By the beginning of December 1941, German troops were within sight of the Kremlin. The Panzers of Fedor von Bock seemed poised to capture the capital ot the Soviet Union and complete the triumph of Operation Barbarossa. But they had reckoned without the heroic resistance of the Russian people and the nerve of Georgi Zhukov. As ferocious conditions slowed their advance, the Germans were struck and hurled back by fresh Red Army divisions which had been brought up secretly for a surpise offensive. Rarely-seen archive film and four-colour graphics bring alive one of the most critical moments of World War 2.
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00:00From the beginning of World War II, Adolf Hitler was convinced that capturing Moscow
00:27was the key to crushing Russian Bolshevism.
00:37The titanic struggle between the Nazi leader and his arch-rival, Josef Stalin,
00:41began in June of 1941 on the Eastern Front.
00:45It was the most brutal campaign of World War II.
00:52Both dictators waged a ruthless war of ideologies
00:55that would accept nothing less than total victory or defeat.
01:11On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Soviet Russia.
01:19His 3.5 million men attacked the Red Army, which had over 10 million troops.
01:25Germany appeared to be on the brink of a stunning victory.
01:36But there were other factors to contend with, besides the Red Army.
01:46There was dust and the stifling heat of the summer,
01:49which were replaced by endless rain and mud in the autumn.
01:57This made the German Lightning War or Blitzkrieg all but impossible.
02:04The worst was the Russian winter, when temperatures plunged to 40 degrees below zero.
02:09The combination of brutal combat and the bitter weather meant that millions of soldiers and civilians
02:22were destined to die on the Eastern Front.
02:30German panzers spearheaded the Blitzkrieg.
02:32It's objective was to encircle and capture Moscow before the end of 1941.
02:49Whatever the outcome, the battle for Moscow would prove decisive.
02:53Field Marshal Fedor von Bach, the German general in charge of the strike on Moscow,
03:01was pitted against Russian General Georgi Zhukov in a desperate face-off.
03:13After Germany's victories in Poland and the West in 1939 and 1940,
03:18many Germans believed the war was already over.
03:24But as they celebrated this success,
03:27Hitler was already looking east, to Russia.
03:30He believed Bolshevism had to be eradicated.
03:37In the autumn of 1940,
03:38he secretly ordered his generals to plan an invasion of Soviet Russia.
03:43Operation Barbarossa was a three-pronged attack.
03:51Army Group North would attack from East Prussia,
03:54overrun the Baltic states,
03:56and seize Leningrad.
04:00Von Bach's Army Group Center,
04:02with most of the panzers,
04:03would attack the heart of the Soviet defenses,
04:06then advance to Moscow.
04:09Army Group South would attack the Ukraine and the South.
04:13Army Group South would attack the Ukraine and the United States.
04:16Army Group South would attack the Ukraine and the United States.
04:21These plans were made while Germany was still Russia's ally.
04:27The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
04:30had been signed just before the attack on Poland.
04:37Throughout early 1941,
04:39German preparations for Barbarossa
04:41were monitored by Allied intelligence.
04:49But Josef Stalin chose to ignore the reports of German intentions.
04:54He regarded them as a British ploy to make him turn on Hitler.
05:03When Operation Barbarossa began, June 22, 1941,
05:07it was a shock to Stalin and the Russian people.
05:11Initially, the German advance seemed unstoppable.
05:20By mid-July, von Bach's army group center was just 200 miles from Moscow.
05:30Hitler forced von Bach to halt to support thrusts by army groups north and south in July and August.
05:36By September 1941, the Red Army and the Soviet Union itself seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
05:42At the end of September, the autumn rains began the roadless season in Russia.
05:53This frustrated the German offensives.
05:55But von Bach was determined to capture Moscow before winter took hold.
06:09Russia teetered on the edge of doom.
06:18Her people built defenses against the German onslaught.
06:23Their survival hinged on the skill and past experience of two men.
06:28Russian General Georgi Zhukov, by now masterminding the defense of Leningrad,
06:33German Field Marshal, and German Field Marshal, Fedor von Bach.
