00:00October 18, 1944. Adolf Hitler issues a special directive for the creation of a new armed force.
00:08It's the Volkssturm, a militia with compulsory conscription involving German male citizens
00:14between the ages of 16 and 60, poorly trained and lightly armed. The Volkssturm militiamen
00:21are used as cannon fodder in the last desperate urban battles of World War II.
00:26Closely watched by the SS, members caught trying to escape are hanged from street lamps
00:31with warning signs directed at the civilian population.
