Soviet Storm: WWII in the East: Series 2

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Contents 1 General Information 2 Cover 3 Information 3.1 The Liberation of Ukraine 3.2 Operation Bagration 3.3 The Air War 3.4 The War at Sea 3.5 The Partisan War 3.6 The Secret War 3.7 The Battle for Germany 3.8 The Battle of Berlin 3.9 War Against Japan 4 Screenshots 5 Technical Specs 6 Links 6.1 Release Post 6.2 Related Documentaries 6.3 ed2k Links

[edit] General Information

War Documentary hosted by David Riley and Mike Cooper, published by Star Media in 2012 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

On 22nd June 1941, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa--the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia. Four million troops, backed by 19 panzer divisions, fought their way east, confident of total victory within a just few short months. They were wrong. Instead of collapsing, the Soviet Union held strong and--under the utterly ruthless leadership of Josef Stalin--fought a savage, four year war of attrition on a scale the world had never before witnessed. Over 30 million people would be slaughtered in the horror, most of them civilians. Four out of every ten German soldiers to be killed in WWII would die fighting the Russians. The Red Army suffered ten times as many dead as the Western Allies combined. Hitler and Stalin were prepared to accept losses on any scale in the pursuit of victory. Soviet Storm tells the complete story of the War on the Eastern Front, profiling the epic campaigns and battles, revealing the tactics employed by both sides and exposing the true horrors of a conflict almost unimaginable in its sheers cruelty and depravity. Here were the greatest civilian losses the largest battle and the biggest tank battle--Kursk--the world has ever seen. This was war on a scale and ferocity never seen before as Hitler and Stalin battled for the future of the world. Soviet Storm: WWII In The East tells the incredible stories from the Second World War's biggest and bloodiest theatre of war. Told from an unprecedented Russian perspective the episodes explore some of the most devastating battles of World War II from the Red Army's catastrophic encirclement at Kiev in 1941 to the notorious Rzhev meat-grinder. The series also looks at the dramatic recovery of the Soviet air force from it's almost total destruction in the first days of the war, the role of Baltic Sea Fleet submarines, the brutal partisan war fought against a backdrop of Nazi genocide, and the crucial role of Soviet secret intelligence. Across 18 episodes the biggest battles, the key personalities and the decisive weapons of the war are examined in depth including legendary tanks like the T-34 and the Tiger, and less well-known Soviet aircraft such as the Ilyushin 2 flying tank or the superb Lavochkin La-5 fighter. From the German invasion of 22nd June 1941 through to the brutal fighting outside the gates of Moscow, the savage street-fighting of Stalingrad, and the long, bloody road to Berlin, this is an epic retelling of the world s most devastating conflict. Especially produced to mark the 75th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa with unrivalled access to rare and and previously unseen combat film from military archives, Soviet Storm WW2 in the East is by far the most detailed and extensive film history of the war on the Eastern Front ever released. Produced by Star Media and Babich Design for Channel One Russia; english edition for History UK

[edit] The Liberation of Ukraine

Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, is, after a lengthy battle, back in Soviet hands. But now they have to clear the Germans and German allies out of the Crimea and liberate the rest of Western Ukraine. Hitler declared the Crimea a "Festung," meaning it should be held at all cost and to the last man. The German 17th Army was effectively destroyed in the process.
Since the defeat of Hitler's troops at the Kursk Bulge, the front line has invariably moved west. In August 1943, along the entire front, in a strip of 1400 kilometers, the Russians were advancing with the support of aviation and tanks. The retreating German troops tried to organize an effective defense, but the onslaught of the combined armies, renamed the Belorussian and Ukrainian fronts, did not give hope of success. The last hope was to organize a defense using a natural obstacle - the Dnieper River. If Germans could prevent the Red Army to be able to transfer heavy equipment across the Dnieper, then one could hope for success. Without the support of tanks, any army will not be able to win victories, let alone advance.

