A Lend lease U.S. C-47 (military version of Douglas DC-3 aircraft) is seen in sky above a Soviet airfield during World War 2. It lands and taxis past a Soviet Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber, to a parking place. Marshal of Soviet Union, Georgy Zhukov, is seen beside the aircraft along with other senior Soviet military officers. Next, he leads them, walking across a cobblestone path. A factory building is seen in the background. Change of scene shows inside of a large room, with numerous chairs and tables covered with maps. Senior Soviet officers sit at these tables. Camera pans over the scene. General Aleksei Innokentievich Antonov is seen seated at one of the tables. Other Generals and Colonels are seen as the camera moves its focus. Marshal Zhukov presides over the meeting from a table at the front of the room. He is flanked by two other officers. Camera again pans over the assembled group of high ranking officers.
Animated map displays various paths by Soviet forces attacking in Battle of Berlin and in other parts of Germany, during late phase of World War 2. Closeup of a scale model of Berlin and environs. Soviet officers stand around a table holding the model. Soviet soldiers in the field look at maps depicting their areas of operation. Tank crews check maps for their operations. Aviators consult charts. View from underneath a Soviet aircraft of Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft parked on an airfield. Aerial view, from low overflying airplane, of rough field filled with parked aircraft. Heavy artillery hidden in woods. Personnel carriers and trucks parked in a field. Soldiers cleaning large artillery shells. Camouflaged tanks in readiness. A heavy siege gun opens fire and large explosion lifts huge amounts of earth into the air. Soldiers throw shells to artillery men manning a heavy gun. Many different views of artillery firing at night. Many Katyusha rockets being fired at night. Progress of soviet offensive is indicated on the animated map. More artillery firing.
Film opens showing two German women holding a basket of flowers, and scattering them on pavement in advance of a German military parade of Panzer III tanks, through a residential area of Berlin, Germany in World War 2. German civilian spectators line both sides of the road. Women throw flowers at the passing tanks, each of which has a German soldier standing in it dressed in a special uniform with a sash, and holding a flag. Brief closeup of older man and woman standing by a German soldier in uniform. Crowd occupies a town square and watch as the tanks pass them. Closeup of an old man watching the tanks. Camera pans to an open windows of a building where many very young children watch the parade. View from high vantage point showing long line of tanks and sidewalks filled with enthusiastic spectators. Closeup of the crowd rendering the Nazi salute. Adolf Hitler seen standing hatless, with arms crossed, in an open vehicle with two guards and a flag behind him. Another closeup of arms being raised in Nazi salute by everyone in the crowd. Abrupt change of scene to Berlin after its capture by Soviet forces late in World War 2 following the Battle of Berlin. View from high above of German civilians massed in a crowd where Soviet soldiers are distributing loaves of bread to German citiznes. Closeup of German civilians struggling to get some. A Soviet woman soldier taking bread from a truck for distribution. German civilians standing on a sidewalk next to a Soviet army truck. Closeup of a Soviet army woman soldier distributing blocks of food from the truck to civilians in food relief effort. Another Soviet woman officer stands overlooking the crowd. Closeup of German woman holding a soft straw shopping bag. Soup kitchen or soup line scene where a Soviet soldier is using a large, long handled ladle to put soup from a large pail into an old woman's pot. An old woman walking slowly along a street, where fires are burning
Opening scene shows Katyusha rockets fired by Soviet forces in streets of Berlin at night during World War 2, during Battle of Berlin. They create fires in Berlin buildings leading to fire storm with whole buildings engulfed in flames. Soviet troops are silhouetted against the fire backdrop as they rush through the city streets. Insert of German film showing Adolf Hitler standing on a podium at a torchlight ceremony with Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers) prior to World War 2. They march carrying torches as Hitler gives Nazi salute from the podium. Views of the torches in formation and glimpse of the Storm troopers marching. Film reverts back to 1945 and German prisoners of war being marched under guard as Soviet troops fire Katusha rockets in the background,during daylight, in Berlin. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, on KurfĂĽrstendamm is seen dimly. Soviet troops scamper among ruins of buildings and self propelled gun fires in a street. Desperate German civilians enter a damaged store and loot fabric and clothing as well as small boxes of goods. One man carries a huge pile of clothing and towels on his back.
Combat footage filmed during the Soviet invasion and Battle of Berlin, Germany during World War 2. Smoke rises from damaged bridges and railroad lines. Ruined buildings of Berlin in aftermath of Soviet air and ground attacks. Piles of captured German weapons. German police officers and soldiers being taken as prisoners of war. Surrendering German troops march along a street. Grafitti on building wall says "Surrender - No." White surrender flags hang from windows and balconies of buildings. (These are contrasted by edited insert of German swastika flags covering the facades of buildings in the past.) German General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defense Area leads other Gernan officers from a bunker in the city, following their surrender to the Soviets on May 2, 1945. Large number of surrendering German soldiers marching, while General Weidling and other Berlin Defense Area officers quietly watch as their troops march past, as prisoners.
Film begins showing German General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defense Area, who surrendered his forces to the soviets on May 2, 1945, during World War 2. He is describing to a Soviet officer, interogator, using a pointer and map, the defense tactics of his Berlin defense. He also describes the condition in which he found Adolf Hitler when he last visited him at his Berlin Chancery. He demonstrates the palsy-like shaking of Hitler's hand. German officer being questioned as he sits on a curb. Soviet officers examine charred bodies including a possible Hitler body double or doppelgänger, lying on the ground in courtyard of the German Chancery. The area filled with trash. View of a very tall steel tower. Closeup of the Soviet Red flag flying atop that tower. View of the damaged Quadriga statue atop the Brandenburg Gate. Soviet Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov and other Soviet officer pass under Brandenburg Gate. View of Kaiser Wilhelm monument. Marshal Zhukov and his party walking through central Berlin past various monuments and Government buildings. Several Nazi Eagle symbols are seen displayed on buildings. Crystal chandeliers inside one building. Destroyed interior of building. A cast head of Adolf Hitler in trash outside a building. Other statuary and Swastika symbols in trash. Marshal Zhukov and party stop to examine two damaged German armored cars in courtyard of a building. View of the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park adorned with a Soviet Red flag. Marshal Zhukov looking upward at it and then walking up steps toward the monument base.
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