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00:00En diciembre de 1944, la Unión Soviética se lanzó un gran ataque armado contra las fuerzas alegrías en el fronte del norte.
00:10Sabíamos que estaban llegando.
00:13Decidimos que se vayan a buscar los russos.
00:17Los soviéticos se lanzan una vez vez vez vez de de de de de de los alegrados.
00:21En el soviétismo, hay 1,580 tanks en el solgán.
00:27Los soviéticos se lanzan una vez vez vez de de de de de los alegrados.
00:34Los alegrados, los alegrados se luchan desperadamente a los soviéticos.
00:40Los alegrados de los alegrados se llaman contra 2,000 soviéticos.
00:46Esto es algo que nunca me olvidaré en mi vida.
00:51En algunas de las guerras más armonas armadas de la guerra,
00:54Red Army and German tanks clash in the battle for the Baltics.
00:58Ergados, los alegrados, los alegrados, los alegrados, los alegrados.
01:03LOS de Tierra
01:05De 1998
01:07Alguien de 1943
01:09¡Gracias!
01:39¡Gracias!
02:09¡Gracias!
02:11It was a turning point for the Red Army.
02:17In the fall of 1943, the Soviets prepare a massive offensive
02:21to drive the German invaders from the Russian motherland once and for all.
02:27Their plan, attack all along the Eastern Front
02:30with overwhelming numbers of men and machines.
02:34In the north, the Soviets will advance through the Baltic states
02:37and push into Germany through East Prussia.
02:42And on January 14, 1944, the Red Army attacks.
02:59For the Baltic campaign, the Soviets field three entire army groups
03:03composed of 1.2 million troops.
03:07Thousands of heavy guns.
03:09And a staggering 1,500 tanks.
03:15The main strength of the Russian Army Corps was always the mass.
03:18The Russians always formed waves of tanks
03:21and sent them forward as a huge group, as a blunt instrument.
03:26The mainstay of the Soviet Armored Corps is the T-34 medium tank.
03:42Weighing 30 tons and equipped with a 76-millimeter main cannon
03:46and 45 millimeters of sloping frontal armor.
03:49The T-34 provides a perfect balance of firepower, protection and maneuverability.
03:55When the Soviet Army started offensive, the superiority was so gigantic, the German units had no chance.
04:08The Germans had to retreat to a line backwards, the so-called Panther Line.
04:17To defend the Panther Line, the Germans can only muster 600,000 troops, a few thousand artillery guns, and less than 200 operational tanks and assault guns.
04:29The Germans scramble to reinforce the line with all of their remaining tanks, but the rapidly advancing Red Army outflanks them.
04:41The Soviets punch through the line, creating a bridgehead 15 kilometers deep on the west bank of the Narva River.
04:47Now, they threaten the flank of German Army Group North and the vital rail link that supplies it.
04:55Before the main attack, an advanced column of T-34s probed German lines in a sector defended by two mobile anti-tank guns.
05:04We were standing guard in, I think it was near Kinderheim, that area, Alvere.
05:12We were just standing by the artillery, of course, always shot at us from a distance.
05:19We were told, be on the lookout for Russian tanks.
05:24We knew they were coming, because there were some infantry people in front of us,
05:29and they radioed back that there are noises in the woods.
05:34It sounds like tanks.
05:40We couldn't see exactly, you know, because we're still in the shadow of those trees.
05:45It didn't keep my eyes off my telescope the whole time.
05:51Then finally, I saw something moving there.
05:57Sure enough, that's where the Russians came out.
06:03And I told the commander, he just said, foyer frei.
06:08Okay, shoot.
06:10The Sturmgeschütz is a mobile tank destroyer.
06:16With its low silhouette and high velocity 75-millimeter main gun,
06:21the Stug is the deadliest anti-tank weapon in the German armory.
06:25And by 1944, they have destroyed 20,000 Red Army tanks.
06:32The first one, it hit, but it didn't do any damage.
06:36As soon as you shoot the loader, he puts a grenade in right away.
