- 7/10/2025
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00:00Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany and Hitler's power base.
00:08A gleaming city at the heart of the Führer's plan for an empire to outshine the Romans.
00:14Adolf Hitler censored himself as an architect.
00:19But then the Russians arrived, and Hitler must prepare Berlin for battle.
00:25It was all about elevating the most powerful cannons above the city rooftops.
00:32The city becomes a fortress.
00:35Buried at its center, the indestructible Führerbunker.
00:40This is where Hitler's gonna make his last stand.
00:43One million Russian soldiers, five layers of Nazi defenses,
00:49and a battle to decide the future of the world.
00:52This is the story of Fortress Berlin.
01:01The biggest construction projects of World War II.
01:05Ordered by Hitler to secure world domination.
01:11Now they survive as dark reminders of the Führer's fanatical military ambitions.
01:17These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
01:26April the 28th, 1945.
01:31The tanks of the Soviet Red Army roll through the streets of war-torn Berlin.
01:36German troops, many just children, lie in wait to defend their city from the Russian hordes.
01:4518-year-old soldier Dieter Borkowski will be an eyewitness to these unfolding events.
01:51All over the city are haunting reminders of these last days of the Nazi capital.
02:062Yeah!
02:15Historian and World War 2 expert Michael Dempsey has spent years piecing together the evidence.
02:20the battle of berlin was of a scale we can scarcely imagine over a million soviet red
02:29army soldiers are entering the city less than 100 000 are defending it the scale the intensity
02:35the brutality of this battle of berlin would beggar belief but for the evidence
02:40just 10 years earlier in 1935 the picture was very different berlin was the seat of nazi power
02:56a cosmopolitan world city and one of the cultural capitals of europe
03:02hitler and his chief architect albert speer had embarked on an ambitious construction program
03:08to transform the skyline of berlin adolf hitler always fancied himself as something of an artist
03:16as perhaps an architect a man with high cultural pretension colossal government buildings airports
03:26and stadiums all showcased at the 1936 olympic games
03:30hitler had even greater plans for the capital to make it the center of a thousand-year reich
03:39that would match the roman empire in scale and longevity
03:45hitler's new created berlin with his vast domes huge streets massive giant outsized
03:52edifices this is very much part of the german psyche
03:59hitler lays the foundation for his thousand-year reich by conquering large swathes of europe
04:08but in 1944 british and american troops land on the french coast and advance from the west
04:16in the east the russians push back from stalingrad until they cross the frozen river oder bringing
04:22them to within 48 kilometers of berlin and hitler
04:29the allies are on the verge of ending world war ii in europe
04:33the battle along this river could decide the fate of germany
04:37all the weapons you have are the last we have
04:42you must fight fanatically to stop the russian offensive
04:52hitler will never surrender
04:54he's a man of extremes so it's the thousand-year reich or it's collapsing in armageddon there's no
05:03middle ground it's always one or the other in his mind
05:08the fuhrer clings to the hope that one of his wonder weapons might yet turn the war back in his favor
05:15to buy time he holds out in berlin creating a castle of concrete and steel
05:21and ordering every last german to defend it to the death
05:26berlin of course it's going to become a fortress because it's the capital of the third reich this
05:30is where hitler's going to make his last stand
05:34hitler's plan is to encircle berlin in five layers of formidable structures
05:40starting with the first obstacle 59 kilometers of tank traps at silo heights
05:45an outer ring of defense including the telto canal
05:50an inner ring at the stronghold of templehof airport three enormous flak towers
05:57a final layer of waterways and the core of the fortress the citadel
06:03it is here that the reichstag and hitler's bunker are located
06:14this is a car park in the middle of berlin
06:16probably the most interesting car park in the world given that it is the authentic historical site
06:22of hitler's bunker
06:26eight meters beneath this car park are the remains of the infamous fuhrer bunker
06:33after the war the allies tried to demolish it to prevent it becoming a nazi shrine
06:38but it was too strong
06:42it wasn't until 1988 that the lid of that concrete case was actually destroyed over a six-month period
06:53the story of its construction and the start of fortress berlin
06:57begins with allied bombing raids over the capital
07:02the fuhrer no longer feels safe
