WEBVTT

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NARRATOR: 3:15 a.m., June 22, 1941 - The
German Wehrmacht invade the Soviet Union.

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Operation, code name Barbarossa, is launched.

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At 1,600 kilometers, it is
the longest front in history.

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More than three and a half
million German and allied soldiers

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are in active combat, supported by
artillery, air force, and tanks.

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The German propaganda declares the
offensive as a pre-emptive strike,

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for which the Soviets are unprepared.

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GERHARD GOERTZ: "They even came out in
their night shirts and started shooting.

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They were taken by complete surprise."

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NARRATOR: A Non-aggression Pact between the
two dictatorships is officially in force.

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Only one year earlier, the Soviet Foreign
Minister paid a goodwill visit to Berlin.

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WEEKLY NEWSREEL: "In the new Reich Chancellery,
Molotov was welcomed by the Führer for a long

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discussion."

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NARRATOR: At the same time, secret preparations
for Operation Barbarossa are in full swing.

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Soviet Russia is to be
crushed in a swift campaign,

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according to the German plan of attack.

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In May 1941, Moscow displays its
strength at a Military Parade.

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Stalin has long been warned of
the planned German offensive.

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But he does not believe
Hitler will dare to attack.

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Only a few weeks later, German fighter
planes dominate Soviet air space.

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Despite clear warnings, the Red
Army is not ready for action.

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The invaders are confident of victory.

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Along a broad front, the Wehrmacht occupies the
Ukraine, White Russia, and the Baltic States.

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During the battles of those first months,
the defenders suffer enormous losses.

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In 1941 alone, over three million Russian
soldiers are captured by the Germans.

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The majority of them die in
the POW camps as intended.

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HERBERT BAIER: "Our superiors
told us time and time

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again that the Russians
were subhuman, uneducated,

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so the Russians were given short shrift.

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And we were also told that we'd be home by
the end of December, in time for Christmas."

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NARRATOR: Hitler and his generals
conduct a war of destruction,

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in violation of international law.

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General Field Marshal Keitel prepares
a batch of criminal directives.

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One of them, the so-called Commissar
Order,directed Communist Party officials to be

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shot immediately upon capture
for all the world to see.

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WILLI HANISCH: "I was there
and saw with my own eyes

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how the commissars were picked out and
just shot right there on the street."

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NARRATOR: The Wehrmacht also conducts
man-hunting raids on the Jewish population.

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WILLI HEIN: "They were dragged
from their homes and led away

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and had to bring along their
spades and dig their own graves.

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And then the military police just shot them."

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NARRATOR: Destruction: the goal
of Hitler's ideological war.

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