01x18 - Last Days Of The Reich

[bunniefuu]

[tense music]

Adolf Hitler and the n*zi party

have dominated the hearts and minds

of the German people for over a decade.

But by the summer of


and the forces of the Western allies

are tightening their vice
grip on Hitler's Third Reich.

The n*zi's complete
control is about to crack.

All wars change the world,

but none of them changed the world

like the Second World w*r did.

Japan's on the march,
Germany's on the march.

No one can imagine the nightmare
they're about to unleash.

The most destructive
w*r in human history.

Suddenly the world
is turned upside down

and all hell is let loose.

The West is stunned by
the speed of the advance.

You get the allies
led by the big three.

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin,

men who are dealing with
immensely complicated questions.

It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

The Allies have to come together

not just militarily,

but industrial scale

it's a global perspective.

They have to fight in every climate

from the Arctic
to the jungles of the Pacific

to the deserts of Africa
and the depths of the ocean.

♪

But there was no certainty of victory.

It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.

We see humans at their absolute worst,

how they treat other human beings.

And we see them at their absolute best,

willing to give their lives
that others might live.

World w*r II was a struggle in
which there could be one victor

and one vanquished.

♪

[expl*si*n rumbles]

[siren blares]

[Reporter] The biggest
story in Western Europe today

is the attempted
assassination of Hitler.

For the second time
since this w*r began,

an assassin has almost
succeeded in k*lling the Führer

and perhaps changing
the course of history.

[tense music]

[Tom] July 20th, 1944.

A b*mb hidden in a briefcase
explodes at the Wolf's Lair,

Adolf Hitler's military headquarters.

It was the opening move
in an elaborate plan

to k*ll the n*zi leader and
overthrow his government.

Hitler is wounded but
survives, and the plot fails.

[Adolf Hitler speaking German]

Surviving the July 20th bombing

convinces Hitler beyond
a shadow of a doubt

that he has been chosen by

heaven or by providence

to lead the German people.

He's on all sorts of medications.

He's under more pressure than
most human beings can imagine.

He becomes even more paranoid
than he already has been.

He is micromanaging even more.

Nazis take over armaments production.

[crowd chatter indistinctly]

[Tom] Hitler and the
Nazis mobilize even more men

and tighten their grip on
Germany and its people.

There is no difference anymore

between the fate of the
public and the German people

and the fate of the n*zi state.

The thing is, the German public is not

too happy about how the w*r goes on.

They are aware that
Germany may lose the w*r,

but they think the only
person who can bring

this to a close is Hitler himself.

[Tom] As summer turns to fall,

Germany's strategic
situation deteriorates,

and every German is aware

that the allies demand
unconditional surrender.

[James] Hitler knows that
that's an impossibility.

Surrender means

humiliation, being betrayed,
ultimately ex*cuted.

[Robert] Hitler also knows
something about warfare.

A passive defense never works.

You have to show your adversaries

that you're still dangerous.

Hitler quotes Frederick the Great

who was in a similar
w*r in the 18th century.

Frederick famously said,

"We're gonna fight this w*r till one
of our g*dd*mn enemies gets tired."

Hitler wants to come
up with some Hail Mary.

He wants to come up with some plan

that will bring advantage back

to a heavily disadvantaged situation.

[Tom] In September,
Hitler summons his generals

to the Wolf's Lair.

He outlines a plan that
will return his troops

to the scene of his greatest triumph...

the Ardennes.

[Robert] The Ardennes Offensive of 1944

is going to involve multiple
German armies

across 100 miles of front.

They're going to crash through
what they have identified

as a weakly held portion
of the American line.

They're going to drive
through the Ardennes Forest,

scene of the great victory of 1940,

and if all goes well,
cross the Meuse River,

and from there, make it to Antwerp.

Antwerp is the major supply port

for the entire allied force in Europe.

If the Germans take Antwerp,
it will be a catastrophe

of unimaginable proportions.

Hitler sees this as a way
to divide the coalition,

demoralize the coalition,

and force the coalition

to make separate peaces with him.

[Tom] But Hitler will have to strip
whole divisions from his Eastern front

to execute his gambit in the West.

[Robert] Not all of Hitler's
generals are on board.