06:45Georgi Zhukov was born into a peasant family in 1896, the son of a village shoemaker.
06:51He grew up in a poverty-stricken agricultural community in Tsarist Russia.
07:03In 1906, at age 10, Georgi left home to work as an apprentice furrier to his uncle.
07:10He visited, then lived in Moscow for the first time.
07:13He joined the Tsarist Russian army in 1915 as a cavalry trooper.
07:23He was soon promoted to sergeant.
07:29He served in World War I on the Eastern Front
07:31and earned a reputation as a hard-hitting, determined soldier and a natural leader.
07:36But by the end of 1917, Russia was in the grip of revolution.
07:47What the communist leader Lenin preached, Georgi Zhukov believed.
07:52To him, communism promised a society free from the poverty of his childhood.
07:58In the civil war that followed,
08:00Zhukov was an inspirational cavalry officer in the fledgling Red Army.
08:06By 1923, at age 27, Zhukov was given the command of a cavalry regiment.
08:20In the early 1930s, he led a cavalry brigade
08:23and was singled out for rapid promotion.
08:28He avoided Stalin's sweeping purges of the Russian military
08:31during the latter part of that decade.
08:36Zhukov's cavalry brigade was one of the first equipped with tanks.
08:43He immediately saw their potential as a mobile shock force to replace cavalry.
08:50In June 1939, Zhukov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet forces
08:55fighting the Japanese on the Manchurian border.
08:58He knew Stalin had given him this responsibility to test him.
09:07In August, he conducted a lightning offensive.
09:11He surprised the Japanese and won a great victory.
09:15Zhukov was awarded the coveted title of hero of the Soviet Union.
09:20Promoted to a full general,
09:22he became Stalin's favorite military commander.
09:25He was ruthless, set on victory regardless of the cost to his own men.
09:31To him, the ends justified the means.
09:36Zhukov was appointed chief of the general staff in January 1941.
09:40In the face of Hitler's onslaught,
09:42he was then named commander-in-chief.
09:44By the end of September,
09:49he was already demonstrating his skill as a defensive expert at Leningrad.
09:56But Zhukov would soon be recalled to Moscow at Stalin's request.
10:05Fedor von Bock was born in 1880
10:07into a traditional Prussian military family.
10:10They mixed easily in royal circles.
10:16His father was a distinguished general
10:18who had fought in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.
10:25Fedor was educated in Berlin
10:27and trained at Potsdam Military Academy.
10:34In World War I, he served as an infantry officer
10:37and a general staff officer on the Western Front.
10:44Von Bock won the coveted Pour le Mérite medal
10:47for his outstanding courage.
10:49After the war, he remained in the army
10:51and rose rapidly through the ranks.
10:58Like other members of the Prussian military,
11:01von Bock was suspicious of Hitler when he came to power.
11:04He was angered when Hitler made the German armed forces
11:14swear personal allegiance to him in 1934.
11:23But von Bock wholeheartedly embraced the modernization
11:26and rapid expansion of the German armed forces.
11:29In March 1938, von Bock was now a full general.
11:36He coordinated the German entry into Austria
11:39during the Anschluss, or Union with Germany.
11:43By 1939, Fedor von Bock was one of Germany's senior commanders
11:47and led an army group during the invasion of Poland.
11:50As the most senior commander,
11:55he was saluted at the German army's victory parade in Paris
11:58after the fall of France.
12:03Fedor von Bock had become one of Hitler's loyal lieutenants.
12:08He would remain so until after the invasion of the Soviet Union.
12:12Though more concerned about the lives of his men than Zhukov,
12:18von Bock was a strict disciplinarian
12:20who demanded the highest standards.
12:25He was now commanding the army group's center
12:27responsible for the advance on Moscow.
12:30He believed there was still time
12:32to take the Russian capital before winter.
12:34As Fedor von Bock's troops swept eastward
12:43in the late summer of 1941,
12:45Russian defenses melted.
12:49Red Army resistance appeared futile.
