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.

The final battle for Berlin in 1945 was not just the end of the war in Europe,

it was the violent collapse of Nazi Germany and the moment the shape of post-war Europe decided.

As the Red Army advanced from the River Order, they faced one last major obstacle in the Sealaw Heights.

What followed was a brutal and costly assault that opened the road to Berlin,

and then a savage fight through the city itself, street by street, building by building, until the German capital finally fell.

To guide us through these final days, I'm joined once more by Prutthar, one of the leading

historians of the Eastern Front and author of Berlin Endgame, 1945.

Welcome back, Prit.

If we're going to be looking at the battle for Berlin, we should perhaps offer some context

because the Russians have been closing in on Berlin from the

start of 1945 hadn't they? They've gone from the vestular to the order, which is at 300 miles,

and stopped 40 miles from Berlin, tantalizingly close. So why are they paused at the order?

Are they massing and getting their ducks in order for a final assault?

Why not push straight on? Because there was only one railway bridge across the entire

history, in short. So until those bridges are restored, you can't move ammunition supplies,

etc. for the daily consumption of the Red Army from Arctic Sea down to what now be the Czech frontier.

They were getting through 20,000 tonnes of supplies every day or two.

So without hot railways, even with Lendley's trucks, etc., you simply can't meet that tunnel gym equipment.

There does come a stage where you do have to have a logistic pause

...