They just don't believe

that given their current force levels

that they can blast across
the West European continent

and take the major city of Antwerp.

Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt says

"Antwerp, my god,
if we even get to the Meuse River

...that's less than halfway...

we should get down on
our knees and thank God."

[Geoffrey] But Hitler, by this
stage of the w*r,

he doesn't really trust
very many of his generals,

and he does have this belief in luck.

He's gotten lucky at various
points throughout this w*r,

and he might be lucky again this time.

So he decides to roll the dice.

[Martin] Hitler will even eventually
say that, "If this doesn't end well,

I'd see no other path toward
reaching a favorable conclusion."

The fate of Germany really
hangs in the balance.

[tense music]

[Robert] December 16th,
it's a snowy morning

in the Ardennes for the allies.

It's overcast,

it's freezing cold.

The weather was awful for everybody,

but it gave the Germans advantage

because the allied aircraft
are mostly grounded,

and that's the perfect environment

for the Germans to launch
this bold offensive.

Suddenly at 5:30, it seems
that hell has opened up.

[a*tillery bangs]

Every a*tillery piece the Germans own,

heavy a*tillery, light a*tillery,

rocket a*tillery, the famous
Screaming Mimi's mortars.

The American position in the
Ardennes simply gets shredded.

[b*mb booms]

[Paul] Trees are thrown through the air

with this just shell after shell.

[b*mb booms]

[Martin] Allied forces,
they're caught off guard.

They are overwhelmed.

They certainly didn't
expect the Germans capable

of launching something as big
as the Ardennes Offensive.

[g*ns bang]

Suddenly there's a couple of
hundred thousand German infantry

with 600 German Panzers
along 100-mile front.

[g*ns bang]

[Tom] One of the four divisions

holding the allied line in the Ardennes

is the newly arrived American 106th.

[Paul] The 106th Division who
are just in the wrong place

at the wrong time who have
columns of German armor

coming at them from all directions

are just overwhelmed by this.

And within a matter of hours,


[Geoffrey] It's the biggest

mass American surrender since Bataan.

[Dr. Lieb] At this point of
time, the German troops

are in a state of euphoria.

For weeks or months or even years,

they had only known retreat,

and now for the first
and for a long time,

they are on the offense again.

[Martin] German troops are partly
motivated because they're being told,

"Take no prisoners. This is your chance.

Now you get revenge
against the Allies."

The result is that there is
literally a trail of massacres

that will lead eventually
to the most notorious

of about a dozen massacres,

and that's the one that takes place

in the afternoon of December 17th

just outside the city of Malmedy.

[tense music]

[Robert] The first SS Panzer division,

they've worked their way
forward under their

their battle group
commander Joachim Peiper.

Peiper's built for speed.

He's been told to get ahead
as fast as you possibly can

towards the Meuse, cross
the river, get to Antwerp.

[cannon booms]

And he's just overrun a couple of

rear echelon US detachments,

supply depots, administrative troops.

There's a brief firefight.

The Americans then
surrender, about 120 of them.

They move them off
the road into a field.

And the result is that 84 Americans,

they are m*rder*d after having
surrendered their weapons.

This is one of the largest w*r crimes

against US soldiers
during World w*r II,

and it shows the
ruthlessness which this w*r

has achieved at this point.

[tense music]

[Tom] Some German units advance

as much as 20 miles on the first day.

The initial success of
the Ardennes Offensive

confirms Hitler's sense
of divine destiny.

[Dr. Lieb] In Hitler's mind,
he thinks, "Again, I was right.

I took the decision to
launch this offensive

against the advice of my generals,

against the advice of my
experts, but I was right."

[cannon booms]

So in the first couple of days
of the Ardennes Offensive,

it seems for the Germans

that they have regained the initiative.

[rockets zoom]

[tense music]

[Tom] The Wehrmacht's attack stretches

from Belgium to Luxembourg,

but the initial reports
from the front are sketchy.

How to respond to the German as*ault
is the responsibility of one man,

General Dwight Eisenhower,

the Supreme Allied Commander.

So Eisenhower has to determine

whether or not this is a feint, right?

Are the Germans trying to
essentially pull his resources

in the wrong direction?

Or is this a proper offensive?