07:04from the outset hitler has always been a bit obsessed with being underground
07:09like it goes back to his experiences in the trenches in the first world war you find a lot
07:13of people who've lived through the first world war they feel secure underground
07:19the nazis bury the fuhrer bunker deep beneath the chancellery gardens
07:24there are 30 small rooms distributed over two levels
07:28and hitler's room is in the deepest section with the most protection
07:34of berlin
07:3525 miles south of berlin in the town of zossen are the remains of another nazi complex
07:43that gives a unique insight into hitler's bunker
07:50former armored squadron leader nigel dunkley is an expert in the fall of berlin
08:04right here we are in the zossen funsdorf bunker complex this bunker complex was built by the same
08:11company that also built hitler's bunker so it's the last thing that we've got anywhere near or in berlin
08:18which is pretty well identical in construction and in atmosphere to hitler's bunker
08:23these bunkers cover an area of nearly 5 000 square meters
08:38it was the german military communication nerve center the nazi equivalent of the pentagon
08:43to protect it from allied air attack the engineers didn't just bury it 11 meters below ground
08:52they also gave it an impenetrable roof something hitler wanted in his bunker too
08:57this is three meters of reinforced concrete reinforced with steel rods
09:06now over hitler's bunker he had 4.5 meters of reinforced concrete designed
09:12to protect him from anything that either the soviets or anybody else could throw at him
09:20hitler's bunker is in the middle of the fortress
09:23like a castle it's surrounded with water the river spree and the landwehr canal encircle the citadel in a
09:31natural moat the next layer is the three flak towers fortresses 50 meters high each bristling with 20
09:41anti-aircraft weapons
09:48only one still exists and access to its extraordinary interior is limited
09:54local guide sean davies is an expert on their construction
09:58we're standing on the only side of the building that still survives the north face of the flak tower
10:05and it really gives us an idea of the scale of the building
10:08these flak towers will soon become the most important defensive structures in the whole of berlin
10:16but they get their start when allied forces begin to bomb the city
10:24the first british bombing raid found berlin relatively likely protected the reason is very simple
10:30the nazis had traditionally not thought that the british and indeed any other air force would
10:35successfully bomb germany hitler needs to protect berlin to preserve it for its future as the capital of
10:43his empire the nazis immediately embarked to the building program to create air raid shelters and
10:51fortresses uh to protect the cities from future bombing raids and that's what hitler was involved in
11:00the flag tower design is hitler's brain child
11:03and he employs his favorite architect to oversee the project albert speer
11:08this is how i see the new flag towers are they a viable design of course
11:25they are impregnable and they be guarding this new fabulous city of ours for centuries
11:30well albert speer is a very interesting character because he's an architect and he buys into hitler
11:38and he buys into what what the nazis represent but he's a hugely capable clever highly motivated individual
11:49hitler's design requires over 100 000 tons of tough concrete and steel
11:54every day 3 700 tons is shipped to the capital just to build the flak towers
12:04the railway timetable is changed to accommodate a never-ending stream of material
12:12despite their scale each of these bastions of fortress berlin are constructed in just eight months
12:24the flak tower was all about elevating the most powerful cannons in the uh german arsenal above
12:32the city rooftops giving them a perfect field of fire
12:39the square tower has four turrets each with dual 128 millimeter flag guns
12:46powerful weapons designed to bring down allied bombers
12:49soldiers but when the russians arrive these guns will be pointed down the streets
12:57one of the soldiers tasked with manning these flag tower guns is 18 year old dita borkowski
13:03who kept a diary recounting his exploits
13:11by 1945 teenagers like dita are typical of the inexperienced troops left to defend hitler's capital
13:19of the united states
13:23can i help you um please may i apply for a weekend leave pass to see my mother your name please
13:33dita borkowski similar to mine dombrowski inge where are you from i'm from berlin
13:49at just 18 nazi germany is all dita has known he will soon have to defend his family his furor and his nation
14:10february 1945 the soviet forces camped on the river oder plan their attack on berlin
14:16as their army grows with reinforcements from russia