12:52The Russian field army, including thousands of tanks,
12:55had been all but annihilated.
12:57The German army marched from one easy victory to another.
13:10Leningrad came under siege in the north.
13:12Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, fell in the south.
13:16The situation in Leningrad was so grave
13:19that on September 10th,
13:20Stalin sent the one man he knew he could trust,
13:23Georgi Zhukov.
13:27But by the end of September,
13:31Moscow was also in trouble.
13:39Red Army engineers,
13:40assisted by troops and civilians,
13:42dug enormous ditches,
13:44miles of trench lines and tank traps.
13:54The overall plan relied on
13:56two major defensive lines,
13:58150 and 100 miles west of Moscow,
14:02and then a loose concentric ring of defenses
14:04around the city itself.
14:12Disaster struck in late September.
14:14Red Army reconnaissance units
14:16failed to spot German forces poised to attack.
14:19The Soviet command in Moscow was in a state of near panic.
14:26Coordination of its defense suffered.
14:31Even worse,
14:32the Red Army defending Moscow
14:33had only 300,000 men.
14:3690,000 were in the capital itself.
14:38In contrast,
14:43von Bock had 750,000 men in 28 divisions,
14:48a third of which were panzer formations.
14:52The Germans outnumbered the Red Army
14:55two to one in tanks.
14:56The main German tank was the PZ-KW Mark IV.
15:06It had a 75-millimeter gun
15:08and two machine guns.
15:09Its crew of five could travel
15:11at 20 miles per hour.
15:15The new Russian tank
15:16had already made its debut
15:18on the eastern front.
15:19This was the T-34.
15:24With its 76-millimeter gun
15:26and crew of four,
15:27it could average
15:28almost 30 miles per hour.
15:33It was later equipped
15:34with an 85-millimeter gun.
15:37The T-34 became
15:38one of the outstanding tanks
15:40of World War II.
15:43In artillery,
15:44von Bock's Army Group Center
15:46also outnumbered the Russians
15:47by nearly three to one.
15:49It was more modern and accurate
15:51than its Soviet equivalents.
15:55The German Luftwaffe
15:56had a two-to-one advantage
15:58over Russian aircraft
15:59protecting Moscow.
16:02Again,
16:03German planes were superior
16:05in performance.
16:11But Moscow's defenders
16:13did have one major advantage.
16:16To escape air attacks,
16:17most Russian armament
16:19and engineering industries
16:20were moved nearly
16:211,000 miles east.
16:24Unbothered by the German bombers,
16:26they manufactured hundreds
16:27of thousands of T-34 tanks
16:29and other vital weapons.
16:31On the German side,
16:43von Bock's plan conformed
16:45to Hitler's directive number 35,
16:48issued September the 6th, 1941.
16:51Moscow was the main objective
16:53for 1941.
16:54But Hitler had already lost crucial time
17:00by detouring to the north
17:02and then to the south
17:03in July and August.
17:09By the end of September,
17:11von Bock had made good progress.
17:14His forces were now less than 200 miles
17:16from Moscow.
17:17He intended to advance
17:21on the Soviet capital.
17:23He would use blitzkrieg tactics
17:25to annihilate Soviet opposition.
17:30But the bulk of the German infantry
17:32was still on foot.
17:36It inevitably lagged
17:38behind the main armored thrusts.
17:40Von Bock's plan,
17:45codenamed Operation Typhoon,
17:47was designed to encircle Moscow
17:49from the north and south
17:50in a pincer movement.
17:56Despite the worsening weather,
17:58the men of Army Group Center
17:59were confident
18:00they were about to take part
18:01in a decisive battle
18:03that could bring the war to an end.
18:08It seemed to fulfill
18:10Hitler's prophecy about Russia.
18:12You only have to kick in the door
18:14and the whole rotten structure
18:15will come crashing down.
18:24The impending battle
18:25would be the most difficult test
18:27Zhukov and von Bock's troops
18:29ever faced.
18:37The Soviet Red Army
18:39was the largest in the world
18:41in World War II.
