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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ003104S
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00:24 The greatest tank battle in history took place here in the 00:27 Ukraine. In June 1941 during the first week of Operation 00:32 Barbarossa, 00:34 the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the quiet cornfields and 00:38 small towns of western Ukraine were awakened by the clanking of 00:43 steel and the thunder of explosions. The battle of 00:46 Brody was underway. Three thousand tanks from the Red army 00:51 slammed into 800 Nazi tanks of the first SS Panzer Corp in an 00:58 enormous conflagration of flesh and metal. This was the first 01:02 of a series of huge tank battles along the Russian front that 01:07 would determine the outcome of World War II. Surprisingly these 01:12 great tank battles have a connection with a sleepy little 01:16 town in South Australia thousands of kilometers 01:19 away from here on the other side of the planet. But more 01:23 importantly they provide insight into universal war, the great 01:28 controversy that is still raging today and involves all of us. 01:33 Yes, even you and me. So stay tuned to hear all about it in 01:39 our new program, Defeat of Barbarossa. 01:44 ♪ ♪ 02:13 It happened in the predawn darkness of June 22, 1941. 02:18 Sudden hell broke loose as Hitler's war machine invaded the 02:23 Soviet Union. Tanks rolled and soldiers swarmed across the 02:27 border while bombs of the dreaded Luftwaffe screamed 02:30 overhead. The bloodiest land battle of history began at 3:30 02:36 that fateful June morning. It was a massive blitzkrieg of the 02:40 the Soviet Union covering a 3000 kilometer front from the Baltic 02:45 states down to the Black Sea. It was the longest battlefront in 02:50 military history. Hitler regarded the Soviet Union as his 02:54 natural enemy. He aimed to destroy its armies, capture its 02:59 vast economic resources and enslave its population, 03:03 providing the living space that he believed Germany needed in 03:07 the east. The Germans staged a three-pronged assault involving 03:13 five million troops, 150 divisions and 3000 tanks. To the 03:18 north they stormed through Lithuania toward Leningrad now 03:22 called St. Petersburg. Forces in the middle pillaged their way 03:26 east toward Moscow and to the south they plowed across the 03:31 the Ukraine toward Kiev and Stalingrad. Hitler called his 03:36 invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa after the 03:41 famed ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The attack caught Stalin 03:46 unprepared. The Soviets had not expected the Germans to break 03:51 their secret treaty so suddenly. Armed with the strategic element 03:56 of surprise the invaders made startling progress. In just a 04:01 single week German forces advanced 300 kilometers into 04:06 Soviet territory, destroyed thousands of aircraft and killed 04:10 and captured the wounded over half a million Red Army troops. 04:14 Hitler boasted that his Swastika would soon fly over Moscow 04:20 itself. Initially all went as planned. The Germans were 04:26 advancing on all fronts. Hitler had recognized the potential of 04:30 tanks in warfare. He saw them as one of the most important weapon 04:34 systems on the battlefield. Few weapons strike enemy soldiers 04:39 with the fear than a fully loaded tank rolling toward them 04:44 does. These armored fighting vehicles are specifically 04:49 designed for front line combat with heavy fire power, strong 04:54 armor, tracks and a powerful engine providing good battle 04:58 field maneuverability. And due to its use of tracks rather than 05:03 wheels tanks are like a moving fortress that can move over 05:07 rugged terrain in adverse conditions such as mud and be 05:11 positioned on the battlefield in advantageous locations. The 05:17 Germans designed a series of battle tanks called Panzers 05:21 and Operation Barbarossa was designed and planned around the 05:26 mass use of these tanks. Germany began their live style armored 05:32 campaign known as Blitzkrieg or lightening war spearheaded 05:37 by heavy concentrations of tanks combined with motorized and 05:42 mechanized infantry, artillery and air power designed to break 05:46 through the enemy front and collapse enemy resistance. This 05:52 strategy was particularly effective in the south as the 05:55 Panzers led the Nazi offensive into Ukraine. But the Germans 06:00 weren't the only nation that had amassed the tank force. The 06:03 Russians had also been busy. In fact by the start of the war, 06:07 the Soviets had built more tanks than the rest of the world 06:12 combined, about 22,000 and these included the iconic T34 model 06:18 which with its wide tracks, reliable engines heavy armor and 06:23 dual-purpose turret guns was considered the best medium tank 06:27 in the world. Germany and the Soviet Union built the best 06:33 tanks of World War II. So as the tank forces lined up against 06:37 each other in the small town of Brody western Ukraine, it was 06:42 the clash of titans. Eight hundred Nazi Panzers slammed 06:47 into 3000 Red Army tanks. It was the fiercest battle of the whole 06:53 invasion lasting over a week. The Soviets fought furiously and 07:00 the crews of the German of the German tank and antitank guns 07:03 found