06:44He's ready.
06:45I knew the distance.
06:46All I had to do is turn it a degree or two, you know, and shoot again.
06:52And we knocked it out.
06:54One after the other came out.
06:58They had 10 tanks.
07:01They shot, but they missed.
07:04It's like they didn't know what to do.
07:10This was a common saying in the German army.
07:13Don't worry about the Russians.
07:14They always missed the first shot.
07:19Our buddy next to us, it was about 100 yards from us.
07:23And he knocked out two.
07:26The third one, I think, started to move back already when I shot it.
07:33And the fourth one was farther back already, but I still hit it.
07:45And then one took off.
07:48Our buddy chased him.
07:50He knocked him out.
07:57The others, they all disappeared.
08:03We shot six down.
08:05And where they didn't hit one of us.
08:08They were too slow.
08:11We're just faster and better.
08:13I told my commander, I said, I was lucky, I said, that I hit them all.
08:22He said, you were not lucky.
08:24You were trained to hit them all for the first time with the first shot.
08:28They're superior gunnery skills leave the two Stoogs in sole possession of the battlefield.
08:37But the victory is short lived.
08:40Now the fighting gets even deadlier.
08:43The Germans, desperate to stop the swarming T-34s, throw their most powerful weapon into the fight.
08:48The massive 57-ton Tiger tank.
08:56January 1944.
08:59The Soviet Union launches a major offensive against Hitler's forces on the Eastern Front.
09:04In the north, they attack the Panther Line, where battle-hardened but heavily outnumbered Germans struggle to fend off the attacks.
09:17I told my commander, I was lucky.
09:19I said that I hit them all.
09:20He said, you were not lucky.
09:22You were trained to hit them all the first time with the first shot.
09:26After weeks of fighting, the Soviets create a small bridgehead on the German southern flank.
09:37Now they plan to push north to the Baltic Sea, encircling Hitler's army group north.
09:45But they must attack before the spring thaw turns the frozen ground to mud, slowing the tanks.
09:56By mid-March, they have assembled a massive tank force that the Germans cannot hope to match.
10:04In 1944, on the German side, there were only 16 tanks and 109 assault guns.
10:15And on the Soviet side, 1,580 tanks and assault guns.
10:21Outgunned and outnumbered, the German high command sends in one of their best tank commanders.
10:29Lieutenant General Hyacinth Strachwitz von Großsauch.
10:34Strachwitz was known to be a Panzer General.
10:38He was the best tank general.
10:41He was a Graf, of course a Count, you know.
10:44But he was very well liked and he was a smart man.
10:48Strachwitz quickly strengthens anti-tank defenses on the Panther line,
10:54but has a bigger problem, keeping the vital supply lines open.
10:59German army has not enough vehicles.
11:05The problem for German army was also the fuel, because they had not enough fuel anymore.
11:12It should be an easy victory for the well-supplied Red Army, but Strachwitz has one big advantage.
11:23An elite panzer unit he can deploy to critical parts of the front.
11:27The most famous tank unit perhaps on German side on Narva Front was the heavy tank battalion number 502.
11:41The star of the 502nd is Otto Karius, who has turned it into one of the deadliest tank units in the German army.
11:48And on March 17th, 1944, the 502nd scrambles to head off Red Army tanks at a vital crossroads held by German infantry.
12:01Karius and fellow tank ace Albert Kirscher arrived just as the Soviets unleash a punishing artillery barrage.
12:15The Russians shot with every available weapon.
12:22The entire sector was covered with such a barrage that we thought all hell had broken loose.
12:29A sea of fire, constant shooting, constant explosions.
12:37The sound was intense to the point of blocking your hearing.
12:43The Soviet barrage lifts and swarms of T-34s rush forward.
12:54Nothing stands between them and their objective except Karius and Kirscher in two of the deadliest tanks of the Second World War.
13:03The 57-ton Tiger was developed to counter the T-34.
13:09It carries a powerful 88-millimeter main gun and with 100 millimeters of protective armor is all but impervious to T-34 fire.