14:25the allies send their bombers to flatten berlin and ease the way for the russians to invade
14:32from this height we could look out straight over the northern approach to berlin and of course
14:44the anti-aircraft guns would have had absolutely no problem turning and facing in any direction that the
14:51enemy bombers were using to fly into berlin
14:58on top of the flak towers anti-aircraft gunners battle to bring down the allied planes
15:04with guns capable of firing 13 kilometers they can create 360 degrees of cover
15:15and the sheer power of these weapons must be calculated into the building's design
15:34every time a shot was fired it created somewhere the region of 40 tons
15:38that punched down onto the building the allied bombers directly hit the flak towers numerous times
15:47but albert speer's design is working the sheer volume of material in the structures makes them
15:53indestructible the man responsible for what remains of these flak towers is sasha keel
15:59this is a very good point to show you how thick the wall was uh we have here two meters of steel concrete
16:07and i'm standing in the wall you have to imagine that the ceiling is double uh four meters of steel
16:13concrete and more
16:19the bombing of the city is relentless berliners turn to the enormous flak towers for protection
16:26over 15 000 crowd into each one
16:38in the citadel hitler also seeks shelter
16:45he has no choice but to move his command center underground into the safety of his bunker
16:55and the nazi elite have access to other purpose-built shelters
17:17so here we're in a luftschutzraum uh an air protection room an air raid shelter
17:31this is actually quite a small shelter but it would have been packed especially towards the end of the war
17:37we've got some sort of light comedy on the wall around me it's enough perhaps just to
17:48make this place seem more homely
17:56after every raid berliners like dieter borkowski emerge to find their magnificent city bond into oblivion
18:07the city of the city of berlin when you look at pictures of of berlin by the spring of 1945 this
18:12is a post-apocalyptic world it's a world of shattered buildings of barely a single pane of glass
18:20still intact there's rubble everywhere there's gaunt thin emaciated people there's disease there's open
18:29sewage this is a town a city that has already been destroyed before the soviets have got
18:35within artillery range of the capital
18:42berliners are terrified of the advancing russians they have a fearsome reputation
18:48earlier in the war the nazi army had marched all the way to the gates of moscow
18:52inflicting brutal atrocities on the people who stood in their way
18:56but when the war turned the russians fought all the way back to the edge of the german capital
19:03with one thing on their minds
19:07the soviet army had fought relentlessly through areas that uh extended from stalingrad all the
19:13way to the gates of berlin they'd seen horrific things they had seen what nazi soldiers had done
19:18as they progressed towards through the occupied territories where the reich had been and they
19:24arrived at the gate ready to take revenge
19:35refugees fleeing from the east arrive in the city with tales of the treatment berliners can expect from the
19:41soviets silence
19:48what did she say nothing don't lie
19:56she said when the russians come
19:59they'll take us to the mines in siberia and our women will all be turned into prostitutes
20:11come with me
20:20march 1945 after camping on the river oder for two months the soviets have stockpiled over seven
20:27million shells ready to fire at berlin the allies in the west have crossed the river rhein
20:33this time against the advice of his generals hitler is determined to defend his capital even without
20:40his promised wonder weapons
20:44albert spare his architect came to him and said listen we need to do something in order to protect
20:48german industry so that we can rebuild properly after the defeat hitler said after the defeat are
20:54you kidding there will be no defeat and the next day issued his mural order scorched earth policy
20:59that berlin would not be left standing with anything of value that soviets could use
21:06the enemy will leave us nothing but scorched earth when he withdraws
21:13without paying the slightest regard to our population
21:19i order anything of value which could in any way be used by the enemy to be destroyed
21:24that the enemy will be used by the enemy will be used by the enemy will be used by the enemy
21:29nothing should be left
21:34in a stunning turn hitler proposes demolishing industrial complexes strategic railways and ancient bridges
21:44destroying priceless architectural wonders is something that horrifies his chief architect
21:49at this stage of the war it makes no sense for us to undertake demolitions which may strike at the