to their horror that the new Soviet T34 tanks were almost 07:09 immune to their weapons and the heavier series of Russian tanks 07:13 were impervious to virtually all German antitank weapons. The 07:18 headquarters of the Soviet 15th mechanized corp was destroyed 07:22 and its commander wounded. The Luftwaffe destroyed some 201 07:28 Soviet tanks in this one area alone. The Five Red Army Corp 07:33 opposing the Germans were mishandled while being 07:37 concentrated into large powerful groups. The German troops were 07:43 successful to isolate individual units and destroy them. 07:48 Meanwhile the Luftwaffe ranged free over the battlefields 07:52 bombing the Soviets incessantly and were able to separate the 07:56 supporting Soviet infantry and deny them resupply of fuel and 08:01 ammunition. Although the Red Army inflicted heavy losses on 08:05 the German forces and destroyed hundreds of Panzers, ultimately 08:10 they were out maneuvered by the Germans and suffered enormous 08:15 losses in tanks. In fact, they lost over 50% of their tanks. 08:20 That's more than 1500 of their tanks destroyed. The Battle of 08:28 Brody, the greatest tank battle in history, was a huge tactical 08:32 victory for Hitler and the Nazi war machine. But the victory 08:36 came with a cost. The first S.S. Panzer group had taken a severe 08:41 battering and required time to regroup. And further the battle 08:46 had taken German forces away from an early offensive 08:49 against Moscow and slowed down operation Barbarossa. This delay 08:55 would prove costly. In 1911 exactly 30 years before the 09:05 Battle of Brody a young Australian engineer and 09:09 inventor named Lance Demoll designed the first tank. Lance 09:14 was born in the small town of Wilunger in south Australia and 09:18 moved to Melbourne with his family when he was seven where 09:21 he completed his schooling. After leaving school he trained 09:25 as an engineer and draftsman. While working in the outback as 09:29 a civil engineer, he was having difficulty with his vehicles 09:33 getting bogged, so he invented a vehicle with what we now call 09:38 a caterpillar track that wouldn't get stuck in sand or 09:41 mud. He realized that this vehicle could be used in war. It 09:46 could be armor plated and fitted with guns and could drive 09:50 through barbed wire, cross ditches and trenches without 09:53 getting stuck. He described it as a mobile fortress. Lance 09:59 sent his design to the British war office. They politely 10:04 rejected his design as there was no need for such a machine at 10:06 that time and his plans were Pidgeon-holed. A friend advised 10:10 him to take his advice to the German consul. He declined as 10:15 he thought Germany could become an enemy at some later date. 10:19 With the outbreak of World War I he redesigned his mobile fort 10:25 and again forwarded it to the British war office in 1915. They 10:30 requested a working model which he provided. They liked what 10:34 they saw and recommended it to the tank board. The name tank 10:40 was given to the vehicle they were trying to build in an effort 10:43 to keep it top secret. They didn't want anyone to find out 10:49 what they were working on and so publicly they described it as 10:53 vehicle designed to carry water over rough terrain, a mobile 10:58 water tank. That's how it got its name "tank." The very first 11:03 tank they consequently developed had several of the features from 11:10 Lance's design. But the British war office paid no royalties to 11:14 the young Australian. After World War I ended the war 11:18 office awarded Lance Demoll expenses for his work and 11:23 awarded him the honor Commander of the Order of the British 11:27 Empire. And so 30 years after Lance Demoll first designed the 11:33 tank 100s of highly developed German Panzer tanks were moving 11:37 further east after their victory at Brody and on to Kiev, one of 11:42 the oldest cities in eastern Europe and the third 11:45 largest city in 11:46 the Soviet Union. Despite bad weather and courageous 11:52 resistance the Germans captured Kiev involving the largest 11:56 encirclement of troops in history. Nearly the entire 12:00 southwestern front of the Red Army was encircled with the 12:04 Germans capturing over 600,000 Soviet soldiers, 2642 guns and 12:11 mortars and 64 tanks. It was an unprecedented defeat for the Red 12:16 Army. The Nazis continued their relentless and seemingly 12:23 unstoppable march eastward toward Stalingrad. The city was 12:28 located in southwest Russia on the Volga river. It was a major 12:32 industrial and communications center for the Soviet Union in 12:37 the south. Also, it was named after the Soviet leader, Joseph 12:42 Stalin. This made the city important to Stalin and also 12:46 important to Hitler who hated Stalin. The battle began in July 12:53 1942 with the German air force, the Luftwaffe, bombing along the 12:57 Volga river and then the city of Stalingrad itself. They reduced 13:02 much of the city to rubble. Soon the German army moved in and was 13:08 able to take a large portion of the city. However, the Soviet 13:13 troops were not ready to give up Fighting in the city was fierce. 