13:19Karius sends Kirscher out into the open, directly in the gun sights of the advancing T-34s.
13:30It was clear that they were pushing north with strong forces in order to roll up our bridgehead at Narva.
13:36T-34s were already closing at full speed.
13:43T-34s were already closing at full speed.
13:50T-34s were already closing at full speed.
13:55T-34s were already closing at full speed.
14:00One of the most decisive factors was the radio.
14:06The Germans were very keen on getting every tank equipped with the radio and therefore they were able to maneuver very flexible on the battlefield.
14:15They were able to communicate on the battlefield and therefore they were able to toy with the Russian troops.
14:20I was able to notify Kirscher just in time. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
14:41Kirscher turned into a bomb crater and didn't come out.
14:47As the Soviets press their attack, Kirscher targets tank after tank with his 88-millimeter gun.
14:56You always have to try to hit between the turret and the main body.
15:01And this is where you can do the most damage.
15:11The remaining T-34s didn't even get to fire.
15:20They probably also didn't have a clue as to who knocked them out and from where.
15:24The attack at the crossroads fails.
15:38And all across the Baltic front, the Red Army offensive bogs down in the spring thaw.
15:43The Soviets now build up a force of more than a million men for a summer offensive.
15:54One they hope will crush the German invaders once and for all.
15:58Through the winter of 1944, heavily outnumbered German forces defend the Panther Line.
16:11Against repeated Red Army attempts to break through and push north to the Baltic Sea.
16:15A sea of fire, constant shooting, constant explosions.
16:31You got to a position where you personally just hated the Russians and tried to kill as many as you can.
16:39Because if you didn't do that, they would kill you.
16:41The coming spring thaw will make it hard for tanks to maneuver.
16:47The fighting dies down, leaving battlefields along the Panther Line littered with the hulks of destroyed tanks.
16:57Today, in the forests of Estonia, historians still find stark reminders of those deadly months.
17:03This whole forest is sitting on the remains of a battle.
17:10This is a Russian infantry mine from the Second World War.
17:23During that time, there were so many battles here, that metal is pretty much everywhere.
17:32You're looking at the side armor of a T-34, the most famous type of Soviet tank from the Second World War.
17:48If you walk around here, you'll discover craters all over.
17:58The battles that raged down here were very cruel, and the losses were huge.
18:03But the Red Army will not be deterred, and in the spring of 1944, the Soviets gear up for a massive summer offensive.
18:22Key to its success are the weapons factories that produce hundreds of new tanks every day.
18:35The German Reich had no chance to win the war, because modern wars were not won on the battlefield, but in the factories.
18:49The German Reich produced, in the Second World War, only 25,000 million battle tanks.
18:56By late spring, the Soviets have assembled over 1.2 million troops and 2,500 tanks, aiming to finally drive the stubborn Germans out of the Baltic states.
19:19And on June 22, 1944, the third anniversary of Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the offensive begins.
19:32In just a few weeks, four army groups advance through Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, squeezing the Germans back towards the Baltic Sea.
19:52On the southern flank, the Soviets push almost 200 kilometers towards the Gulf of Riga.
20:04The scale and intensity of the million-man onslaught overwhelms the Germans.
20:09They were attacked everywhere and from all sides.
20:19Wherever they went, they were beaten. From all sides.
20:30They were attacked so badly, they were at a loss about what to do next.
20:36The Red Army were moving their units like a steam roller.
20:54After this battle, the Germans were turned around like a wheel.
20:58They're massively outnumbered and retreating all along the Baltic front.
21:09Hitler orders commanders to counterattack at once.
21:13And German tanks venture out on near-suicide missions to surprise,
21:18and with luck, slow the Red Army juggernauts.
21:20In this whole army, there were panzer divisions, which normally had 120 to 140 tanks in 1941,
21:32which were starting a day with 9 or 12 tanks.
21:37What was left over were like firefighters.
21:40They were sent from one crisis to the other crisis.