Does he actually have to respond?

Eisenhower immediately
defines the threat.

And he says, "This is
more than a German feint.

This is a major effort."

And he thinks, let's
not see this disaster

as anything but an opportunity.

The Germans wanna
fight out in the open,

let's take it to them.

[Geoffrey] Yeah, the Germans
are advancing.

Yeah, the Germans have driven
a deep bulge into my lines,

but that offers me
this big German salient

that I can attack from the shoulders.

That's why we refer to this
as the Battle of the Bulge.

[Tom] The Germans advance
across a 60-mile front,

but are held up by the
US 28th Infantry Division

at the Belgian town of Bastogne.

[Robert] Both sides know that
Bastogne is the key.

If the Germans seize it, they
can control the road network

and motor all the way to the West,

perhaps even reach Antwerp.

But if the Americans hold it,

the Germans are stuck in their tracks.

[Col. Douds] So it's a race,

it's a race for the Germans to take it.

It's a race for the Americans
to try and resupply it

before it's lost.

So all of a sudden, Bastogne becomes

this key road intersection,

not unlike Gettysburg or
Waterloo or Thermopylae.

It is everything.

[Tom] As the Germans
attempt to surround Bastogne,

Eisenhower calls on the


the Screaming Eagles.

[Col. Douds] Their big
contribution so far is

when they get dropped behind
enemy lines before D-Day.

[planes whir]

They've basically been in the
game since June 5th of '44.

[Robert] To say that the 101s
is unprepared for this fight

is to understate the
matter considerably.

[Col. Douds] They would
usually jump into w*r zones

carrying what they can carry,

which inherently means they
don't have a lot of armor,

they don't have any a*tillery.

[Robert] They don't have the
winter gear, that equipment

that would allow you
to fight a tough battle

in the middle of December.

It's a come-as-you-are w*r.

[Col. Douds] It tells you the degree

to which this is a crisis,

that in the midst of this
crisis, Eisenhower turns around

and looks and says, "I'll take them."

Because the one thing they are

is they are a hardened group of elites,

and they will go in
there and do the job

despite all the limitations they face.

[tense music]

[Tom] December 18th.

The 101st is trucked into Bastogne

to relieve the battered 28th Division.

The defense of this
Belgian town is the key

to the allied effort
against Adolf Hitler

on the Western front.

And the key to the defense of this town

is in the hands of the men
of the 101st Airborne.

[tense music]

[Col. Douds] For the Germans,
this whole thing has to happen fast.

Every day they're standing
in front of Bastogne is

time they don't have,

time where the weather could clear up,

time where the rest
of the allied armies

are starting to get
reinforcements in there.

And so the Germans are determined

to throw everything at Bastogne
that they possibly have.

[cannons boom]

There's an a*tillery bombardment.

They're attacking from all sides.

They're trying to push
the Americans out.

[Robert] For the 101st Airborne,

the fighting around Bastogne
is as tough as any in the w*r.

[g*n bangs]

It's out in the open,
it's bitterly cold,

there's snow on the ground.

[Col. Douds] They're short on food,

and yet with almost just
small arms, bazookas,

and machine g*ns, they're able to
put up enough bluster and defense

that they're able to hold the line.

[tense music]

[Tom] To reinforce
the 101st in Bastogne,

Eisenhower turns to his
most aggressive commander,

General George Patton
and the Third Army.

[Michel] Patton, you know, promises him
three divisions in two days for Bastogne,

which is something only
George S. Patton would promise.

[Paul] Promising three divisions.

And you know, that's 40,000+ men

ready at 48 hours.

[Michel] Patton had already planned

for precisely this contingency

and was ready to take the lead

once he was given the operation.

[Tom] But until the Third Army arrives,

the Screaming Eagles are
virtually on their own.

[Martin] The Germans encircle the city,

and that encirclement
will be headline news

back in the United States.

There was this critical
thought that we might lose

the entire 101st Airborne
Division to the enemy.

[Alexandra] It looks as if the
Germans are really in control

and they send a message
to the 101st Airborne.

They say, "You've got to surrender."

[Col. Douds] They're gonna give it
to the acting division commander,

Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe.