18:42It had an almost endless supply
18:44of manpower.
18:48But in the early months
18:49of the war on the Eastern Front,
18:51the Red Army lacked the sophistication
18:53and experience of the German Army.
18:57Russian soldiers were driven
18:59largely by fear.
19:02Minor tactical errors
19:03were punishable by execution
19:05or service in a penal battalion.
19:07Penal battalions
19:08Penal battalions
19:09were suicide battalions
19:11often sent out
19:12to draw enemy fire.
19:17But the Russian people
19:18were also inspired
19:19by Stalin's plea
19:21to defend the motherland
19:22against Nazi Germany.
19:24The Great Patriotic War
19:25became the popular Russian name
19:27for the war on the Eastern Front.
19:29Stalin also said
19:34that the Soviet Union
19:35could only defeat
19:36the Nazi plague
19:37with a crusade
19:38that combined sacrifice
19:40by civilians
19:40and military.
19:47Even in the darkest days
19:48of Operation Barbarossa,
19:50small pockets
19:51of determined Russian soldiers
19:52fought ferociously
19:54to the last man.
19:55The Germans were constantly surprised
19:59by the Russian will to fight.
20:04As the Germans penetrated
20:05deeper into Russia,
20:07Soviet resistance
20:08inspired by commanders
20:09like Georgi Zhukov
20:10invariably stiffened.
20:13They began to inflict
20:14heavier casualties
20:14on the Germans.
20:19They were learning quickly.
20:25The Red Army differed
20:27from the German army
20:28in one important respect.
20:30Women were drafted
20:31as well as men.
20:32They served as infantry,
20:34tank crews, gunners,
20:36and with Air Force units
20:37as well as many other branches
20:39of the military.
20:43Russian soldiers,
20:44male and female,
20:45adapted quickly
20:46to conditions
20:47considered impossible
20:48by even the most
20:49battle-hardened German.
20:51On the other side,
21:07the German army
21:08had been unstoppable
21:09in battle
21:09against the Poles,
21:11British, and French
21:12until now.
21:14Its troops felt invincible.
21:21The hordes
21:22of Russian prisoners
21:23and the poor tactics
21:24of their leadership
21:25reinforced the German belief
21:27that Russia
21:27was a primitive country.
21:33Compared to the Red Army,
21:35German armed forces
21:36were initially well-equipped
21:37and well-led.
21:43Their weakness
21:44was that over 50%
21:46of their supplies
21:46were still provided
21:47by horse-drawn transport.
21:51many Soviets
21:54initially welcomed
21:55the Germans
21:56as liberators
21:57after the excesses
21:58of Stalin's regime.
22:03But they were soon
22:05disillusioned
22:06by the German atrocities.
22:14By autumn of 1941,
22:16long German supply lines
22:18were becoming
22:18increasingly problematic.
22:21worse,
22:33they were becoming
22:33vulnerable
22:34to ambush
22:35and sabotage
22:36by bands
22:36of Russian partisans
22:37operating behind
22:39German lines.
22:39The disruption
22:53of German supply lines
22:55was partially responsible
22:56for the lack
22:57of winter clothing.
22:58Von Bock's men
22:59realized they would
23:00need winter clothes
23:01soon.
23:02But they hoped
23:03the Moscow campaign
23:04would be over
23:04before winter set in.
23:06So, preparations
23:16for Operation Typhoon
23:18continued in earnest.
23:19At the end of September 1941,
23:29the morale of German soldiers
23:31in Russia
23:31was beginning to fall.
23:40Hundreds of miles from home,
23:42casualties had mounted steadily.
23:44of the military.
23:46Unlike the Russians,
23:47the Germans knew
23:48they did not have
23:49an endless supply
23:50of manpower.
23:53With a mixture of hope
23:54and foreboding,
23:56von Bock's men
23:56moved into their final positions
23:58for the decisive offensive
24:00of Operation Typhoon
24:01on September 29th, 1941.
24:04They prayed the battle
24:10would end
24:10before they were trapped
24:12by the Russian winter.
