- 2 days ago
For educational purposes
The German army launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the East, with supreme confidence in its own superiority.
High Command was sure that victory would come as quickly and as easily as in France.
At the onset, the troops advanced rapidly and the Panzer forces under General Guderian were unbeatable.
There were, however, far more casualties and more wear-and-tear on equipment than anticipated.
The invading force got bogged down short of Moscow and the withdrawal from there was a severe psychological blow to the men.
When an extremely severe winter set in, morale sank further.
The soldiers were not equipped for such low temperatures and their guns and machinery could not cope. Hitler ordered his troops to stand firm.
The German army launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the East, with supreme confidence in its own superiority.
High Command was sure that victory would come as quickly and as easily as in France.
At the onset, the troops advanced rapidly and the Panzer forces under General Guderian were unbeatable.
There were, however, far more casualties and more wear-and-tear on equipment than anticipated.
The invading force got bogged down short of Moscow and the withdrawal from there was a severe psychological blow to the men.
When an extremely severe winter set in, morale sank further.
The soldiers were not equipped for such low temperatures and their guns and machinery could not cope. Hitler ordered his troops to stand firm.
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03:12All the senior people who understood anything about it, whether they were economists or officers, they all advised against the
03:23attack on Russia.
03:23They said it just cannot work. You can't fight a Blitzkrieg against Russia.
03:57The invasion of the Soviet Union is imminent. Operation Barbarossa. It's a fateful moment. That's clear to everyone.
04:13Hans Erdmann Schönbeck went straight from school into a Panzerregiment.
04:24Manfred Gussovius was a 21-year-old tank commander.
04:50This is the man who built up the Wehrmachts-Panzer force, Heinz Guderian. No Nazi, but an ardent anti-communist
04:59and a battle-hardened commander.
05:06Hans Guderian.
05:07Hans Guderian.
05:20Hans Guderian.
05:22Hans Guderian.
05:24Hans Guderian.
05:41Hans Guderian.
05:48Hans Guderian.
05:50Hans Guderian.
05:50Hans Guderian.
05:51Hans Guderian.
05:51Hans Guderian.
05:51Hans Guderian.
05:52Hans Guderian.
05:52Hans Guderian.
05:52Hans Guderian.
05:53Hans Guderian.
05:53Hans Guderian.
05:55Hans Guderian.
05:56Hans Guderian.
05:59Hans Guderian.
06:04Hans Guderian.
06:12Hans Guderian.
06:13He said he had once been firmly against it, but now the orders had been issued, and he went wild
06:19with enthusiasm and almost believed what he said himself, even though his views were once the exact opposite.
06:43We don't have to interpret that. Guderian was as an anti-communist convinced by Barbarossa. He wanted to lead this
06:49war, and he wanted to lead it successfully.
06:52And we know from other documents that he believed in June 1941, the attack on Moscow, which he had to
06:58lead, to successfully lead it to Moscow.
07:00On route to Moscow, showing enthusiasm on demand. His soldiers called him Vast Heinz.
07:08Guderian gave the right tactic as a word. We were just fast. We could have to go to 120-150
07:17km without a fight, and then we were always there, where we didn't expect us.
07:24We were beweglich and could have been through Kehlkopf-Mikrofone.
07:54They were absolutely at their peak. I mean, they had prepared this thought about it.
07:58They had seen what worked well.
08:00And so this extraordinary combination of tanks, aircraft, armoured vehicles and so on was virtually unstoppable.
08:08Don't do it small, do it big, was Guderian's motto.
08:14Break the Red Army's defences with panzer vectors supported by artillery and the Air Force.
08:22Would Stalin give in?
08:25Would the Soviet Colossus collapse?
08:28As the German strategists hoped.
08:35In the summer of 1941, the Wehrmacht went from one victory to the next.
08:41Sie bekamen kaum Zeit zum Nachdenken.
08:45Das erste Nachdenken passierte ungefähr drei Wochen, nachdem wir immer nur vormarchiert sind.
08:51Immer nur in Gefechte verwickelt waren.