McAuliffe will read the thing

and he'll send back a one-word reply

and it says, "Nuts!"

Now, you gotta imagine, you know,
some savvy Airborne officer

gets to go give this to
the German delegation.

Of course, they read
"Nuts" and they're like,

"We don't understand
the colloquialism."

And so he gets to stand
there and he says,

"It's the same as go to hell."

And in a sense, the whole
unit kind of reaches out

and they hit the collective
I believe button,

which is not so much that
they can hold out forever,

but Patton's coming.

They're all coming.

All we have to do is
hold out a little longer.

[tense music]

[cannon booms]

[Tom] In Bastogne, the men
of the 101st Division

had been under siege for almost a week.

But on December 26th,
Patton's Third Army

reaches the outskirts.

[Martin] Famously, it was the


that has given the task of fighting up

a narrow road corridor toward Bastogne.

[tense music]

And on the day after
Christmas, on December 26th,

elements of C Company of
the 37th Tank Battalion

pull up to the Bastogne perimeter.

[cannon booms]

[Col. Douds] The allies break
the German lines,

and now supplies will
be able to flow in.

And so for the Germans,

the Ardennes Offensive
breaks over Bastogne.

[cannon booms]

[Tom] Even though Bastogne is relieved,

fighting continues across
the front for weeks.

The United States Army
suffers more casualties

in the Battle of the Bulge

than in any other
battle in its history.

But ultimately Hitler's
Ardennes Offensive is a failure.

[Robert] For Hitler,
the catastrophe of the Ardennes is that

it was the last round in the chamber.

The Germans really poured

their entire armored reserve into it.

They could have used those troops

perhaps to defend more robustly

in the east and west simultaneously,

but they threw them
all away on a gamble

and a gamble that failed.

[somber music]

[Tom] As the Allies
stop Hitler in the West,

the Soviets launch a massive
offensive in the East.

The Red Army is a force of millions,

which has begun its advance everywhere

from Finland and the Baltics
in the north,

all the way down
to the Black Sea in the south.

The Soviet forces had
advanced incredible speed,

incredible hard fighting,

and Stalin had stopped them
between October and December

for a very clear strategic purpose,

to prepare a massive,
massive buildup of armor.

[Sean] So by January '45,

they are ready to go on the offensive.

[b*mb booms]

[Tom] Within weeks, Soviet
forces cross into Germany.

The Red Army has breached
the border of the Fatherland.

[cannons boom]

[Dr. Lieb] Having Soviet boots
on German ground

is a major blow for the German psyche

because they consider the
Soviets as their mortal enemies,

and this is a disaster for them.

[Sean] The w*r is finally being
brought home to the Germans.

[Dr. Lieb] In theory, the
n*zi authorities

would've had the time for months

to evacuate the civilians,

but that's something they didn't do,

because if you stay
there, you'll show that

you've got more confidence

and that you are defending
your home territory.

[Geoffrey] But basically,
the Russians come

with such overwhelming force

that the Germans can't
stop them at the border.

And so this causes mass
panic as the German civilians

take to the roads to try to
escape this Russian onslaught,

knowing full well what
awaits if they stay.

[cannon booms]

[Sean] The Germans have
fought a horrific w*r

of annihilation in the Soviet Union.

Now the Soviets are finally able

to take revenge against the Germans.

[Geoffrey] They looted and
they pillaged and they r*ped

and they burned and they destroyed,

and they took pleasure
in doing these things

as they advanced.

[somber music]

[Sean] There's 100,000 or more
deaths on the German side,

and something like maybe a fifth

of the female population is r*ped.

This is the beginning of
what the Germans can expect

to receive when Red
Army break into Berlin.

[Tom] Joseph Stalin engineers

the Soviet Union's final moves,

as the Red Army continues its
march west

towards Berlin.

[Sean] Berlin is really the be
all, end all of the w*r.

This is where we have
the Reich Chancellery,

where we have the Reichstag building,

where Hitler has his bunker.

Once the Red Army reaches
Berlin, the w*r will be over

and it will be a great
victory and a great triumph.

[crowd speaks in foreign language]

[Col. Douds] For someone who
lives in Berlin.

It's not lost on them what
happens in East Prussia.