[edit] Operation Bagration

By summer 1944, Germany has undeniably lost the battle of the USSR. After the Soviet victories at Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and Leningrad, the Soviet Union, with its practically unlimited resources of manpower and materiel, begins to rapidly push the Germans back toward the German border. On 22 June 1944, Stalin launches Operation Bagration, named after a Russian hero of the Napoleonic Wars.
In the summer of 1944, in accordance with agreements with the allies, an offensive by Soviet troops was expected on one of the important sectors of the front. But in which sector the offensive would take place was kept in the strictest confidence. However, the commander of the Belorussian Front, Marshal Rokossovsky, not only knew about the offensive, but also secretly prepared for it. During the day, along the entire length of the front line, an impression of the army's withdrawal into deep defenses was created, and at night the coming heavy trains unloaded their cargo, the arriving T-34 tanks, as well as a novelty - minesweeping tanks with heavy, spiked devices for detonating shells on minefields and buried explosive devices.

[edit] The Air War

On 22 June 1941, German pilots were the first to see the sun rise. Before the day was over, the Soviet Air Forces had lost almost 2,000 aircraft. The early German air superiority gave a significant boost to German confidence, and severely damaged Soviet military capability and morale. The air wars over the USSR would be some of the biggest and toughest in military history.
Before the war attack aircraft of both sides had similar flight performance, and the air fleets of the Germans and the Russians were in approximately equal conditions. But soon the German designer Messerschmitt was able to achieve a significant increase in the speed of aircraft - up to 620 kilometers per hour, while the Soviet I-153s were still flying at a speed of 428 kilometers per hour, which did not prevent them from playing a significant defensive role, but in the attack they were useless. In addition, literally in the first days of the war, the entire fleet of Soviet aviation was seriously damaged, turned into wreckage, without even making a single takeoff. The heroism of the Soviet pilots, who carried out bombing flights with small forces and means, amazed even the German command.

[edit] The War at Sea

Hours before the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Germans, along with their Finnish allies, begin mining the Gulf of Finland to prevent any naval evacuation of Soviet troops and ships. When Operation Barbarossa begins, Axis U-boats begin pounding the grand Soviet Navy, primarily based at Leningrad.
On the night of June 21, 1941, the Germans finished mining the Gulf of Finland in order to block the Soviet fleet in the harbors and prevent it from entering the sea. However, the naval forces of the USSR were, apparently, better prepared for the outbreak of war than their land counterparts. Alert state level 2 was announced in the fleet on June 19, and on the night of June 22, 1941 red alert combat readiness level 1 was announced, i.e. martial law was declared, although there was still no message about the beginning of the war with Germany. The calculation of the German command was precisely to lock up all the ships and submarines of the USSR at their bases with mines. Therefore, the massive bombing was carried out not at sea, but at air bases located along the entire western border of the Soviet Union.

[edit] The Partisan War

By 1943-1944, as the Germans are desperately struggling to hold their ground, they are increasingly hindered by the Soviet partisans, which contain many former Red Army soldiers that had been cut off behind enemy lines. The Germans responded with intensive counter-insurgency campaigns and brutal reprisals against the civilian population.
Already on July 3, 1943, in Stalin's appeal to the Soviet people, there was a call for partisan struggle in all the occupied territories of the USSR. Guerrilla warfare must create unbearable conditions for the enemy and go in all directions: the destruction of roads, bridges, warehouses of weapons and ammunition in the occupied territories, setting fire to forests and positions where the enemy army is stationed. Under the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, a special unit was created under the leadership of P. Sudoplatov, the most important component of which was the organization of the partisan movement. The movement of tank echelons in 1942 near Stalingrad was noticeably suspended and sabotaged by the partisans operating in these places.