13:17 Soviets hid all over the city, in buildings and even the sewers 13:22 attacking the German soldiers. This brutal battle began to take 13:28 its toll on the Germans. In Nervenda, the Soviets gathered 13:35 and launched a fierce counter attack. They trapped the German 13:38 army inside the city. Soon the Germans began to run out of food 13:43 Finally weak from lack of food and freezing from the cold 13:47 winter, the majority of the German army surrendered. This 13:54 humiliating loss at Stalingrad left the German troops 13:56 demoralized. Hitler desperately needed a clear victory over the 14:01 Soviet Union to restore morale among his troops. He looked to 14:05 the small town of Kursk about 500 kilometers southeast of 14:10 Moscow to provide the opportunity he needed to finally 14:15 make a breakthrough and once again he turned to the SS Panzer 14:19 tank corp to lead the way and bring him victory. German forces 14:26 had trapped a sizeable portion of the Red Army near Kursk. The 14:30 German leaders believed they could launch and offensive to 14:34 destroy those forces and turn the tables against the Soviet 14:38 Union. Hitler planned an all out assault by German tanks and 14:43 aircraft, but he delayed the beginning of the operation 14:46 several times and this gave the Soviets plenty of time to 14:52 organize their defenses. On July 5, 1943, the Germans finally 14:57 launched their attack. They found little resistance at first 15:01 because the Soviet commander, Szukoff ordered his lines to 15:06 bend but not to break. The Germans soon overextended their 15:12 position. The major tank battle took place at Prokhorovka near 15:17 Kursk on July 12 when over 600 Soviet tanks smashed head-on 15:24 into 300 German tanks from the second Panzer corp. The fighting 15:29 was some of the fiercest in the history of tank warfare. The 15:33 Soviets lost about 400 tanks. About two-thirds of their force. 15:39 German tank losses were smaller by comparison, up to 80 tanks 15:45 destroyed. But the Germans weren't able to break through 15:48 the Russian lines and were too exhausted to continue their 15:51 offensive. And so the momentum swung to the side of the Soviets 15:57 who eventually won the battle of Kursk and destroyed the last 16:01 remaining reserves of Germany's Panzer power. It was the turning 16:13 point of Operation Barbarossa. The German offensive ended and 16:18 the Soviet offensive began. The Red Army began reclaiming lost 16:23 territory. By early November there on the outskirts of Kiev 16:28 and established their headquarters here at 16:30 the small village of 16:32 Navukitrasi. After three days of fierce fighting Kiev was 16:37 liberated and three years of Nazi terror ended. Today this 16:46 victory is commemorated by the huge motherland monument in the 16:49 heart of Kiev. It stands on the hill overlooking the city. The 16:54 stainless steel statue stands 62 meters tall with the overall 16:59 structure measuring 102 meters including its base and weighing 17:04 560 tons. The sword in the statue's hand is 60 meters long 17:11 and weighs nine tons. With the left hand holding up a 13 x 8 17:16 meter shield with the state emblem of the Soviet Union. It 17:21 stands today as a reminder that with the victory of Kiev the Red 17:26 Army was on the march westward and they didn't stop until the 17:31 Germans surrendered among the rubble and ruins of Berlin. 17:36 Operation Barbarossa remains the largest military operation 17:41 in manpower, area traversed and casualties in world history. The 17:48 failure of Operation Barbarossa 17:50 resulted in the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany and is 17:54 considered the turning point for Hitler and the Nazis. Most 17:58 importantly Operation Barbarossa opened up the eastern front 18:03 which ultimately became the biggest theater of war in world 18:07 history. The war had come full circle. Operation Barbarossa 18:14 began with the greatest tank battle in history and the 18:19 defeat of the Red Army a Brody. And just two laters it ended at 18:24 Kursk with another huge tank battle and the defeat of the 18:28 Nazis and victory for the Red Army. Yes, the war had come full 18:31 circle. And it reminds of another war; the universal war 18:38 the war behind all wars. It's a cosmic conflict between right 18:44 and wrong, between light and darkness, between God and a 18:50 rebel angel Lucifer. Surprisingly this war started in 18:55 heaven of all places. You can read all about it in the Bible. 18:59 Notice what it says here in Revelation: 19:33 Lucifer who became Satan through pride and jealousy wanted to 19:39 take the place of God. He wanted to take over, so he started a 19:45 rebellion, a war in heaven, a universal war. But Satan lost 19:49 the battle against God and he and his army of rebel angels 19:53 were cast to this world. And so planet earth became the arena 20:00 of the universal war. The war between good and evil, God and 20:07 Satan. Now God had created a perfect world for our first 20:11 parents, Adam and Eve. But Satan deceived them into joining his 20:16 rebellion against God. Sin entered the world and it seemed 20:20 that Satan had won the battle for planet earth in the great 20:24 universal war. Now all humanity is involved in this great 20:30 conflict, this universal war between God and Satan, between 20:35 good and evil. Yes, we're all involved, even you and me, and 20:42 as we know in our heart of hearts, we've all sinned and 20:46 joined the rebellion against God. Listen to what it says in 20:50 the Bible book of Romans chapter 3 and verse 23: 21:02 In this universal war, the war between good and evil, between 21:07 God and Satan, the entire human race has sinned and rebelled 21:13 God. Sin, rebellion, separates us from God and life. Here's 21:20 what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 59 verses 1 and 2: 21:34 Men and women were made for fellowship with God, to be in 21:40 harmony with their Maker. When humans sinned they turned away 21:45 from God, they rejected God, they rebelled against God. And 21:49 there are consequences associated with rebelling 21:52 against God. Listen to what the Bible says in Romans chapter 6 21:57 and verse 23. 