The Soviets are getting retribution

and it's coming in the
form of German bodies,

German blood, r*pes, killings,
and that's coming your way.

Almost the image of an incoming
tide that you cannot stop.

[b*mb booms]

[tense music]

[Tom] In the spring of 1945,

Germany is under as*ault
from multiple directions.

[cannon booms]

In the east, the Red Army
rapidly advances towards Berlin.

In the west, the allies
continue on a broad front

as they approach the Rhine River.

[Paul] The Rhine is the German's last

key strategic position

to try and delay the inevitable

of the allies getting into Germany

and defeating the Third Reich.

[Geoffrey] It's a big, broad
river, fast-flowing, deep,

and the Germans know
this, so they're planning

to kind of defend every inch of it.

[Dr. Lieb] Their defense
strategy in the west is

to blow up all the bridges
across the River Rhine.

To use this huge natural barrier.

[Tom] British Field
Marshal Bernard Montgomery

designs an operation that
will take Allied Forces

across the Rhine and
further into Germany.

But unexpectedly, the
American 9th Armored Division

discovers another way
into the German Reich.

[Paul] Really, out of nowhere,

an advanced unit of Americans
ends up at the Remagen Bridge,

the key bridge across the Rhine.

And the Germans, they failed
to destroy the bridge properly.

[Martin] That's not because
the Germans were dumb,

the Germans tried to blow the bridge.

It's just that they didn't have
enough expl*sives to do the job.

[Geoffrey] But it was very
stoutly built.

The bridge just kind of jumps on these

really heavy stone piers

and then settles back into place.

The Allies couldn't believe their luck,

so they raced forward
and they took the bridge.

And they get across the Rhine

three weeks earlier than anticipated.

Once you're over the Rhine,
you're into Germany proper.

It's a crucial moment
for the w*r in the West.

[Dr. Lieb] For the Germans,
this is a huge blow

because now the Allies can bring in

reinforcements much quicker

and Hitler is absolutely
furious about this.

[Robert] Oh, Hitler is prone
to rage at this time,

and he demands that
everyone responsible

will be immediately court marshaled,

not brought to Berlin to explain,

but a drumhead court marshal
in the field and shot.

[somber music]

[Tom] Hitler retreats to Berlin.

He orders the destruction of
bridges, roads, railways, factories

anything that
can aid the allied advance.

[Martin] This Nero order named in honor
of the Roman Emperor, who

famously allowed the
city of Rome to burn,

would authorize German forces

to destroy absolutely
everything as they retreated.

[thunderous expl*si*n]

[Dan] Blow up the bridges,
blow up the sanitation,

blow up the power plants,
even if it doesn't do

any good in the w*r effort.

There's no reason to worry
about a post-w*r Germany.

He stopped caring about
the individual people

'cause they're no longer
worthy of surviving the w*r.

[Tom] Hitler commands his loyal

and capable minister of armaments,

Albert Speer, to carry out his order.

Speer refuses.

[Geoffrey] Because he sees that
Hitler's, you know, gone mad essentially.

And Speer actually comes to
Berlin and says, you know,

right before the end, and he
says, "I haven't done it."

[Dr. Lieb] This shows that the
bond between Hitler

and his leadership is being
broken to a certain degree.

It's almost to the very last
days, the crumbling Third Reich

that this link finally
starts to collapse.

Hitler has now lost control
of the entire situation.

He's now focused only
on the battle of Berlin.

[somber music]

[Tom] In the garden outside
the Reich Chancellery,

the Führer reviews a
formation of Hitler youth

who have been awarded the
Knight's Cross for bravery in battle.

Now, many will be
ordered to defend Berlin.

[Robert] The Hitler youth,


[youth speaks in foreign language]

[Robert] By any analysis,
this is insane.

[Geoffrey] And he comes up
out of the bunker

and he pins metals on these
sort of beardless little boys.

Any rational onlooker can
see that Hitler has lost

all attachment to reason.

[Robert] It may be he's
thinking of the last lost w*r,

but I think 1918 is enough
of a obsession with Hitler

that he is determined

that Germany will not
give in this time.

There will be no surrender.

There will be total w*r to the end.

If Germany is gonna go down,

it's going to go down
in a blaze of glory.