08:53Ich hatte einen Freund in der Kompanie und da haben wir darüber gesprochen.
09:01Was ist das?
09:04Wie ist das mit den Russen?
09:06Stimmt das, dass die in ein paar Wochen fertig sind?
09:09Und uns war klar, das stimmt nicht.
09:13Die Propaganda, von denen wir dieses und jenes hörten, stimmte nicht.
09:17Wir haben gesehen, wie Tee, unglaublich opferbereit, der russische Soldat uns gegenüber war.
09:29Statistically, a soldier now had two and a half years to live.
09:33But any day could be his last.
09:39Auf einmal kam der Ruf, Gruppe Fausten nach vorn.
09:46Und ich hab mich nicht gemeldet.
09:49Und mein Freund, Eckhard, rief, wie er kommt.
09:53The order, to take out a pocket of resistance in a village.
10:47Otto has to leave his friend Eckhardt behind.
10:53Ich hab dann einen vollkommenen Zusammenbruch gehabt.
10:56Denn vom Dorf her rief immer noch mein Freund Otto.
11:04Otto.
11:08Da hat der Kompaniechef, der unser Verhältnis kannte,
11:13einen Schützenpanzer beordert.
11:17Holt ihn raus.
11:18Die sind nach vorne gefahren.
11:22Nach zehn Minuten kam nur noch der Unterzieher, der Sanitäter,
11:29sagt, der Waren ist hin.
11:31Die übrigen sind tot.
11:35Costly victories.
11:37Almost 60,000 German Soldiers are killed in only six weeks.
11:42And the end of the campaign is not in sight.
11:50Die Verlustzahlen waren wesentlich höher als angenommen.
11:54Die Verschusszahlen der Munition waren wesentlich größer.
11:57Der Verschleiß an Ausstattung, an Ausrüstung, an Waffen war wesentlich größer.
12:03Und all das brachte die Ausgangsdaten,
12:08widerlegte die Ausgangsdaten und brachte darum das gesamte System eigentlich zum Einsturz.
12:13What to do now?
12:15Guderian and the Army High Command want to concentrate everything on Moscow.
12:20But Hitler decides differently.
12:22Die Generalität war erzogen in der traditionellen Vorstellung,
12:28man entscheidet einen Krieg, in dem man die Hauptstadt des Feindes erobert
12:33und vorher eine Entscheidungsschlacht schlägt, in der die feindliche Armee besiegt wird.
12:37Hitler hatte im Vergleich dazu eigentlich das modernere Kriegsbild.
12:42Er wusste, dass ein moderner, industrialisierter Krieg
12:45nicht allein auf den Schlachtfeldern entschieden wird, sondern in den Produktionsstätten.
12:49Und darum war das Entscheidende, dass diese Produktionsstätten erobert würden
12:53und der Sowjetunion die Fähigkeit zur weiteren Kriegführung entzogen würde.
12:58Thus, Guderian has to turn his Panzer Division south,
13:01towards the Ukraine, the Soviet Union's breadbasket and source of raw materials.
13:06Behind Kiev, the Wehrmacht traps several Soviet armies in the middle of August 1941.
13:13The fighting lasts three weeks.
13:15Then the victory of the Wehrmacht is complete.
13:18One more victory.
13:25Wenn es dann hieß, wir haben es geschafft, das war eine unerhörte Erlösung innerlich.
13:34Für mich war überwältigend, diese gefangenen Schlangen an uns vorbeiziehen zu sehen.
13:41Und das hat mich unerhört beeindruckt, mit dem Gefühl, das möchtest du selber nie erleben müssen.
13:50Und auch mit dem Gefühl, die armen Kerle.
13:53But for the Wehrmacht's leadership, Red Army troops deserved no respect as fellow soldiers.
13:59It was racist mania.
14:18The officers in Trent Park speak quite openly about the treatment of Russian prisoners.
14:24The return transports of the Russians after the encirclement battles were ghastly.
14:31They really were ghastly.
14:33I saw one of those transports.