24:22Meanwhile,
24:23the Russians desperately
24:24tried to reinforce
24:25their defenses
24:26before the inevitable
24:27German offensive began.
24:34Now, they could only watch
24:36and wait.
24:41In this macabre theater of war,
24:44two men were about
24:45to face off.
24:47Feder von Bock
24:47and Georgi Zhukov
24:49would personify
24:50their country's determination
24:51and weaknesses.
24:59On September 30th, 1941,
25:02German Field Marshal
25:04Feder von Bock
25:05unleashed Operation Typhoon.
25:07The poorly prepared
25:08Soviet defenses
25:09were soon subjected
25:10to pulverizing bombardment.
25:16Many Soviet positions
25:18were simply annihilated.
25:22Von Bock's Army Group Center
25:24penetrated the Red Army's
25:26defense lines
25:26and swiftly encircled
25:28almost five Russian armies.
25:32over 300,000
25:37Russian prisoners
25:38were taken.
25:43The stubborn resistance
25:44of many Soviet troops
25:45was all that prevented
25:47Von Bock's troops
25:48from bearing down
25:49on Moscow.
25:55At that point,
25:57the Soviet high command
25:58had no reserves left
26:00to protect
26:00the Russian capital.
26:02Von Bock's offensive
26:06continued.
26:07On October 3rd,
26:09Orel,
26:09northwest of the capital,
26:11fell.
26:22The next day,
26:23Kalining,
26:24north of Moscow,
26:25surrendered.
26:25Hitler was elated
26:29and announced
26:30that Russia
26:31would not rise again.
26:38Stalin,
26:39Moscow,
26:40and the Soviet Union
26:41appeared doomed.
26:46A desperate Stalin
26:48decided only one man
26:50could stem the tide.
26:51Gheorgi Zhukov
26:52arrived in Moscow
26:53on October 15th,
26:55well aware
26:56of his poor odds.
27:02Zhukov ordered
27:03battle-hardened
27:04Soviet commanders
27:04and troops
27:05into the lines
27:06defending Moscow
27:07to stiffen
27:08the general spirit
27:09of resistance.
27:10Von Bock's attacks
27:11were stemmed
27:12only briefly.
27:15But Zhukov himself
27:17doubted whether
27:17Moscow could be held.
27:19by mid-October,
27:23the Germans
27:24were approaching
27:24Vyazma,
27:25just 100 miles
27:26from Moscow.
27:35At first,
27:37the Russians
27:37were confident
27:38they could hold
27:39their positions
27:39and prevent
27:40the town's capture.
27:41But Red Army
27:50forces were
27:50quickly encircled.
27:57Many Russian troops
27:58attacked
27:59von Bock's panzers,
28:00artillery,
28:01and machine guns,
28:02armed only
28:03with rifles.
28:04They were mowed
28:05down like corn
28:06in a field.
28:07In the 12 days
28:15of this battle,
28:16over 150,000
28:18Soviet soldiers
28:19were killed.
28:20This represented
28:21over 50%
28:22of the total number
28:24of Americans
28:24killed in World War II.
28:30By now,
28:31the German army
28:32on the Eastern Front
28:33had taken over
28:342 million Soviet prisoners.
28:36Russia appeared
28:38to be on the verge
28:39of total collapse.
28:47On October 18th,
28:49von Bock's forces
28:50broke through
28:51the final Soviet
28:51defensive line
28:52west of Moscow.
28:54They were just
28:5580 miles
28:55from the capital.
29:00The next day,
29:02Stalin declared
29:03Moscow under
29:04a state of siege.
29:05He was on the verge
29:06of abandoning
29:07the Soviet capital.
29:11Despite Zhukov's
29:12presence,
29:13it appeared
29:13as if Moscow
29:14would fall
29:15within weeks,
29:16if not days.
29:17Von Bock was
29:18on the verge
29:19of victory.
29:21But just as
29:22von Bock's pincers
29:23were poised
29:24to encircle the city,
29:26it began to rain
29:27incessantly.