21:42The only chance of the superior German tank units was to create surprising situations.
21:56And Otto Karius is a master of surprise.
22:00When spotters report Soviet tanks in a village near the front line,
22:04he rounds up eight Tiger tanks and moves out.
22:07We are completely on our own.
22:11Somewhere in the valley was a village in which there were already Russian tanks.
22:17The village was called Malinavar.
22:20It would be too dangerous for us to attack online.
22:25We have to get through this without losses, if at all possible.
22:29This tank battalion was the only one of the Army Group North within a frontage of, at that time, about 800 kilometers.
22:43Only one against about 2,000 Soviet tanks.
22:47Karius comes up with a daring plan. One he hopes will flush any hidden tanks in Malinavar into the open.
23:05Two tanks will drive into the village at high speed and surprise Ivan.
23:09He must not be allowed to fire a shot.
23:11I will lead and both of us will advance to the center of the village as quickly as possible.
23:21He could make an ambush and then use the moment of surprise.
23:27That was the greatest advantage, the moment of surprise.
23:30Each of us knew at that point that only speed was decisive.
23:43Speed was decisive.
23:52Kersher noticed that the turrets of both Russian tanks were moving.
23:58He immediately stopped.
24:03And knocked out both of them.
24:04He moves farther into the village and comes up against a chilling and fearsome sight.
24:15He radioed and pointed to the right.
24:18We were startled for a moment.
24:21We thought we had a king tiger in front of us that had been captured by the Russians.
24:26But it's not a king tiger.
24:29It's the Red Army's newest and biggest killing machine.
24:33A monster tank designed specifically to smash Karius and his tigers to smithereens.
24:44The Eastern Front, 1944.
24:46For seven months, German and Soviet forces have been battling for control of the Baltic states.
24:52In July, the Red Army continues its million man offensive against the heavily outnumbered Germans.
24:59In southern Latvia, German tank ace Otto Karius leads an attack on Soviet tanks in the Latvian village of Malinawa.
25:08He could make an ambush and then use the moment of surprise.
25:15That was the greatest advantage, the moment of surprise.
25:17But in the village, Karius and fellow tank ace Albert Kersher get a surprise of their own when they come face to face with a monster tank.
25:29We thought for a moment that we had a king tiger in front of us that had been captured by the Russians.
25:36What the Germans have encountered is the JS-2 heavy tank.
25:39Named for Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, the JS-2 is the Red Army's answer to Germany's tiger and panther tanks.
25:51It's protected by 120 millimeters of frontal armor and its 122 millimeter main cannon is powerful enough to destroy a tiger.
26:00We were startled for a moment. After I initially hesitated, I fired and the tank burst into flames.
26:17At the edge of the village, the Germans surprise an entire unit of JS-2s in a rest area.
26:29Karius and Kersher have only moments before the Soviet crews reach their tanks.
26:34But the outnumbered Germans quickly discover a critical flaw in the JS-2s.
26:47He had to bring the gun all the way down to make it level in order for the guy to put the cartridge in.
26:55And then he had to readjust it in order to shoot it. So there was a time lapse in between.
27:01The slow loading Soviet tanks can't compete with the rapid firing tigers.
27:18Only two Russian tanks tried to flee to the east. None of the others found any opportunity to move.
27:26It's all over in less than 15 minutes.
27:29Karius and Kersher destroy more than 20 Soviet tanks in one of the most audacious armored engagements of the war.
27:38But the bigger picture remains unchanged. The Germans can't stop the Red Army's Baltic offensive.
27:44He was battered. And we continued to hit and hit until death. Everywhere.
27:53Through July of 1944, the German front line continues to crumble.
28:04The Red Army captures Vilnius and presses on to the frontier with East Prussia, part of a German fatherland.
28:10We could not afford to lose cloud.
28:20We have to stop them because it's gonna be worse if they take over Germany.
28:24As the Red Army nears the East Prussian border, Rudolf Salvermoser's unit is sent on a dangerous reconnaissance mission.