14:36At the stations, the Russians peered out of those small hatches and screamed,
14:41Brad, God will bless you.
14:43The children arrived and brought pumpkins.
14:45The pumpkins were thrown into the carriages.
14:48And all you could hear were sudden and stumbling sounds and incredible screams.
14:52They were probably killing each other.
14:55I couldn't take it and I asked the Staff Sergeant,
14:57Have you nothing they can eat?
14:59He replied, Herr Obersleutnant.
15:01Where is it supposed to come from?
15:02We have nothing prepared.
15:07No, no, really.
15:09These are unimaginable atrocities.
15:13Some of the prisoners were even taken back on foot.
15:17We drove along that road many times.
15:20The ditches were full of Russians that chute.
15:25It was dreadful.
15:28We will be referred to as the Hun forever now.
15:33It makes you feel ashamed.
15:54At least two and a half million die.
15:58Most from hunger or illness.
16:04The Wehrmacht takes almost three and a half million prisoners by the fall of 1941.
16:12Hitler believes the Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse.
16:17The initial German campaign, of course, took a huge quantity of the Soviet resources.
16:24It took around about 60 million of its population and around about two-thirds of its industrial and more material
16:30capacity.
16:31The Red Army had suffered exceptional degree of damage.
16:35Most states would have given up, and I think that Hitler's view was not an irrational one.
16:40I mean, I think what he had underestimated was simply the sheer unwillingness of the Soviet people and the Soviet
16:46regime to abandon the conflict.
16:49It is fall when the Wehrmacht again takes up the postponed attack on Moscow.
16:55According to the Blitzkrieg plan, the campaign should already be over.
16:59Now, the roads turn to mud.
17:17Tracked vehicles can still advance, but the Wehrmacht does not consist of tanks alone.
17:27Most of it is infantry, hardly more mechanized than their fathers were in World War I.
17:35And most of the artillery is pulled by horses, just as in the Kaiser's army.
17:43Karl Gottfried Fierkon is a 20-year-old gunner.
18:12The Russian winter comes earlier than usual in 1941.
18:17And it's colder.
18:38Caught unprepared.
18:41At temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
19:08The Wehrmacht are losing more people through frostbite than through enemy action.
19:13Nothing works anymore.
19:20In Trent Park in England, the captured generals shudder when they think back to those weeks in the Russian winter
19:26of 1941.
19:29Our comrades in Russia.
19:31I don't think there can be a single family that isn't suffering terrible pain.
19:36The wounded were packed into freight wagons on bails of straw.
19:41The next day, they'd all frozen to death.
19:45Dead?
19:46Dead.
19:47Because none of the wagons were heated.
19:50There was absolutely no clothing either.
19:58The tank personnel were all wearing their civilian shoes.
20:02They took the felt boots off of every dead Russian.
20:05Took off their clothes.
20:12They were cleaned a little and handed out again.
20:18The army has to rob the corpses of the enemy, because their own leadership have not supplied them with winter
20:24equipment in time.
20:25A disaster for which the Wehrmacht itself, not Hitler, is responsible.
20:31For the case of a Scheiderns of the Blitzkriegsstrategie, there was no plan B.
20:38The Blitzkriegsstrategie was supposed to work or the German Kriegsführung was their strategic foundation.
20:59The soldiers are no longer confident of victory.
21:04All they can do is brood, silently.
21:30The only bright spot was the male from home.
21:40I received a card of my mother's birthday with a good wishes for the new year and for Christmas.
21:49And a Marmorkuchen, my favorite favorite thing.
21:52Also all things that were Nahrung for body and soul.
21:58And from the few things that were inside, I distributed everything to the people.
22:04And then we read every word of my mother on the card.
22:09And there was...
22:14There was all mucksmäuschen still.
22:18So that it was the first time for a tragedy.
22:22So that nobody could do anything on the planet.
22:25Even if there was no part in the world.
22:27Is there another Christmas?
22:29Do you have any cows?
22:31Do you have any bats?
22:34Do you have any children?
22:35Are you still a christmite?
22:36Is that everything ever in the world?