22:03 So because we've all sinned and rebelled against God we're 22:10 doomed. But there's good news. In this universal war between 22:15 God and Satan, God has a solution. God sent his son Jesus 22:22 to pay the penalty for our sins, to die in our place. He is our 22:29 substitute. He died in our place On a hill called Golgotha the 22:35 critical battle in the great universal war took place and 22:39 when Jesus died on the cross it appeared that Satan had 22:43 defeated God and won the war. All the forces of the evil one 22:48 watched with glee as Jesus breathed his last. They were 22:52 even more delighted when his limp, lifeless body was placed 22:57 in a borrowed tomb. But then as the light broke on the 23:02 resurrection morning Jesus overcame death and emerged 23:06 victorious from the grave. He's our Savior and if we accept 23:11 him and believe in him our sins are forgiven and we have eternal 23:16 life. Listen to what the Bible says in John chapter 3 and 23:22 verse 16... 23:34 And so because Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins 23:39 whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever you've done 23:45 your guilt can be healed and your sins forgiven. Yes the war 23:49 that began in heaven is still going on in the universe and in 23:53 our hearts. We're all involved in this continuing universal war 23:58 bad things happen. We fall and get discouraged and depressed. 24:03 But no matter how long your guilt and sin have haunted you 24:08 tortured you, crushed you, you can take it to Jesus just now. 24:13 and come away free and assured of forgiveness. And here's the 24:18 good news. The universal war, the war between good and evil, 24:22 between God and Satan has just about come full circle. It's 24:28 just about over. The same Jesus who died on the cross is soon to 24:33 return as King of kings and Lord of lords. The great controversy 24:38 between good and evil will be over forever. Sin and evil will 24:44 be destroyed and this earth will be restored to its original 24:48 perfect condition. That's the kind of world I'm looking 24:52 forward to. How about you? Does the idea of living in perfect 24:57 peace and harmony appeal to you? If it does why not decide right 25:03 now as we pray to be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. 25:09 Dear heavenly Father, we are all soldiers in the battle of life. 25:14 We are living behind enemy lines Please give us strength to 25:19 endure the struggles and challenges of the universal war. 25:23 Lord we know the outcome of this great controversy and we want to 25:29 be on the winning side. We know that Jesus will be victorious 25:33 and that he is coming to make all things new. May we be ready 25:38 to meet Jesus when he comes. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 25:46 The battle of Brody was the greatest tank battle in history. 25:53 Three thousand tanks from the Red Army slammed into 800 Nazi 25:57 tanks of the First SS Panzer Corp in an enormous 26:02 conflagration of flesh and metal The battle provides insights 26:06 into the universal battle and the war behind all wars. It also 26:12 provides insight into our journey through life. If you're 26:17 battling with the trials and temptations of life and are 26:20 looking for support in your journey through life and would 26:24 like God to guide you then I'd like to recommend and free gift 26:28 we have for all our viewers today. It's the book The Great 26:34 Controversy. This book is our gift to you and it's absolutely 26:38 free. There are no costs or obligations whatsoever. 26:42 Thousands have been blessed and inspired by this book The Great 26:46 Controversy. So please don't miss this wonderful opportunity 26:50 to receive the gift we have for you today. 26:53 Here's the information you need. Phone or text us at 26:58 0436333555 in Australia or 0204222042 in New Zealand or 27:07 visit our website TiJ.tv to request today's free offer and 27:12 we'll send it to you totally free of charge and with no 27:16 obligation. Write to us at: 27:31 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:34 If you've enjoyed today's journey to Ukraine and our 27:37 reflections on Operation Barbarossa and the universal war 27:41 then be sure to join us again next week when we will share 27:45 another of life's journeys together. Until then, remember 27:50 the ultimate destination of life's journey. Now I saw a new 27:54 heaven and a new earth and God will wipe away every tear from 27:58 their eyes. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying 28:03 There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed 28:06 away. 28:08 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-07-07