Who stormed Berlin in 1945. Berlin offensive operation

How did this most important historical event take place? What preceded it, what were the plans and alignment of forces of the warring parties. How the operation of the Soviet troops to capture Berlin developed, the chronology of events, the storming of the Reichstag with the hoisting of the Victory Banner and the significance of the historical battle.

The capture of Berlin and the fall of the Third Reich

By mid-spring 1945, the main events were unfolding across a large part of Germany. By this time, Poland, Hungary, almost all of Czechoslovakia, Eastern Pomerania and Silesia had been liberated. Red Army troops liberated the capital of Austria, Vienna. The defeat of large enemy groups in East Prussia, Courland, and the Zemland Peninsula was completed. Most of the Baltic Sea coast remained with our army. Finland, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy were withdrawn from the war.

In the south, the Yugoslav army, together with Soviet troops, cleared most of Serbia and its capital Belgrade from the Nazis. From the west, the Allies crossed the Rhine and the operation to defeat the Ruhr group was coming to an end.

The German economy was experiencing enormous difficulties. The raw materials areas of previously occupied countries were lost. The decline in industry continued. Military production fell by more than 60 percent in six months. In addition, the Wehrmacht experienced difficulties with mobilization resources. Sixteen-year-old boys were already subject to conscription. However, Berlin still remained not only the political capital of fascism, but also a major economic center. In addition, Hitler concentrated his main forces with enormous combat potential in the Berlin direction.

That is why the defeat of the Berlin group of German troops and the capture of the capital of the Third Reich was so important. The Battle of Berlin and its fall was supposed to put an end to the Great Patriotic War and become a natural outcome of the Second World War of 1939-1945.

Berlin offensive operation

All participants in the anti-Hitler coalition were interested in the speedy completion of hostilities. Fundamental questions, namely: who will take Berlin, the division of spheres of influence in Europe, the post-war structure of Germany and others were resolved in Crimea at a conference in Yalta.

The enemy understood that the war was strategically lost, but in the current situation he tried to extract tactical benefits. His main task was to prolong the war in order to find ways to enter into separate negotiations with the Western allies of the USSR in order to obtain more favorable terms of surrender.

There is also an opinion that Hitler had hope for the so-called retaliation weapon, which was at the stage of final development and was supposed to change the balance of power. That is why the Wehrmacht needed time, and losses did not play any role here. Therefore, Hitler concentrated 214 divisions on the Soviet-German front, and only 60 on the American-British front.

Preparation of an offensive operation, position and tasks of the parties. Balance of forces and means

On the German side, the defense of the Berlin direction was entrusted to army groups "Center" and "Vistula". The construction of layered defense was carried out from the beginning of 1945. The main part of it was the Oder-Neissen line and the Berlin defensive region.

The first was a deep defense of three stripes up to forty kilometers wide, with powerful strongholds, engineering barriers and areas prepared for flooding.

In the Berlin defensive area, three so-called defensive rings were equipped. The first, or external, was prepared at a distance of twenty-five to forty kilometers from the center of the capital. It included strongholds and points of resistance in settlements, defense lines along rivers and canals. The second main, or internal, up to eight kilometers deep, ran along the outskirts of Berlin. All lines and positions were tied into a single fire system. The third city circuit coincided with the ring railway. The command of the Nazi troops divided Berlin itself into nine sectors. The streets leading to the city center were barricaded, the first floors of buildings were turned into long-term firing points and structures, trenches and caponiers were dug for guns and tanks. All positions were connected by communication passages. For covert maneuvers, it was planned to actively use the metro as rolling roads.

The operation of the Soviet troops to capture Berlin began to be developed during the winter offensive.

Plan for the "Battle of Berlin"

The command’s plan was to break through the Oder-Neissen line with coordinated strikes from three fronts, then, developing the offensive, reach Berlin, encircle the enemy group, cut it into several parts and destroy it. Subsequently, no later than 15 days from the start of the operation, reach the Elbe to join the Allied forces. To do this, the Headquarters decided to involve the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts.

Due to the fact that the Soviet-German front narrowed, the Nazis in the Berlin direction managed to achieve an incredible density of troops. In some areas it reached 1 division per 3 kilometers of front line. The army groups “Center” and “Vistula” included 48 infantry, 6 tank, 9 motorized divisions, 37 separate infantry regiments, 98 separate infantry battalions. The Nazis also had approximately two thousand aircraft, including 120 jets. In addition, about two hundred battalions, the so-called Volkssturm, were formed in the Berlin garrison, their total number exceeded two hundred thousand people.

The three Soviet fronts outnumbered the enemy and had the 21st combined arms army, 4 tank and 3 air forces, in addition, 10 separate tank and mechanized and 4 cavalry corps. It was also planned to involve the Baltic Fleet, the Dnieper Military Flotilla, long-range aviation and part of the country's air defense forces. In addition, Polish formations took part in the operation - they included 2 armies, a tank and aviation corps, 2 artillery divisions, and a mortar brigade.

At the beginning of the operation, Soviet troops had an advantage over the Germans:

• in personnel by 2.5 times;
• in guns and mortars 4 times;
• in tanks and self-propelled artillery units by 4.1 times;
• in airplanes 2.3 times.

Start of operation

The offensive was about to begin April 16. In front of him, in the offensive zone of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, one rifle battalion from each tried to open fire weapons on the front line of the enemy’s defense.