22:40Or is that just an illusion that we still have?
22:43So that.
22:47The goal was so close and yet so far away.
23:14The goal was to make you feel like you are immediately ahead.
23:19We don't have children anymore, we don't have them anymore.
23:23And that was it then.
23:27December 5, 1941.
23:30The Panzer-Vanguard of the Wehrmacht is poised to enter Moscow.
23:55The Soviet counter-attack.
23:57Fresh, rested ski divisions that Stalin has transferred from Siberia to defend Moscow.
24:06There was only one flight from the street,
24:10through the high snow.
24:12And from behind the Skiläufer, the Panzer.
24:17And we went.
24:19And then I took the 08 out and thought,
24:23if you will now be wounded,
24:25you will see the pistol immediately.
24:28And you will see it.
24:47The Wehrmacht has suffered its first defeat.
24:50The dream of a quick victory is gone.
25:17Hitler gives the order. Stand firm. At any cost.
25:21No retreat.
25:23He himself takes over command of the army, dismissing all the top generals.
25:29Even Panzer-General Heinz Guderian.
25:32He had dared to move his units back a little against Hitler's orders.
25:36And for that he has to go.
25:37His men couldn't believe it.
25:46His men couldn't believe it.
25:55Their division of the war.
25:56It was a battle against the self- prison Saiyans.
26:01And we didn't like it.
26:06It was a war!
26:07A year later, the circumstances of Guderian's dismissal
26:10still anger his comrades in captivity in england actually guderian is a decent man i have known
26:18him since he was a captain but he allowed hitler to treat him like a snotty child
26:25hitler gave him a bollocking and threw him out
26:29guderian asked for a review he told me this himself but he was turned down
26:37at home in berlin he was a non-entity he said to me i'm ashamed to go to the barbers
26:45because they will ask me what are you doing here
26:50does it law often visit the troops in the east never
26:55they haven't been able to get him to visit the army groups in ages only in an absolute emergency
27:02he stays at home and locks himself in absolute tyrannical lunacy
27:11after the moscow crisis hitler increasingly makes decisions on his own
27:16but the generals obey later they will say hitler threw away victory by delaying the march on moscow
27:24after the war many of the generals had this obsession i think with capturing moscow now although moscow had
27:30real symbolic significance i'm not entirely convinced that the capture of moscow itself
27:36would have led to the end of red army resistance any more than napoleon's capture of moscow allowed
27:43the grand army to defeat russia february 1942 the wehrmacht is on the defensive for the first time
27:52and it gets a taste of its own medicine at demyansk near lake ilman six german divisions are trapped by
28:00the red army
28:04ninety-five thousand german soldiers are cut off
28:11they can only be supplied by air defeat is only a matter of time
28:23outside this pocket 35 kilometers away from the trapped army general walter von seidlitz kurzbach arrives
28:30he has instructions to break through the russian siege line
28:34joachim sandal was with him
28:41general von seidlitz is grundsätzlich mit dem karabiner unterwegs gewesen das heißt also das war für
28:47ein general ja eine ganz eigenartige geschichte ein general kam nicht mit dem karabiner an der ja
28:55wenn einer den karabiner überhängt als general ja dann
29:00der hat er schon gewonnen bei den lanzern ja du warst doch walter von seidlitz a general without vanity
29:11er hatte wirklich für jeden einzelnen ob es nur offizier unteroffizier oder
29:20der einfache pionier oder jäger gewesen ist ein offenswort geirkt
29:25he came from one of the most prestigious prussian military families his daughter ingrid remembers
29:34er war immer sehr sehr liebenswürdig hat keinen unterschied gemacht zwischen dem postboten und
29:40dem grafen so und so das lag ihm nicht er allerdings ein starkes pflicht gefühl das habe ich auch als
29:48kind
29:49gemerkt und dass man auch wenn man aus so einem alten adelsgeschlecht kommt dass man auch ziemlich viel
