germans prepare for operation citadel so do the soviets
03:46now the enemy is gathering its massive power he wants to gain revenge for their defeat in Stalingrad so our commanders decided to regroup in the spring and regroup us in preparation for defense
04:00to meet the impending German attack the Soviets build up almost 2 million men 25,000 guns and more than 5,000 tanks and all across the course salient they dig in
04:26we had several lines stretching about 300 kilometers of salt along the front
04:33and the earth was so dug up we had about 400 kilometers of trenches
04:41the army and civilians did that working on making anti-tank beaches which tanks would not be able to get out of
04:55and also in the places where the tanks were in danger of getting through we made minefields and that wasn't just in one place it was almost along the entire length of the defensive lines
05:07we had anti-tank guns and they were amazing and of course tanks
05:14the backbone of the soviet armored core is the t-34 medium tank with a 76 millimeter main cannon and 47 millimeters of sloping frontal armor the 31 ton t-34 has a deadly balance of firepower protection and mobility
05:33by the summer of 1943 soviet factories have produced tens of thousands of them and all across the kursk salient the t-34s move into position
05:48july 5th 1943
05:55after three months of preparation the germans are finally ready for their attack
06:00one hour before operation citadel is to begin soviet gunners unleash a massive artillery attack on german positions
06:08all of a sudden such a huge noise started you could go deaf from it the earth was trembling as if there was a huge earthquake
06:27the germans were astounded
06:33they never expected this from Russia
06:38as it was dusk
06:41as it was dusk it looked like firework
06:47when the stalen orgel exploded the barrage was so intense it actually destroyed the position
07:02this caused lots of casualties right from the beginning
07:04but something must have happened
07:07as it was impossible for the Russians to figure the time of the attack
07:11exactly one hour prior to the planned attack
07:15but the soviets knew the time of the attack to the minute
07:19they captured a team of german sappers who revealed it under interrogation
07:22the artillery barrage causes chaos in german lines and delays the launch of operation citadel
07:34but only for one hour
07:38shortly after dawn the germans attack
07:40the germans attack
07:43the masses of tanks about five six hundred were coming
07:47a horrid amount of tanks
07:53the german tanks were advancing towards us
07:56each tank carried twenty to thirty devils
08:00and all of them were drunk like shoemakers
08:02and that's when all hell broke loose
08:04and that's when all hell broke loose
08:13the earth and sky were burning
08:16tanks were on top of tanks
08:19soldiers on soldiers
08:21armageddon
08:22but we kept our word
08:31no backing away
08:33not even a step
08:35for stalin
08:39by the end of the day
08:41the germans have made only modest inroads
08:43into the vast network of soviet defenses
08:45along the korsk salient
08:46in the south the german fourth armies panzers advance only twenty kilometers
08:57while in the north the ninth army has fared even worse
09:01with gains of only ten kilometers
09:03at a cost of dozens of tanks
09:05and more than one thousand men
09:07so far operation citadel is going nowhere
09:12and now soviet forces along the northern shoulder of the course bulge
09:15prepared a counter-attack
09:17the course bulge prepared a counter-attack
09:40100 tanks from the brigade moved forward
09:42can you imagine a field an open field and you are driving towards each other
09:47whoever gets whomever first
09:49against whomever first
10:05the enemy position had fifty sixty tanks
10:08and in front of us we counted seventeen tigers
10:10seventeen tigers
10:21the tiger is the german armies biggest tank
10:24encased in over one hundred millimeters of armor
10:26it is practically impervious to frontal attack
10:29but it is the tiger's eighty eight millimeter cannon
10:31with a range of more than two kilometers
10:33that makes it the deadliest weapon on the course battlefield
10:38and the horrible epic battle began half of our tanks were lightweight
10:39and the horrible epic battle began half of our tanks were lightweight
10:40and the horrible epic battle began half of our tanks were lightweight
10:42and the horrible epic battle began half of our tanks were lightweight
10:47they ran on gas and they would burn up like candles
10:54and the horrible epic battle began half of our tanks were lightweight
11:03they ran on gas and they would burn up like candles
11:11I'm sorry but here you can't tell friend from
11:18I came out of the bushes from the battle and behind me the Tigers were close
11:27so I fired about two times at a time
11:57but we do our tank had 76 millimeter gun it didn't penetrate their tank
12:08that's what our anti-tank unit was close by and they finished him
12:15we began destroying each other
12:24we had huge losses but the enemy had huge losses too
12:39the Germans would come this way about four or five times
12:43my lead was open so I could look out and find the target
12:50and in jumps the commander of my battalion his tongue got hit and it burned out
13:03enemy infantry surrounded him so he decided to hide in my
13:07and as soon as he jumps into my tank I get hit
13:16his head is just ripped off
13:22I was drenched in blood his brain everything was all over me
13:31as soon as you see the anti-tank gun pointed towards you as soon as you can