28:37We were the lead tank of that reconnaissance.
28:45We were supposed to find out where the Russians are and then defend that hill and see what damage we can do to them.
28:52We were behind a hill. It was more like a hill like this here. All you do is go enough that he can see out, you know, over the hill.
29:06And then he said, keep on going to the bush. And I tried to tell him, Sergeant, they'll see us.
29:12Then Salvermoser spots an enemy target.
29:18I saw the T-34. He was heading right into the woods. He was almost at the woods.
29:27I was shooting this way at 11 o'clock. And Sunday was about 4. I guess in the afternoon, the sun was shining.
29:36Your eyes are trained when you have these good optics.
29:42I shot, and as I shot, this flash came.
29:49I hollered, watch out.
29:56After seven months of bitter fighting, the Red Army has smashed through German positions.
30:02And by August is only days away from crossing the German frontier and invading the fatherland.
30:07German commanders, urgently needing intelligence on Soviet troop movements, dispatch a unit of Stug assault guns to find and attack lead elements of the Soviet thrust.
30:20We were supposed to find out where the Russians are and then defend that hill and see what damage we can do to them.
30:27I saw the T-34. He was almost at the woods. I shot. And as I shot, this flash came.
30:42When I saw that flash, I saw the tank too. And I hollered, pass off. Watch out.
30:51It hit us.
30:55I came through when I was kneeling behind the tank. And I must have sensed that my arms hurt, because they were all burned, and of course my face was burned.
31:09People say, that's impossible. I swear to that. That's what happened.
31:16I had sometimes nightmares about that later, you know, just thinking about it. What would have happened if they would have knocked me out? I would have been a goner.
31:28This is something I never forget in my life.
31:51All across the front lines, the Red Army pounds the depleted German forces.
31:58The Soviets constantly bring up reinforcements and grow stronger by the day, while the Germans get weaker.
32:08It is clear that they cannot hold out much longer.
32:21By late July, the Red Army has almost completely surrounded German Army Group North.
32:27Elements of a Soviet 1st Baltic Front drive towards the Gulf of Riga, tightening the noose.
32:34I fought the rest of the war in the Baltics, and I participated in a very interesting raid.
32:40Our goal was to advance with a lot more strength.
32:50They gave us a division of Katyushas, a heavy tank regiment and other things.
32:57With that, we would break through the front lines and advance to the Gulf of Riga.
33:13The end result was that we trapped the Germans in the northern Riga, in Tallinn and Estonia.
33:34It was located in Riga, in Tallinn, in Estonia, and in this place, we cut them out.
33:44July 30th, 1944.
33:47The Red Army reaches the Gulf of Riga, encircling 30 German divisions,
33:52and ending Hitler's last lingering hope for a turnaround in the fighting on the Eastern Front.
33:57Among us friends, we said, it doesn't look too good.
34:02The Germans are rapidly running out of ammunition, fuel, and food.
34:08It looks like another Stalingrad.
34:11But this time, a half a million are trapped.
34:14And everybody said, well, maybe they are going to pull us out.
34:19Maybe somebody is going to come and save us.
34:21The Germans again call on General Hyacinth Strachwitz.
34:27He is given a near impossible task.
34:30Punch his way through Red Army lines and create an escape route.
34:35With only ten tanks and a few days to do it,
34:39the fate of 500,000 men lies in his hands.
34:43Everybody was pretty well aware that that was a dead man's job.
35:00August 1944.
35:03The once mighty German army fights a desperate battle
35:07to prevent its annihilation in the Baltics.
35:09You got to a position where you personally just hated the Russians
35:16and tried to kill as many as you can,
35:18because if you didn't do that, they would kill you.
35:21Hitler's Army Group North is surrounded by Soviet fighters
35:26who are intent on their complete and utter destruction.
35:29They attacked us.
35:31They murdered our people.
35:32I was only in one mood.
35:35To kill as many Germans as possible.
35:3930 German divisions, a half million troops face another Stalingrad.
35:43With only two options, surrender or die.