29:57verantwortung eigentlich trägt und dass man der auch gerecht werden muss so ist eigentlich aufgewachsen
30:04noblesse oblige it was no empty phrase for seidlitz
30:12heinrich graf von einsiedel got to know him in 1943
30:16seydlitz war ein tapfer aufrechter klar denkender soldat in militärischen dingen klar denkender
30:25soldat politisch nahm vollkommen ungewählter seydlitz hat zu mir selber gesagt mir waren hitler
30:30nichts aufgefallen als schlecht sitzende uniformen und schlechte tischmannieren
30:38seydlitz will be one of the few wehrmacht generals to openly oppose hitler
30:43but it hasn't come to that yet
30:47on march the 20th 1942 he orders the attack on the soviet positions near demiansk
31:03four weeks later the assault groups have fought their way to the trapped army
31:28the supply lines to the units of demiansk are open again
31:33and walter von seidlitz is the hero of the day
31:39das war für sein ist natürlich ein ganz großer operative erfolg zweifelsohne aber er hat sich
31:44durchaus fatal ausgewirkt weil man im oberkommando der wehrmacht und oberkommando des heeres nun glaubte
31:50auch eine größere armee gruppe aus der luft versorgen zu können und dieser glaube dieser
31:55irrglaube der sollte sich unter 42 noch fatal aus
32:00spring 1942 more and more fresh wehrmacht units arrive in russia but this picture is deceptive
32:09in juni 1941
32:13und zwei drittel aller divisionen als wie es damals hieß voll angriffsfähig im märz 1942 waren es gerade noch
32:24fünf prozent wir sehen daran dass dieses her das damals im juni 1941 zum angriff angetreten war im
32:36grunde nicht mehr bestand by march 1942 der wehrmacht has lost a million men
32:41they're especially short of frontline officers da hat mich der damalige company chef zu sich kommen
32:49lassen hat gesagt also wenn sie sich bewähren können sie offiziersanwärter werden ich habe das
32:57dann in meinem fahrzeug mitgeteilt worauf unser fahrer ein schreianfall bekam und sagt wir fahren von
33:05deutschland an bis hier oben hin und jetzt kommst du erklärst jetzt müssen wir uns bewähren die normale
33:11laufzeit in russland eines panzerkernadierleutnant waren elf tage
33:22dann war er weg
33:27most of the companies are led by corporates and sergeants you have to look at it soberly
33:34we are losing too many men in these battles they waste too many lives
33:41and too much blood
33:44there's nobody left
33:46in the russian offensive of the last war i only had to replace my officers corps once
33:52the enemy strength increases from months to months while ours declines
33:58as early as january the ammunition supply was suspended
34:02in january in the midst of the fighting they stopped sending us ammunition
34:10i had a mortar battery and didn't fire a single shot
34:15for weeks
34:18for weeks
34:20not days
34:22yep
34:25you can't load cannons with philosophy
34:30nevertheless hitler expects the wehrmacht to win two more victories one to seize the
34:36russian oil reserves on the black sea and two to capture the city of stalingrad
34:42at the same time
34:48operativ war diese entscheidung eine katastrophe sie bedeutet die halbierung der angriffskraft und
34:54machte darum das scheitern in jedem falle vor stalingrad wie im kaukasus eigentlich wahrscheinlicher
35:01november 1942 most of stalingrad has been occupied by the wehrmacht
35:07the red army begins another counter-offensive now the soviets have mastered the very tactics that
35:14dealt them such devastating defeats at the beginning of the campaign
35:20the red army learned lessons from the wehrmacht uh and they learned how to fight the same way that
35:27the germans fought the great irony i think of this is that the wehrmacht in fact uh were the teachers
35:35for the red army that eventually defeated them november the 22nd 1942 the red army has completely
35:43surrounded the german soldiers at stalingrad the german soldiers at stalingrad
35:52there standen plug batteries and i have them seen through the glass and i thought you were going to go
36:00and someone came to me and told me to go to god's will
36:02man don't go there not go there 888 yes they are German but the
36:12the