13:45just shoot and get him or else you die
13:50and I ran over all of them along with their entire crew
14:05and that's the kind of hell it was on July 6
14:09in less than two days of fighting tens of thousands of men die on both sides and the
14:15hulks of hundreds of tanks lie in the burning fields around kursk
14:21and it's only the beginning the Germans now prepare to strike again
14:25their target the small rural village of punnery
14:28a quiet railway stop that is about to become ground zero
14:32in one of the bloodiest battles of the second world war
14:45july 5th 1943 in an effort to change their fortunes on the eastern front
14:51the Germans launch a massive armored offensive against soviet defenses on the plains of western russia
15:02the objective of operation citadel is to encircle and destroy soviet forces
15:10in the bulge around the industrial town of course
15:20the soviets put up a stubborn defense against the advancing panzers
15:24there are heavy losses on both sides and by the end of the second day the germans have made only modest gains
15:32soviet now more than a day behind schedule and determined to take course field marshal walter
15:38modell launches a new assault his target the railway town of paunnery
15:45is on the main line between a rail and course making it a central collection
16:02and distribution point for farms in the area
16:06if modal and his ninth army are to take course they must first take paunnery
16:10but soviet field marshal konstantin rokosovsky knows the strategic value of the town he digs in
16:21with a massive force of tanks and guns and lays thousands of mines little paunnery station now
16:27becomes the most heavily fortified point along the entire korsk salient
16:31through this field right here with the forest as a backdrop the german tanks were moving toward us
16:39where we're standing right now behind the enemy tanks the infantry march against the soldiers
16:45sitting here in these trenches
16:50when rokosovsky was preparing for this battle he ordered the creation of three lines of defense
16:56all three lines of the fence were deeply saturated with troops within each many ropes of trenches it had
17:03a defense line of sharp iron spikes and of course in between of the trenches and iron spike fences lay
17:11many many many the artillery and tanks were dug into the earth this front of us is a dug out where
17:25tanks would be burned such dug outs we would call caponira it contains three sharp walls and one flat
17:34entrance the tank would drive into it so that its turret and main tank gun were level with the earth
17:44the tank itself would be a lethal weapon against the enemy and this particular territory found itself
17:52the very epicenter of the battle the germans and soviets engage in a vicious seesaw battle for control
18:03of paunnery the town changes hands five times in a single day the germans send wave after wave of panzers
18:11into the fight many are destroyed by mines t-34s and anti-tank guns on july 9th the germans attack northeast of
18:20the village striking soviet positions on high ground designated on their maps as hill 253.5
18:28our division the storm geschütze 177 adjoined the others on july 9th
18:39we were supposed to attack a hill that was occupied by the enemy we used assault guns infantry and one unit of
18:47brand new ferdinand tank destroyers the ferdinand is germany's newest self-propelled gun never before
18:53used in battle is a 65 ton monster with 200 millimeters of protective armor plating and twin 300 horsepower
19:01engines that move it along at 30 kilometers an hour but his most dangerous feature is its six meter long
19:09and high velocity 88 millimeter cannon and we had big hopes for these tanks which were able to shoot
19:15with their 88 millimeter cannons at a distance of 3200 yards
19:26the ferdinand could not handle the ascent of the hill
19:28we thought they had got hit by artillery but after they caught fire one after the other we assumed that
19:38the engines were overheated and exploded the crews got out and ran away and once again we depended on the
19:47storm geschütze
19:48the germans most widely produced assault gun is the storm geschütze or stug built on a panzer 3
19:59chassis the turretless stug is armed with high velocity 75 millimeter cannon and is germany's most successful tank destroyer
20:18the attack started and we drove across a mine field up the hill
20:36the russian artillery the russian artillery was attacking us like hell
20:52our commander was standing in the hatch to show us that we have to spread out
20:56and he got hit and was killed
21:15one of the tanks got hit on one of the tracks and the track flew off
21:19the russian artillery was on the ground
21:25although they lose more than half of their stugs the german advance breaks through rokasovsky's first line of defense
21:34the fourth of the across the first row of digits one took the second row of digits and the russians retreat
21:49and then there was a very narrow turn and immediately behind it there was a russian anti-tank gun
21:59those who managed to escape were shot by the infantry
22:22shortly behind the next turn
22:24there was another anti-tank gun
22:31we could not react that fast
22:36all i could call out the driver was hit it full throttle
22:39july 9th 1943
22:51july 9th 1943
22:54the battle of kursk enters its fifth bloody day with the german ninth army still unable to penetrate the
22:59russian defenses in the northern sector
23:01the germans desperate to complete their drive to kursk launch an enormous armored assault
