Liberation

This sweeping Soviet epic follows the Red Army's turning of the tide from the massive tank battle at Kursk through the liberation of Soviet and Eastern European territory to the final assault on Berlin. Fictional soldiers move through reenactments of the war's largest engagements alongside dramatized Soviet and German high command.

Produced with extensive state support and thousands of military extras, the film cycle was intended as the definitive Soviet cinematic account of the war's decisive final years, emphasizing the Red Army's central role in defeating Nazi Germany.

As a state-produced epic, it presents a heroic Soviet perspective with staged high-command scenes that simplify real strategic debates.

Germany's last major offensive in the east broke against defences prepared in depth, and the Red Army held the initiative thereafter.

Soviet intelligence anticipated the attack and built belts of minefields and anti-tank positions. The armoured clash near Prokhorovka on 12 July has become emblematic, though its scale is often exaggerated. Soviet counter-offensives retook Orel and Kharkov.

Directed by Yuri Ozerov

Cast: Nikolai Olyalin, Larisa Golubkina, Mikhail Ulyanov

Positioned at July 1943 – May 1945 within the Soviet offensives from Kursk to Berlin phase of the war, as part of the Kursk to Berlin campaign. This is entry 101 of 150 in the chronological archive.

• Kursk
• Berlin
• Soviet epic
• multi-part
• Red Army

• 

  Come and See

  1943

• 

  Ivan's Childhood

  1943–1944

• 

  White Tiger

  1943–1945

• 

  The Fall of Berlin

  April-May 1945

• 

  The Zone of Interest

  1943–1944

• 

  Uprising

  19 April – 16 May 1943