36:13cut off even general seidlitz hitler had ordered the soldiers in stalingrad to dig in and hold fast
36:24like in demiansk but seidlitz knows perfectly well stalingrad is not demiansk you can't supply more than
36:31200 000 men from the air so he decides to take an unprecedented step he writes a memo to his
36:38superiors
36:40es gals noch ein letztes mal klarzumachen dass unser heil nur im sofortigen ausbruch liegen können
36:48und wenn er sein müsse gegen hitler am schluss unserer denkstrift forderten wir die armee auf
36:56sich die handlungsfreiheit selbst zu nehmen falls der befehl zur einigelung nicht aufgehoben würde
37:03es galt zu handeln verantwortlich alleine dem gewissen und dem deutschen volke
37:13this was unheard of a prussian general calling for disobedience against the supreme commander
37:18out of a sense of duty to his own soldiers
37:26bismarck hat mal gesagt der preußische offizier geht ohne zu zögern in auf dem schlachtfeld in
37:33den tod aber wenn er eine entscheidung treffen soll die die die die also eine verantwortung für
37:39längere zeit bedeuten weiter dann fehlt es ihm land civil courage gegenüber seinen vorgesetzten und genau
37:46dass diese zivilcourage hat seidlitz bewiesen seidlitz was the only one the other generals follow orders
37:53against their better judgment they promise hitler they'll break through the soviet encirclement from
37:59the outside they fail wird hörten in diesen kalten nächten das war es ja auch wieder so kalt wenn auch
38:06nicht 40 grad den gefechtslärm näher kommen und vom weihnachtsabend an entfernte der sich wieder da
38:15wussten wir natürlich genau was los war und wussten dann auch wir hatten auszuhalten bis zur letzten patrone
38:23das war uns bekannt the news from russia also reaches the generals at trent park in england
38:35they realize what it means
38:40if what's the newspaper say is correct then we lose the volga then we lose telling god we must win
38:49the war otherwise it's finis germania
38:55it has to work out all right otherwise it will be the end of germany for centuries
39:01that's right
39:02have hundreds of thousands of people died in vain again
39:10it's unsinkable
39:13stand firm at all costs
39:16the soldiers at stalingrad fight on with no hope of rescue
39:20too much has already happened in this war
39:25man kämpfte weiter aus angst vorm russen
39:28wir wussten sehr genau
39:31wenn wir überlaufen und wenn wir aufhören
39:35geht's uns nicht besser als wenn wir noch bis zu ende kämpfen
39:40on january the 9th 1943 walter von seidlitz wrote to his wife
39:47my dear heart a picture of you and the children is on my desk where i can always see you
39:53and that
39:54helps me to deal with things which i might otherwise despair over farewell our future is dark you are my
40:02only light in these times
40:06er hat wirklich nur damit gerechnet dass er stirbt zum schluss also nicht dass er dass er selbstmord machen
40:14so jemand war überhaupt nicht das hätte seine verantwortungsgefühl auch nicht zugelassen
40:19er war ein sehr aufrechter mensch der sich selber immer irgendwie sehr treu geblieben ist also
40:25das finde ich im nachhinein auch so um ja das finde ich total liebenswert und anerkennenswert
40:32it will be nearly 13 years before ingrid von seidlitz sees her father again
40:42back from russian captivity a man who many reactionary germans still revile as a traitor
40:57stalingrad the end of january 1943 ich wurde dadurch auf dem rücken geworfen und als ich mich
41:05wieder umdrehte sah ich mein eigenes blut es war ein bisschen hell und dann dachte ich verdammt die lunge
41:13da kam mein showmeister zu mir nahm meine hand drückte mir die pistole in die hand und sagt
41:21leutnant in einer stunde oder ganz bald oder irgendwann kommt der russer wir können sie ja nicht mitnehmen
41:32the wound probably saves hans erdmann schoenbeck's life
41:36he's evacuated from stalingrad on one of the last planes
41:43die pistole und der showmeister sind im kessel geblieben
41:50it's the end on february the second 1943 the remains of the sixth army surrender
42:04offen gesagt in meinem verstand war eigentlich null ich habe nur gesehen dass ich jetzt nicht von