[tense music]

[Tom] Allied forces rapidly advanced

through the Ruhr Valley and
into the heart of Germany.

The British and Americans had agreed

that Soviet forces
should capture Berlin,

but Stalin grows suspicious
of allied success.

[Michel] You have to remember
that Stalin is naturally

and not unreasonably
deeply mistrustful.

So when the Western
Allies start pouring

into Western Germany far
faster than anyone expects,

Stalin fears that
there may be something

that he doesn't see.

[Simon] Stalin is always paranoid

that the Western powers
are going to make a deal

with the Germans at the last minute

against the Soviet Union,
against the Communists.

[Tom] In Moscow, Stalin
summons Marshal Georgy Zhukov,

the hero of Stalingrad and Kursk,

and Marshal Ivan Konev,

who has led the first Ukrainian front,

a famed Red Army group
throughout the w*r.

[Simon] He sits there with
the map and he says,

"Who's gonna take Berlin?"

[Sean] So Stalin effectively sets up

a kind of race between them

to see who will take Berlin first.

So this is a way of
motivating his generals

because Stalin, of
course, wanted to ensure

that the Red Army would be
the first to reach Berlin.

[Simon] And in an amazing
scene, both Marshals salute

and leave the room
and run to their cars

to start the race to Berlin.

[tense music]

[Tom] By mid-April, the Red
Army is closing in on Berlin.

Zhukov's forces approach from the east.

Konev's troops will
attack from the south.

[Sean] The final as*ault
on Berlin begins

with a ferocious a*tillery barrage.

[cannon booms]

[cannons boom]

Something like 9,000 g*ns
rained down 1.2 million shells.

[cannons hiss]

[Geoffrey] To put that in
context, the British fired

one million rounds of a*tillery

onto the German trenches on the Somme

over like two weeks in World w*r I.

Now, in one day more shells
into the streets of Berlin.

[Tom] Zhukov's forces meet

particularly fierce resistance
in the Seelow heights,

an area the Germans consider
the gates of Berlin.

[Sean] The Germans are dug in.

They have no desire to surrender

because they know they
would be viewed as traitors.

Berlin is meant to be a
fortress city, Festung Berlin.

This means it has to be
defended at all costs.

[Paul] Hitler's order
was to keep fighting

until there's nothing left.

They're not gonna admit
the w*r's been lost.

[Dr. Lieb] Hitler is now
facing total defeat,

and he wants to drag
the entire German people

into this total defeat.

[Dan] The population has been
pressed into service.

They've been, you know,
building tank traps

and digging ditches.

But I don't think you can
fool a bunch of people

who are living in
cities that are rubble.

You hear the a*tillery in the distance

that the Soviets are
sh**ting at your city.

I mean, we're past
the time of illusions.

You're people at the end of the rope.

[Geoffrey] The German troops
that are left,

it's this bizarre
assembly of overage people

that normally wouldn't
be drafted or underage.

[Martin] You have a large number of

very young members of the Volkssturm.

They were divided into these tank
hunting units where they were


that were equipped with this

very effective German anti-tank weapon
called the Panzerfaust.

[Geoffrey] These basically
one-shot German bazookas,

and they're gonna be in
these load of fighting holes

waiting for the Soviet tanks
to come and take their one shot

and then be, you know, crushed
into pulp under the treads,

[Paul] The ideology of the
Reich has gone out the window.

You don't know what you're
fighting for anymore.

You are now protecting your
street and your friends

and your family from the
marauders that are coming.

[Geoffrey] If you're still in
Berlin by April 1945,

you're not gonna get out.

So you're fighting for your life.

[bazooka booms]

[tense music]

[Tom] On April 19th,

Zhukov's troops break through
the German lines at Seelow Heights.

Konev enters the n*zi
capital from the south.

[g*ns bang]

[Simon] Battle of Berlin is brutal.

[g*ns bang]

It's an urban b*ttlefield,

which is the hardest sort of
fighting and the most costly.

[g*ns bang]

It's impossible not to
take every building.

You can't leave buildings behind you.

You're under fire all the time
from buildings on both sides.

Large amounts of civilians are k*lled,

and it's incredibly slow and dangerous.

