Scorched Earth | The Wehrmacht in Russia - Army Group North (Episode 1)

A 1999 Cromwell Production War Documentary series, narrated by Graham McTavish.

On June 22nd 1941 three huge German Army Groups launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Russia. The most barbaric, drawn-out and brutal struggle in history was about to be played out to the death. This military documentary looks at the savage fighting on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, as Nazi Germany confronted the Soviet Union.

History is always written by the victors, but this documentary focuses on the other side of the coin. This series shows the war in Russia from the German experience, a powerful study of that titanic conflict as seen through contemporary German newsreels and told in the perspective of the men who fought and died for Hitler. Each episode traces the fate of the three army troops which began the campaign and follows the course of this vicious campaign as the optimism of Barbarossa inexorably rolls on towards to the crushing disappointment of the final surrender to the victorious Red Army. Includes expert analysis from Professor John Erickson, rare archive footage, and informative graphics.

Episode 1: "The Forgotten Soldiers of the Russian Campaign." This is how the long suffering soldiers of Army Group North described their war in Russia. June 1941 saw Hitler launch his audacious bid to conquer Russia and his attempt to succeed where Napoleon had failed. Army Group North swept through the Russian defenses and closed in on the iconic city of Leningrad in less then two months. So began the now infamous siege that would cost the lives of soldiers and civilians alike, and coin the phrase "the eternal war of the poor man". Away from Leningrad a titanic struggle ensued all along the front line, including operations in and around the Baltic Sea, Norway and Finland. While titanic struggles were being played out in Stalingrad, Kursk and Moscow, Army Group North maintained a long drawn out siege in Leningrad. Then in 1944, the front flared into life and a desperate life or death struggle began, as Army Group North began the dangerous retreat back to the borders of the Reich.