35:46Unless they can somehow find a way to escape.
35:48That perilous task falls to Tank General Heisenberg.
35:50Heisenberg.
35:5230 German divisions, a half million troops face another Stalingrad.
35:57With only two options, surrender or die.
36:01Unless they can somehow find a way to escape.
36:04That perilous task falls to Tank General Hyacinth Strachwitz,
36:17who looks for an escape route near the Gulf of Riga,
36:20where intelligence suggests Soviet defenses are weakest.
36:23On August 21st, Strachwitz leads a scouting force of just 10 Tiger tanks.
36:45Slipping through Red Army lines,
36:48he approaches the Latvian town of Tukums, not far from the Gulf.
36:51Tukums bristles with Soviet armor.
36:59T-34 tanks, at least 50 of them, are lined up in the center of town.
37:05If Strachwitz can get rid of them, an escape route will be open.
37:10Strachwitz was a bold daredevil,
37:13and the German officers were allowed to change the mission.
37:19If the situation changed.
37:25They had nearly no infantry, they had no artillery,
37:30and so the Navy had to play the role of artillery.
37:35Strachwitz and his staff had radio communication with the Navy,
37:50and so they could make a good correlation, fire and maneuver.
37:55Hoping to neutralize the Soviet armor before their crews can react to his attack,
38:07Strachwitz feeds their coordinates to a German naval flotilla in the nearby Gulf of Riga.
38:11It was the very first time that a unit was supported by the fire of the Navy.
38:28The naval guns fire from 30 kilometers away, each shell taking over a minute to hit.
38:45The bombardment is lethal and intense.
38:46When it ends, Strachwitz and his Tigers charge into tucums,
38:51and finish off the few enemy tanks that try to escape.
38:54And when the smoke clears, every T-34 is destroyed.
39:11Strachwitz's daring raid punches a hole in Soviet lines, opening an escape route for the battered soldiers of Army Group North.
39:29If you ask me today how did you do it, I don't know.
39:40You didn't mutiny and you didn't chicken out.
39:45You are in it for the bitter end.
39:50500,000 men break out of the Soviet encirclement and retreat west through the Strachwitz corridor.
39:56And Hitler is spared another Stalingrad.
40:01But the massive withdrawal marks the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
40:19The Red Army pursues the Germans all the way to Berlin.
40:29And in May of 1945, the city is captured.
40:35Survivors of the fierce Baltic fighting look back on it now and ask what was achieved by the appalling death and destruction.
40:42We were thinking we are fighting for our fatherland.
40:45We really believed it.
40:50We were so brainwashed that we always believed in the end Sieg, the final victory.
41:05When you look back, it seems silly, but when you believe, you fight for it.
41:17I remember my friends who have passed away.
41:26I always remember them.
41:29May they rest in peace.
41:34We wanted to win it.
41:47That's all.
41:49To get rid of that insane Hitler saga.
41:53The cost of the Baltic's campaign on both sides is enormous.
42:01With each side losing hundreds of thousands of men.
42:10Across the three Baltic states, civilians died by the thousands.
42:15Their homes destroyed and their properties blighted by the wreckage of war.
42:20Remnants of these bloody encounters still litter the Estonian countryside.
42:25In 2000, historians pulled a massive wartime relic from a small lake near Narva on the Russian frontier.
42:33An entire Soviet T-34 tank.
42:37One of just a handful ever recovered in such good condition.
42:42This tank was very unique since it had German crosses on it.
42:46At some point, the tank was captured by Germans.
42:54When the Germans started moving back, they just sank this tank.
43:00This history is a real history that we want to preserve.
43:08Make a museum and make sure that all these things are displayed there.
43:14In 1944, the battles were horrendous.
43:21A lot of people died.
43:24Pretty much everyone around here lost someone.
43:27They live in the Estonians.
43:28They died here.
43:29They died.
43:30It's a huge waste of time.
43:31They died here.
43:32¡Suscríbete al canal!
44:02Gracias por ver el video.
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