21:58very life of the nation we must leave nothing for the russians but by destroying everything if you could
22:06believe that the war can still be won if you could at least have faith in that all would be well do you
22:13i cannot with the best will in the world
22:22i do not want to be another swine in your entourage who tells you they believe in victory when i don't
22:28do you have 24 hours to think over your answer
22:41so
22:52march the 30th 1945 albert speer bends to hitler's will
22:58he starts the strategic demolition of the nazi industrial machine
23:0148 kilometers away the soviet forces are camped on the west bank of the river oda
23:0916 kilometers from the first line of defense silo heights ready to attack
23:18they have now assembled 41 heavily armored divisions and over 9 000 assault guns
23:25the russians weren't even considering attacking unless they had 10 to one
23:28and preferably 40 to one at least at the main point of attack in other words overwhelming numbers
23:37one million russian troops 2500 tanks and 1500 rocket launchers
23:45hitler's generals know they're hugely outnumbered but the fuhrer won't listen to their concerns
23:59these generals they tell me this is not possible and that is not possible unbelievable
24:08the army must hold the russians at the order
24:15the sort of 30 miles to berlin between the river oda and the capital is open so this is your sort of
24:22last defense before the red army reaches the capital the heart of the third reich
24:29the german generals know the only way to hold back the red army
24:33is to take advantage of natural terrain between the soviet camp on the river and the capital
24:40so we are standing on the zelo heights and this is the last high ground before you get to the city
24:46itself making this an ideal position for the germans to then defend from silo heights the germans will
24:53see the enemy's two and a half thousand tanks advance the nazis need to reduce russian tank numbers
25:00and even the odds ingeniously they exploit what already exists in the german countryside
25:07so they're going to adapt the irrigation ditches that crisscross this uh landscape and they're going
25:13to adapt them to form anti-tank ditches an anti-tank ditch must be wider than the length of the tank
25:19tracks so it can't drive over the top the ditch edge is angled to 70 degrees gentle enough for the tank to
25:27drive straight into the trap so they will have to be bridged by engineers that will cause the tanks to
25:34stop a static tank is easier to hit than a moving tank and again around these obstacles you can
25:41concentrate anti-tank weapons the germans create over 58 kilometers of trenches and anti-tank ditches
25:51to defend silo heights
26:04the final battle the fight for berlin begins at 3 a.m on april the 16th 1945
26:15a first light russian tanks and infantry surge forward
26:21the soviets were in a rush at this point they wanted to make their way as fast as possible into fortress
26:28berlin but at the end of the first day the russians still haven't taken silo heights
26:37to their horror they discovered that the german defenses were much more effective than they had imagined
26:46amazingly even though they're outnumbered 10 to 1 the germans hold back the mighty red army for four days
26:53of german ingenuity and solid determined defense was going to last forever it really was only a
27:07question of time before sheer weight of numbers and dogged determination on the soviet side won the day
27:15eventually russian engineers bridge the tank traps and on april the 19th the soviets overcome silo heights
27:25they've lost over 30.000 men and 700 tanks that are one step closer to berlin
27:34at the furor bunker hitler is celebrating his 56th birthday
27:44in what will be his last public appearance and the last footage of him
27:49he greets a selection of the hitler youth who survived silo heights
27:53adolf hitler is congratulating and indeed decorating boys with medals of honor the iron cross for their
28:04courage in taking on soviet tanks in many cases at close range
28:11outside berlin nearly 2 000 russian tanks are storming towards the outer defense ring of the city
28:17to combat these tanks the nazis have a revolutionary weapon a lightweight anti-tank missile launcher
28:26the panzer faust no no no stupid you have to keep it down have a look i'll show you
28:38this groundbreaking missile can pierce nearly 10 centimeters of armor at a range of 100 meters
28:47the panzer faust literally the tank fist was ahead of its time it was very simple technology in fact
29:06you could give this to a young boy or an old man and they would fire it with confidence because this is a
29:13recoil less weapon there's no kick i'd indeed if you can get close enough to the tank you can be confident
29:20that the warhead will do its work in the city berliners old and young train with this latest in nazi