29:28The poor Russian roads
29:30and tracks
29:30quickly turned
29:32into impassable mud.
29:33the German offensive
29:37ground to a halt.
29:43Russian resistance
29:44and the mounting
29:45German casualties
29:46increasingly sapped
29:48German morale.
29:54Nevertheless,
29:55preparations for what
29:56was considered
29:57a decisive final assault
29:59continued.
29:59von Bock and his staff
30:08prayed for a frost
30:09to harden the ground.
30:15It came at the beginning
30:17of November.
30:18At first,
30:19all looked good
30:20for the planned attack.
30:24Once more,
30:25von Bock's troops
30:26prepared for what they
30:27hoped would be
30:28the final assault
30:29on Moscow.
30:36Meanwhile,
30:36Stalin agreed
30:37to Zhukov's demand
30:38that Moscow
30:39become the top priority
30:41for reinforcement
30:41by reserve troops.
30:43He now realized
30:44that Japan,
30:45with whom he had signed
30:46a non-aggression pact
30:47in April 1941,
30:50posed no immediate threat
30:51to Russia's eastern borders.
30:53The result was that
31:0040 divisions,
31:01almost three-quarters
31:02of a million men,
31:03were moved from Siberia
31:05to the Moscow front.
31:15Many troops arrived
31:16in Moscow in time
31:18for a parade,
31:19marking the 24th anniversary
31:20of the October 1917 revolution.
31:24When it ended,
31:24the troops went directly
31:26to the front line.
31:30In the meantime,
31:32existing defense lines
31:33around Moscow
31:34were strengthened
31:34by soldiers
31:35and civilians alike
31:36working by night
31:37and day.
31:43Von Bock's next advance
31:45began on November 15th.
31:47By the 23rd,
31:48his northern thrust
31:49was 30 miles
31:50from Moscow.
31:52The attack from the south
31:53was less than 60 miles
31:54from the city.
31:58At this stage,
32:00von Bock was optimistic
32:01that his renewed
32:02blitzkrieg tactics
32:03would succeed at last.
32:05His Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers
32:07bombarded
32:08Russian defensive positions.
32:15Then,
32:19as the artillery
32:20continued its bombardment,
32:22waves of von Bock's tanks
32:24advanced on their objectives.
32:25And then,
32:52Despite coming under fire and taking losses, the panzers pushed ever closer to the Russian
33:14captain. Zhukov's troops continued to fight with great courage. They were more used to
33:39the wintry conditions. But the Soviet defenders were eventually overwhelmed by the sheer tenacity
33:48of von Bock's attacking troops, who were desperate to finish the job.
34:04The Soviet defenders outside the capital were driven back and forced to surrender.
34:13By December 4th, some of von Bock's forward units were just 19 miles from Moscow. Despite
34:20wintry conditions, troops now reported seeing its spires through their binoculars.
34:29On the night of December 4th, 1941, victory appeared to be in von Bock's grasp. Then,
34:36the temperature fell to 22 degrees below zero. The same winter that frustrated Napoleon's
34:44attempt to reach Moscow now frustrated von Bock. Tank engines would not start and weapons were
34:53frozen solid. Von Bock's attack was halted in its tracks. His men were without adequate clothing
35:08and equipment for winter warfare. After four months of dwindling supplies and Hitler's insistence
35:20that the campaign be over by Christmas, von Bock's forces were dangerously exposed to desperate weather
35:27and a major Soviet counteroffensive.
35:29By now, a Soviet counterattack force was moving into position to strike back against the Germans.
35:45It was the moment that Georgi Zhukov had been waiting for.
35:52His massive assault hit von Bock's exhausted and disillusioned Army Group Center on December
36:106th, 1941. After a withering and concentrated preliminary bombardment, he played his trump card.
36:17Forty Siberian divisions attacked the bewildered Germans.
36:21The Germans were taken completely by surprise. They were thrown back in confusion with huge losses.
36:28Now, thousands of German troops were taken prisoner.