23:11on the strategically important town of paunery
23:14their goal seize the high ground northeast of the village known as hill 253.5
23:29we fought our way across the first row of ditches and took the second row of ditches
23:38and the russians retreated shortly behind the next turn
23:46there was another anti-tank gun
23:47and all i could call out to the driver was hit it full throttle
23:58we drove towards the anti-tank gun but managed to more or less crush it
24:13we managed to move forward quite far
24:15and the tank appeared in front of me a t-34 was approaching us fast
24:27and we fired the first shot with the anti-tank shell
24:30the shell bounced off and we were afraid that our shells might not have the power to destroy a tank at this distance
24:48the t-34's 47 millimeters of frontal armor is sloped at a 60 degree angle enabling it to deflect oncoming
24:56the shells and giving the equivalent of almost 75 millimeters of head-on armored protection
25:07but the tank had been shocked and moved side base
25:10we managed to shoot it in the side and it blew up right away
25:33our tank shells had the ability to punch through tanks
25:40they only exploded shortly after piercing the tank steel wall
25:48therefore the destruction of the tank and its crew was guaranteed
25:59by the end of the day the germans finally capture hill 253.5 taking heavy losses but inflicting worse
26:06on the soviet defenders who fight to the last man
26:22the german demons were aiming to have the soviets panic and leave
26:26but our soldiers with our general's command did not even shatter we were not afraid
26:41soldiers didn't think about putting their life to an end if they had to slide under a tank
26:48the strategy of the russian tank troops was to put it like this stubborn
27:03stubbornly they were attacking at the same spot over and over again
27:08although former attacks had been fended off and lots of tanks were standing on the field burning
27:14and the next wave followed and the next one no stepping back those were our orders
27:27before the battle each soldier each officer is the same
27:32forgive me but everyone wants to leave and when the enemy started their attack
27:36this is when the battle went on good boy everything in fire everything in smoke
27:44just like the old saying goes as thick as the smoke in a crematoid
27:50that's how it was
27:57there is a particular way of dealing with and battling tanks which is the same for all tanks
28:07everyone had a goal of letting the tank come as near as it could to you and shoot into the most
28:13vulnerable places on the tank there is no point in shooting into the head of the tank because it had
28:19about 100 150 millimeters of armor you always aim to destroy its size
28:33the enemy tank
28:36yeah i would shoot at the tanks with armor piercing shells
28:41i would see that i hit the jack
28:47but the missile itself bounced off and went upwards
28:50what in that time the enemy tank aimed at me and shot at me
29:03it's been six days since hitler's operation citadel began
29:21and his massive panzer armies have made only modest gains
29:37in the south the german fourth army spearheaded by three elite ss panzer divisions
29:42has penetrated just 50 kilometers into the kursk salient
29:46and in the north model's ninth army has advanced only 20 kilometers towards kursk
29:56in order to finally achieve a breakthrough model prepares for one final attack
30:00and commits all of his remaining reserves hoping to finally crack the stubborn russian defenses
30:06at ponery
30:09just like the old saying goes as thick as the smoke in a crematory that's how it was
30:21everyone had a goal of letting the tank come as near as it could to you and shoot into the most
30:26vulnerable places on the tank there is no point in shooting into the head of the tank
30:33because it had about 100 150 millimeters of armor you always aim to destroy its size
30:44i would shoot at the tanks with armor fixing shells
30:50i would see that i hit the jackpot
30:55but the missile itself bounced off and went upwards
31:03in that time the enemy tank aimed at me shot at me but didn't get
31:16i managed to hide in the bushes if i hadn't i would have been destroyed
31:33so i came out and i was behind a burning katyusha rocket launcher
31:51i hit behind i stopped and i held my fire
31:55and then i shot and got the tank in the side armor you see the entire crew jump out
32:10once the tank was down and burning the german tankers would climb out and we would react right away
32:26we'd kill them so there the tank would be burning and beside lay three to four dead bodies of german
32:34devils
32:47after almost a week of intense fighting the germans are exhausted and battered and they haven't even
32:52taken pottery but they've inflicted huge losses on the soviets who seem to have endless reserves of men
32:58and t-34s for the fight
33:04the tanks drove against each other and they were shooting everywhere
33:11the gunners told me later that all they saw were gray walls and they were just firing
33:16and fired
33:27during the combat my steering had been damaged
33:33we couldn't move forward and steer we had to drive backwards to steer instead
33:39and of course this was an immense handicap
33:47and so i decided to drive back and gave notice to the command post that i was returning to the garage
33:53while i was standing there at t-34 came at us at full speed
34:06and i managed to drive backwards and get in the firing position
34:17i shot the tank and it started burning right away