29:28weapon engineering and soon they will be tested the soviets reached the telto canal
29:3625th of april the soviet red army managed to cross this canal somehow they get inflatable boats across
29:44here uh they then establish a bridge head and then they're bringing up barges to create improvised
29:50pontoon bridges to bring more infantry and more soviet armor more tanks uh in their wake they are then
29:56moving and moving fast up to the next concentric ring within berlin's defense system the inner ring
30:03the telto canal berlin's outer defense ring crumbles in just four days
30:12the soviets are now less than six kilometers from the fuhrer bunker
30:19hitler's generals want to flee and he is furious
30:23you all offer me cowardice and baseness all around me is disloyalty for years you my generals have
30:37resisted me constantly for years you are traitors traitors
30:45i can no longer lead you villains every order waste of my breath
30:57but gentlemen if you believe that i will leave berlin
31:05you're scarly mistaken
31:06i'd rather put a bullet through my head
31:14hitler is going nowhere he still believes his fortress berlin will not fall to the soviets
31:21but they're closing in fast and have reached one of the most formidable structures in the inner defense
31:26ring temple hoff airport as a command post is where you've got food stored ammunition stored everything
31:34that's required for a defense is going to be concentrated in this particular kind of a building in this fortress within a fortress
31:45it's an important prize for the soviets
31:47as they desperately need an airport to resupply their exhausted army
31:54but the germans have turned the airport into a stronghold
31:57so what you've got here is a series of towers behind me it's like a castle in that respect
32:06call it the great wall of china in a way you've got these flat towers where you can sight artillery
32:12without a problem and indeed this is a raised trench wall in a way you can sight artillery behind this
32:19visual screen that could fire then at higher elevation and take on the soviets
32:27the fighting is intense and evidence of it can still be seen in the burnt out tunnels under temple hoff
32:46this would have been a really confusing chaotic environment lots of noise people shouting orders
32:58to and throw when you're coming into these spaces with the electricity out filled with smoke and dust brick
33:04dust and what have you
33:13eventually the sheer volume of troops in the red army wins out
33:17and by april the 27th the soviets have control of temple hoff it is a massive strategic victory
33:26just 36 hours after the battle ends in this particular place
33:30they're actually flying biplanes into this particular part of berlin to get soviet casualties out
33:38resupply fighter aircraft are coming in
33:43the soviets resupply and push on
33:47they face strong resistance from the remaining berliners defending the city
33:58berlin has been hit with over two million artillery rounds
34:13and the resulting debris forms natural tank obstacles and barricades
34:19the more confusing the terrain for the tank the better chance i have of catching that tank at close
34:25range take out the turret and then take out the main armament in the process
34:37russian tank superiority accounts for little
34:40as the hitler youth with their portable panzer faust adopt hit and run tactics
34:55the more useful
35:06every hour the red army inches closer to the fiora bunker
35:10and hitler
35:13berliners driven back by the advancing tanks seek refuge in the indestructible flag towers
35:18there's somewhere in the region of 15 000 civilians should have come inside the key word there is of
35:28course should because we know that people were crowding into these buildings three to four times the
35:34official number of civilians pushing the way inside up to 60 000 citizens cower in each of the three flag
35:43towers relying on the massive concrete for survival outside the red army throw everything they have at these last great nazi structures
35:55the russian tanks stood over there some 300 meters and they tried to blast through the three meter
36:05strong concrete steel concrete wall but they didn't manage
36:12despite the entire might of the soviet army being turned on the flag towers they are still standing
36:18they're able to resist the soviets they couldn't do anything about the soviets swallowing up the rest
36:26of the berlin which simply meant of course that the soviets just had to wait at some point the people
36:32inside would have to give up
36:37the russians simply leave the flag towers and flood past towards hitler's bunker and the reichstag
36:43the next defensive line is the water surrounding the citadel the germans have blown every bridge across
36:53except one the outer ring of defense has been broken the inner ring of defense has been broken and now we