42:14irgendeinem wieder einen bewachen umgebracht werde für mich war das das signal zu sagen jetzt versuche ich
42:23auf jede mögliche anständige weise durchzukommen um nach um zu überleben noch nicht mal ob nach hause zu
42:31kommen nur zu überleben
42:35what awaits these men
42:3891 000 german soldiers are taken prisoner in stalingrad only six thousand will make it home
42:47one of them is manfred gussovius after more than ten years of war and captivity
43:14it was more than just the end of an army
43:21es gab nach stalingrad keine deutsche strategie mehr es galt nur noch zeit zu gewinnen dem regime
43:30letzte atempausen zu geben vor dem endgültigen zusammenbruch und dieser prozess zog sich dann über
43:38zwei jahre hin und forderte etwa das doppelte an opfern wie der krieg bis 1943 gefordert hat
43:48the wehrmacht fights on for most the question of whether to give up or even change sides does not arise
44:00i was
44:01deutsche offizier
44:05ich hätte es nicht geschafft
44:10wer kann es dazu nicht sagen
44:13heins otto fausten is wounded in 1943 and loses a leg for the fatherland for the führer
44:25ich hatte verbandswechsel das war so unglaublich schmerzhaft war nur auszuhalten
44:33die schwester machte das indem ich gegenüber der wand
44:40der postkarten groß das bild vom adolf hatte und dann habe ich die hand ausgestreckt und habe
44:51gerufen heil du schwein
44:56summer 1943 near kursk the wehrmacht panzers advance again in vain
45:07the hunters have finally become the hunted
45:13the wehrmacht lost the initiative they'd held the initiative for two years they've been able to
45:18decide where to go what to do which operations to mount but from the summer of 1943 onwards the
45:24initiative lay with the red army meanwhile in trent park our situation is hopeless
45:35it doesn't matter where we attack
45:39cannot advance
45:41we can achieve nothing
45:44we no longer have the
45:46human materials we had at the beginning of the offensive
45:51what is the last cannot be replaced
45:53is that einige von ihnen ja schon 1943 erkennen dieser krieg ist verloren aber die frage ist welche
46:00konsequenzen ziehen sie daraus die meisten sagen hitler ist schuld an dem kriegsausgang andere generäle
46:06sind schuld an dem kriegsausgang ich selber nicht und das ist nur ganz ganz wenige die es schaffen
46:12diese hürde zu überspringen und zu sagen nein ich selber bin mit dafür verantwortlich für all das
46:18was in deutschen namen geschehen ist
46:19one of the few is falter von seidlitz
46:23while a prisoner of war in russia he completely breaks with hitler
46:26in the league of german officers organized by the russians he calls on his wehrmacht
46:31comrades to overthrow the nazi regime
46:45zeitlitz remains who he is a conservative patriot
46:49he refuses to cooperate with stalin
46:52hitler sentences him to death in absentee
46:56we were also bewusst that we were
46:58verräter of the hitler regime waren
47:00but we are still proud of it
47:02then we are
47:04our whole
47:06struggle was to prevent the self-mord of the german reich
47:08to prevent the self-mord of the german reich
47:09and this dangerous catastrophe over the
47:11deutschland
47:13was already broken
47:14so we can cut off
47:18heinz guderian the panzer strategist was at the opposite end of the spectrum
47:23hitler called him back into service in 1943
47:26first as inspector of panzer troops and then chief of the general staff
47:31after the war he became a consultant for the formation of the new west german army
47:38karl gottfried feerkorn also had an invitation to join the new german army
47:42but he preferred a civilian career
47:46heinz otto fausten studied art after the war he became a teacher and a headmaster
47:52after 1945 hans erdmann schoenbeck worked in the car industry
47:57they're still haunted by their war experiences
48:00the war is always coming up
48:02when they sleep
48:05they dream
48:07they dream
48:08they dream they have to attack
48:11and they hear the razzle
48:15the panzerkets
48:19and they feel the fear
48:30turn
48:31and
48:31they're
48:31they're
48:31they're
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