[edit] The Secret War

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Polish and British have succeeded in de-coding the top secret German military codes known as "Enigma." This information, referred to as "Ultra" by the Allies, becomes vital for the Allies' military situation in North Africa, the Soviet Union, and Northern France.
Back in the 1920s, the young Soviet republic began to create its own network of illegal residencies in various countries of Europe, Asia and America. Undercover intelligence included both legal intelligence agents using their diplomatic or other cover, and illegal immigrants working under forged documents. Each resident in this or that country led recruiters, radio operators, couriers, sometimes playing several roles in the field at the same time and risking their life every hour. Immediately the day before the start of the war, the USSR naval attache in Germany Pavel Vorontsov was summoned to Moscow, who arrived in Moscow with a particularly valuable cargo - fresh reports from intelligence officers personally for I.V. Stalin.

[edit] The Battle for Germany

Germany is retreating on all fronts and suffering defeat after defeat. The breach of Germany's pre-War borders now seems inevitable. Desperate, Hitler orders all males between the ages of 16 and 70 to enlist and fight for the fatherland. Nazi ideologues put faith in victory and the Nazis seem to vanquish and suppress all forms of doubt and resistance in the last months of the Reich.
Since the fall of 1944, the front line along the Vistula River has worried the German command. After all, this direction, between Warsaw and Belgrade, was the most dangerous direction leading directly to Germany. However, the Soviet command withdrew part of the troops to the south and north from this main direction, and the Germans hoped to hold the defense firmly, and all the more, a new defense plan was invented and implemented, which provided for the withdrawal of the first line of defense to the second line during artillery preparation in order to reduce losses. And suddenly an important message comes from one of the defectors from the side of the Red Army. The soldier of the penal battalion reported that the Soviet troops were secretly preparing for a massive breakthrough across the front line.

[edit] The Battle of Berlin

Germany has without question lost World War II in Europe, but Hitler, by now a heavily medicated and deluded character, refuses to give up hope; he orders the roughly one million German soldiers left in the ruined city to defend Berlin, now a strange mix of combat veterans, teenage boys from the Hitler Youth, and old men from the People's Army.
The last months of the war in Germany were marked by the fact that experienced soldiers were replaced by old men, women and teenagers, who also took up arms. Especially for the conduct of war on its territory in Germany, easy-to-use Panzerfaust launchers were developed that could penetrate powerful tank armor. Warhead entered inside the tank through a small hole, no more than the thickness of the little finger, then the cartridge exploded and destroyed everyone in the tank. Against this calamity, Soviet tank crews came up with a home-made protection in the form of a net, upon contact with which the faust warhead exploded even before it hit the armor. The 1st Belorussian Front was breaking through to Frankfurt an der Oder, which opens the way to Berlin.

[edit] War Against Japan

The war in Europe is over. However, in the Pacific East, the United States is still fighting the Japanese, who consider surrender the greatest humiliation for a soldier. Stalin promises to help Roosevelt, but the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Japan suddenly alters the calculus for the Allies. Despite the devastation, the Japanese military vows to fight on.
Throughout the entire period of the Great Patriotic War, the situation in the Far East remained invariably difficult. There wasn't any active hostilities until 1945, truce was achieved by the incredible efforts of diplomats and military attaches, but in the immediate vicinity of the border with Japan, a grouping of 40 divisions had to be maintained. In April 1945, while Soviet troops were finishing off the enemy in East Prussia, the strengthening of the Far Eastern Front began. Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky was seconded to the Far East to conduct active operations, and as a significant reinforcement, the 5th and 39th armies from Prussia and several armies from the liberated Czechoslovakia were transferred there.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: H.264 CABAC High@L4
Video Bitrate: 4 183 Kbps
Video Resolution: 1920x1080
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
Audio Codec: E-AC3
Audio Bitrate: 224 kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 45 min
Number Of Parts: 9
Part Size: 1.41 GB
Source: WEB DL
Capper: DRY for MVGroup

[edit] Links

[edit] Release Post

• MVGroup.org (torrent)

[edit] Related Documentaries

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• Soviet Storm: WWII in the East: Series 1
• War on the Eastern Front: Leningrad
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[edit] ed2k Links