37:00are at the defense line for the citadel itself the citadel on the other side of the water here but german army
37:08engineers have failed to break destroy the motka bridge this bridge is the last major defensive
37:16strongpoint between the soviet army and hitler's bunker itself
37:29april the 28th 1945 at dusk the soviets launched their attack on berlin's citadel
37:37if they can seize control of the maltka bridge the city will fall this bridge was heavily and bitterly
37:45defended the closer that you got to the citadel the more desperate and the more fanatical the troops
37:53will become defending this bridge is the last hope for the nazis if the soviets cross they are within
38:01touching distance of their ultimate prize hitler in his bunker it was extremely important for the soviets
38:08to get the body of hitler to be able to show it to their public they fought so hard against him
38:12against a regime that was a top-down regime with hitler as the leader the fuhrer
38:18the soviets secure the bridge by midnight they are at last in the citadel
38:23there is now only the fuhrer bunker between the soviets and hitler he puts his last plan into action
38:32the 29th he marries eva brown his long-term mistress rewarding her for her misplaced loyalty
38:47on the 30th of april at approximately 3 30 pm he will commit suicide with her in the bunker itself
39:04but i saw that he knew what had happened to missolini in italy he'd been urinated on in public he'd been
39:10taken and hung in the main square in milan hitler had his body incinerated in order to avoid that fate
39:16From the Führer's headquarters, it is announced that our Führer, Adolf Hitler, this afternoon
39:33at his command post in the Reich's Chancellery, fighting till his last breath against Bolshevism,
39:42fell for Germany.
39:50After the news of Hitler's death, Berliners felt abandoned and betrayed by the man who
39:55had set himself up as their leader, as if you like the father of the nation.
40:01Inside the Flak Tower, Dieter discovers tragic casualties. Nearly 4,000 Berliners decide to
40:08end their lives during the battle, instead of surrendering to the Soviets.
40:15Uh, Sergeant? Have you seen Inge Dombrovsky?
40:23She is dead. Lieutenant Seidler shot her.
40:30The Soviets are outside the government buildings and the Reichstag.
40:46Three attempted assaults are held off, with heavy Soviet losses. They have to blast their
40:56way in through the bricked-up entrances and resume hand-to-hand fighting.
41:01Eventually, by 2240 hours, on the 30th of April, 1945, the red flag of the Soviet Union is
41:13raised above this building. That means that systematically, every line of defence put in
41:20their way by the Germans defending has been broken by the Soviet Red Army. Beyond that, Nazi
41:26Germany has shown to be defeated, and the war in Europe is all but over.
41:41A modern city revered just a few years earlier has been reduced to rubble. Just seven hours
41:49after Hitler's suicide, Fortress Berlin has fallen.
42:01A quarter of the city lay in ruins. 500,000 apartments were destroyed. The infrastructure
42:07of a very modern city was in tatters. There was no safe drinking water. You had women forced
42:12into slave labour, moving stones from this rubble to clear streets. And more than anything else, the stench.
42:18The stench of collapsed buildings with bodies that were rotting under it.
42:25The Soviet forces lost over 80,000 men in the Battle of Berlin. German casualties number close to double that.
42:32I think we should remember that the Battle of Berlin should never have been fought. And that the only reason it was fought was because Adolf Hitler, the man who could always have surrendered and bowed to the inevitable, didn't. And the whole of this city, and much more besides, would then be sacrificed on the altar of his ego.
42:49Albert Speer serves 20 years in jail for his role in Nazi war crimes. When released in 1966, he writes about his experience as the architect of the Third Reich.
43:10Dieter studies history at Berlin University and becomes a journalist. He dies of natural causes in 2000, aged 71.
43:27After Berlin falls, Nazi Germany officially surrenders one week later on May the 8th, 1945. And victory in Europe is declared. With the Japanese surrender nearly four months later, World War II is at an end.
43:45Despite all the military technology and megastructures pioneered by the Nazis, Hitler's Third Reich has ultimately failed. And over 60 million people have lost their lives in the deadliest conflict in history.
44:00After a second, it was a national release.
44:06Inonely, the first wave of the war, the warф the war, the man is fighting for the Nazis, and teammates, and determinates of the warf the warf the warf.
44:13Inonely, it's a national flag.
44:16It's been a national flag. It's been a national flag for the Nazis.
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