This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the sheets of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns.

Berlin is a city steeped in history, with its streets, buildings and scars bearing witness to the dramatic events of the 20th century.

From the rise and fall of the Third Reich to the Cold War divisions that shaped the modern city,

Berlin remains a living museum of its past.

Yet beyond the well-known landmarks,

countless hidden stories lie waiting to be uncovered.

I'm Angus Wallace and this is the World War II podcast.

Joining me today is Peter Graham,

a historian and guide who runs walking tours of Berlin, offering visitors an in-depth look at the city's wartime history. He also manages the popular Facebook page Berlin Battle

Damage, which explores the lasting marks of war still visible today. We'll be discussing his work,

the fascinating remnants of history that can be found across Berlin,

and how walking the city's streets brings the past to life.

Peter, so thanks for joining me.

So we're going to be looking at Berlin, which was in ruins after the war from bombing and the Battle for Berlin.

But to start, I wonder, what are the most prominent Second World War landmarks that are still standing

and have survived the destruction that we can see today? There's quite a lot still standing,

actually. A lot of the central government district very heavily hit, obviously, by the Allied bombing

campaign and then subsequently in the Battle of Berlin. But there's a lot of buildings

that survived in various states of disrepair. The obvious one being, it's not a Nazi-era building,

but the Reichstag would be the big one, although it was built in 1894 and was burnt out in

...