[tense music]

[Geoffrey] This moonscape of Berlin

that's already been just
shattered to rubble

is now just being pounded

by companies of Soviet infantry
filtering into the city from all points.

I mean, literally all points.

[tense music]

[Simon] But in the end,

this extraordinary battle,

the Soviet troops begin to
converge on the Chancellery.

[tense music]

[Tom] Beneath the Reich Chancellery,

Hitler is sequestered in a bunker

with his companion, Eva Braun,

and surrounded by aides, secretaries,

and n*zi party officials.

He believes that the military

and the German people
have let him down.

[Sean] Hitler wants to keep
the resistance going

for as long as possible to inflict

as much damage on the invading armies.

However, he does not want to
outlast, to outlive the w*r.

He does not want to
become a prisoner of w*r.

He does not want to become
some type of curiosity

exhibited by his enemies.

[Robert] And so he has to stay
alive as long as possible,

as close to the bitter end as possible

so that there will never really
be an idea of n*zi Germany

in people's minds that does
not include Adolf Hitler.

He's going to go down
in Wagnerian fashion

and take a world with him.

[tense music]

[Tom] On April 29th, Hitler is informed

that his longtime ally,

the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini,

has been ex*cuted.

His body put on display
by Italian partisans.

[Geoffrey] Mussolini has just
been hung upside down

in a gas station in northern Italy,

along with his mistress, Clara Petacci,

where he's like mocked and
spat upon and vilified.

Hitler fears the same fate for himself.

The Soviets are right
outside the Führer bunker.

He's listening to the
shelling happening above him.

[Martin] And so Adolf Hitler,
on April 30th, 1945,

commits suicide in the Führer
bunker along with Eva Braun

in a city that has
been reduced to rubble.

[somber music]

[Simon] When Hitler commits suicide,

Stalin is woken in the
night by Marshal Zhukov,

and Marshal Zhukov says to him,

"Marshal Stalin, I've got news.

Hitler is dead and he's
committed suicide in the ruins,"

and there's a long silence.

And then Stalin says something like,

"So that's the end of the b*stard."

Puts the phone down
and goes back to sleep.

[somber music]

[Tom] On May 2nd,

the Soviets raised their flag
above the ruins of the Reichstag.

On May 7th, German General Alfred Jodl

surrenders to the Western
Allies at Reims, France.

A day later, the Germans
officially surrendered

to the Soviets.

With the stroke of the pen,

n*zi Germany ceases to
exist on May 8th, 1945.

[tense music]

[Harry] This is a solemn
but a glorious hour.

General Eisenhower informs me

that the forces of Germany
has surrendered to the United Nations.

[Michel] Here we are at the
end of a brutal w*r

against a brutal adversary in Europe.

And there was such great
costs with so much exhaustion.

It's almost impossible to imagine

what that must have been like.

[Harry] Our rejoicing
is sobered and subdued

by a supreme consciousness
of the terrible price

we have paid to rid the world of Hitler

and his evil band.

[Simon] Hitler was the
ultimate reckless gambler.

Risking everything, even
Germany, even Europe.

[Harry] Let us not forget

the sorrow and the heartache,

which today abide in the homes
of so many of our neighbors.

[Sean] The Second World
w*r, unlike the first,

is one in which the
majority of the casualties

actually happened among
the civilian population.

A lot of it was simply because of

the vast atrocities committed.

[somber music]

The w*r left terrible scars
on the landscape of Europe

and in the memories of the populations.

[Harry] We must work
to bind up the wounds

of a suffering world.

The West is free, but the
East is still in bondage.

In the popular mind, World
w*r II tends to wrap up

with the glory of VE Day.

It did not happen that way

for the people who were fighting it.

In the Pacific, there's
no end in sight.

[Harry] When the last Japanese division

has surrendered unconditionally,

then only will our
fighting job be done.

Until that day, let no
man abandon his post

or slacken his efforts.

[plane zooms]

After VE Day, Europeans
facing chaos and uncertainty

begin the long work of putting

their shattered world back together.

In the Pacific, the w*r
is reaching a crescendo.

As the United States fights its way

to the Japanese home islands,

a new weapon is tested in
the deserts of New Mexico.

A noiseless flash with a
potential to change the world.