36:33The Germans were taken completely by surprise. They were thrown back in confusion with huge losses.
36:40Now, thousands of German troops were taken prisoner.
36:47Zhukov's attacks were relentless.
36:53The Soviet counteroffensive inflicted crippling damage on von Bock's forces across the Moscow front.
37:03The pounding continued as Zhukov's bombers and fighters attacked German troops almost at will.
37:22Hitler ordered von Bock to stand his ground.
37:31But von Bock knew that this would mean annihilation.
37:42He disobeyed the Fuhrer and withdrew.
37:59As he did so, Zhukov continued to harry the German forces.
38:07Within a few weeks, Zhukov's counteroffensive had driven von Bock almost 90 miles back from the edge of Moscow.
38:16The remnants of von Bock's Army Group pulled back to a more solid defensive line and held it.
38:25Zhukov continued to attack, but without success.
38:36By the spring of 1942, the Germans actually forced him back on the defensive.
38:43But Moscow had been saved.
38:48It would not be threatened again.
38:53Zhukov's star continued to rise between 1941 and 1945.
38:58As Stalin's most trusted general, he became a troubleshooter who turned crises into victories in his characteristically professional but ruthless manner.
39:09In August 1942, he became deputy commissar for defense and was personally involved in Red Army successes from Stalingrad onward.
39:17The final thrust into Berlin and seizure of the Reichstag marked the ultimate Soviet victory over Hitler's Germany.
39:36The German surrender ceremony in Berlin on May the 8th, 1945.
40:01This gave him the opportunity to meet his fellow commanders among the Western Allies.
40:13It was to Berlin that Zhukov returned at the end of 1945 as the Soviet Union's greatest soldier.
40:29His visit marked the unveiling of the Russian War Memorial in honor of the 12 million Russian soldiers killed in World War II.
40:40Zhukov was also given the great privilege of reviewing the Red Army in Moscow, a unique recognition of his role in the Soviet Union's victory over Nazism.
40:55Ironically, his reputation and popularity fueled Stalin's resentment.
41:09Zhukov was soon banished from Moscow when he was sent to command the Odessa district some 700 miles away.
41:16Zhukov was reinstated after Stalin's death in 1953.
41:22He became the Soviet Minister of Defense between 1955 and 1957.
41:28He spent his later years writing his memoirs and advising the Red Army prior to his death in 1974.
41:38After the Moscow debacle, Feder von Bock was removed from his command along with many other generals.
41:45This included the commander-in-chief of the German army, Field Marshal Walter von Draukitsch,
41:51and General Heinz Guderian, von Bock's most dynamic panzer commander.
41:57Their crime was their failure to take Moscow, even though Hitler had been the architect of that failure.
42:06But Hitler realized von Bock's worth and recalled him.
42:09He commanded army groups south between January and July of 1942.
42:15By then, von Bock was prepared to confront Hitler on his profligate use of his men.
42:21He clashed with the Fuhrer over military strategy.
42:24He was then relieved of his command for good.
42:27Despite his bitterness, he refused to join in the plots to assassinate Hitler.
42:35When Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, Feder von Bock was invited to help Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz broker an armistice with the Allies.
42:51Ironically, he was killed in northern Germany while en route to join Dönitz.
42:56An Allied fighter strafed his staff car on May 2, 1945.
43:08The battle for Moscow had been critical, not just for the Eastern Front, but for the war in general.
43:15Although the Allied victory was still years away, Hitler knew he had lost his golden opportunity to crush the Soviet Union.
43:26Germany suffered her first real reversal in World War II at the gates of Moscow.
43:32Its inability to take the Soviet capital committed Germany to an exhausting and bloody struggle on the Eastern Front,
43:39which ultimately led to defeat.
43:46For Georgi Zhukov, it was a clear triumph.
43:49But for Feder von Bock, the face-off could not escape the meddling hand of Adolf Hitler.
43:56The End of war lyons!
43:58The Smooth創造 tension
44:00The High Above
44:03The Hood
44:04The Thunder
44:08The End of war
44:09The New Finn