34:29i asked my comrades what had happened and they told me that the russian tanks managed to break into the
34:44weapons and reserve crew
34:45and now our tank battle started the likes of which had never been seen before
35:03and will not be experienced again anytime soon
35:05what bows and the rest of the germans on the northern front are experiencing is just the beginning of a
35:14massive russian counter-offensive one that will determine the outcome of the battle of course
35:20and will ultimately change the course of the second world war
35:24the battle of course enters its second bloody week the losses on both sides have been enormous
35:47eighty thousand men killed and more than two thousand tanks destroyed
35:51on the northern front the germans have lost 21 000 men and 50 percent of their armored strength
35:59they have no reserve forces left modal is no longer able to attack
36:07but despite even heavier losses the soviets are able to field more than 400 000 men 15 000 guns
36:14and almost 1400 tanks with these deep reserves they launch operation kutuzov
36:21we received reinforcements those units that were really out of shape from the battle
36:34and lost too many lives and equipment work we had a goal set for each division and regiment
36:46the rest of us went on forward with the attack
36:55that's when the enemy suffered heavy losses
36:57and we started a new operation it begins on july the 12th their aim is to smash through the largely undefended
37:15flank of modal's ninth army this attack marks the end of hitler's operation citadel and heralds the
37:22beginning of the russian summer offensive
37:33all of a sudden i was standing in a lower area surrounded by bushes and trees
37:40and was observing the enemy's flank after a while i noticed movement on the other side the tanks were
37:47approaching us
37:59then all of a sudden he heard the strange sound above us
38:05the germans are getting help from the air in a desperate bid to halt the soviet advance
38:10they throw everything they have into the battle including the battered remnants of their once
38:14formidable luftwaffe
38:21dive bombers were approaching us unexpectedly and attacking the russian tanks you look up and see
38:27that he is dropping the bomb you go inside the tank close the lid and wait to see if you blow up or not
38:43but when i came out of the tank i used to have supplies some extra stuff some extra armor
38:49none of it was there none of it was left like they say as plucked as a chicken the bombs hit the tanks
39:01the tanks fell into these craters and could not make it out
39:22i wanted to turn as i saw a russian tank in front of me a hundred meters away
39:42i headed backwards and all of a sudden we got stuck we had hit a stump and the tracks spun
39:49we were stuck and couldn't move forward
40:01i jumped out right away to check what was wrong and called out to my two crewmates as well
40:06with an axe we managed to chop up some logs and level the tank free
40:36then i just shot and it blew up
40:54the russian pressure goes stronger and stronger and we weren't able to hold the front
41:00the infantry had been sent out and from our stuq unit there were only three four or five left
41:13and so it was impossible to withstand the immense pressure of the enemy and stabilize the new position
41:18operation citadel germany's last eastern front offensive of the second world war
41:30is over the battle of korsk ends on july 13 1943 but the fighting goes on now it's the soviets on the
41:39offensive after the freeing of places where the german devils resided after our bombing and bombarding of those
41:57places all of his hiding spots all of his camps were ruined wrecked and defeated
42:11they begin a relentless pursuit and destruction of german forces that will continue all the way to berlin
42:17in eight days of fighting over 200 000 men are killed or wounded and nearly 3 000 tanks are destroyed
42:34the battlefield is littered with the dead and with the smoldering hulks of german and soviet tanks
42:40but the true cost of the battle cannot be measured just in terms of soldiers and tanks for the real price
42:51of war on the eastern front has been paid by every man woman and child i remember all the tragedy it was
43:00in what year in 1943 that's when the battle of course for me everything was destroyed there was nothing left
43:13that would hang our people everyone was dying what can you say
43:22the field the entire countryside was filled with dead soldiers
43:26everything was ruined
43:35from behind you could hear lots of screams help mama don't leave us here take us with you
43:46and i stopped and we loaded as many wounded men up on my tank as possible
43:50by one
43:55i encountered lots of terrible things
44:01what else can i tell you there is so much to put it all into words
44:08it was colossal you can describe it but it's lying everywhere
44:13no way but with our spirit we defended our motherland
44:30it's almost no need to be the only icky
44:32the air it's a big part but it was the blobs
44:33let's do this
44:34it's great
44:35it's nice to see you today
44:36it's very much to get us on the back of the road
44:37and we're going to be doing it
44:39we are going to get you to be able to get us on the back of the road
44:39it's great
44:40and if there is
44:45we see what else have they are going to be doing
44:45and we have to go to make sure
44:47over for you
44:49in the next few months
44:50it's a very simple
44:51and so
44:52it's a great
44:56it's perfect
44:57you
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