IN 5.00 On the appointed date, artillery preparation began. After that 1 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal Zhukov went on the offensive, delivering three blows: one main and two auxiliary. The main one is in the direction of Berlin through the Seelow Heights and the city of Seelow, auxiliary ones are to the north and south of the capital of Germany. The enemy stubbornly resisted, and it was not possible to take the heights from a swoop. After a series of outflanking maneuvers, it was only towards the end of the day that our army finally took the city of Seelow.

On the first and second days of the operation, fighting took place in the first line of defense of the German fascists. Only on April 17 was it finally possible to make a hole in the second lane. The German command tried to stop the offensive by bringing available reserves into the battle, but were unsuccessful. The battles continued on April 18 and 19. The pace of progress remained very slow. The Nazis were not going to give up; their defenses were filled with a large number of anti-tank weapons. Dense artillery fire, constrained maneuver due to difficult terrain - all this influenced the actions of our troops. Nevertheless, on April 19, at the end of the day, they broke through the third and final line of defense of this line. As a result, in the first four days the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front advanced 30 kilometers.

The offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Konev was more successful. During the first 24 hours, the troops crossed the Neisse River, broke through the first line of defense and penetrated to a depth of 13 kilometers. The next day, throwing the main forces of the front into battle, they broke through the second line and advanced 20 kilometers. The enemy retreated across the Spree River. The Wehrmacht, preventing a deep bypass of the entire Berlin group, transferred the reserves of the Center group to this area. Despite this, our troops crossed the Spree River on April 18 and broke the front line of the defense of the third zone. At the end of the third day, in the direction of the main attack, the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced to a depth of 30 kilometers. In the process of further movement, by the second half of April, our units and formations cut off Army Group Vistula from the Center. Large enemy forces were semi-encircled.

The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, According to the plan, the attack was supposed to take place on April 20, but in order to facilitate the task, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front began to cross the Oder on the 18th. By their actions they drew part of the enemy’s forces and reserves onto themselves. Preparations for the main phase of the operation were completed.

Storm of Berlin

All 3 Soviet fronts before April 20 basically completed the task of breaking through the Oder-Neissen line and destroying Nazi troops in the suburbs of Berlin. It was time to move on to the assault on the German capital itself.

Start of the battle

On April 20, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front began shelling the outskirts of Berlin with long-range artillery, and 21 broke through the first bypass line. From April 22, fighting took place directly in the city. The distance between the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front advancing from the northeast and the 1st Ukrainian Front from the south decreased. The preconditions were created for the complete encirclement of the German capital, and the opportunity also arose to cut off from the city and encircle a large group of the enemy’s 9th Infantry Army, numbering up to two hundred thousand people, with the task of preventing its breakthrough to Berlin or retreat to the west. This plan was put into effect on April 23 and 24.

To avoid encirclement, the Wehrmacht command decided to withdraw all troops from the western front and throw them into the relief blockade of the capital and the encircled 9th Army. On April 26, part of the forces of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts took up defensive positions. It was necessary to prevent a breakthrough from both inside and outside.

The battles to destroy the encircled group continued until May 1. In some areas, fascist German troops managed to break through the defense ring and go westward, but these attempts were stopped in time. Only small groups were able to break through and surrender to the Americans. In total, in this sector, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts managed to capture about 120 thousand soldiers and officers, a large number of tanks and field guns.

On April 25, Soviet troops met with American troops on the Elbe. Through well-organized defense and access to the Elbe, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front created a very successful bridgehead. It became important for the subsequent attack on Prague.

Climax of the Battle of Berlin

Meanwhile, in Berlin, fighting reached its climax. Assault troops and groups advanced deeper into the city. They consistently moved from building to building, from block to block, from area to area, destroying pockets of resistance, disrupting the control of the defenders. In the city, the use of tanks was limited.

However, tanks played an important role in the Battle of Berlin. Tempered in tank battles on the Kursk Bulge, during the liberation of Belarus and Ukraine, tankers were not intimidated by Berlin. But they were used only in close cooperation with infantry. Single attempts, as a rule, led to losses. Artillery units also encountered certain application features. Some of them were assigned to assault groups for direct fire and destructive shooting.

Storming of the Reichstag. Banner over the Reichstag

On April 27, battles for the city center began, which were not interrupted day or night. The Berlin garrison did not stop fighting. On April 28, it flared up again near the Reichstag. It was organized by the troops of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. But our soldiers were able to get close to the building only on April 30.

The assault groups were given red flags, one of which, belonging to the 150th Rifle Division of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, later became the Victory Banner. It was erected on May 1 on the pediment of the building by soldiers of the rifle regiment of the Idritsa division M.A. Egorov and M.V Kantaria. It was a symbol of the capture of the main fascist stronghold.

Victory Standard Bearers

While preparations for the Victory Parade in June 1945 were in full swing, the question did not even arise about who to appoint as the Victory standard bearers. It was Egorov and Kantaria who were tasked with acting as assistants to the flag bearer and carrying the Victory Banner across the main square of the country.

Unfortunately, the plans were not allowed to come true. The front-line soldiers who defeated the fascists were unable to cope with combat science. In addition, battle wounds were still making themselves felt. Despite everything, they trained very hard, sparing neither effort nor time.

Marshal G.K. Zhukov, who hosted that famous parade, looked at the rehearsal of carrying the banner and came to the conclusion that it would be too difficult for the heroes of the Battle of Berlin. Therefore, he ordered the removal of the Banner to be canceled and the parade to be held without this symbolic part.

But 20 years later, two heroes still carried the Victory Banner across Red Square. This happened at the 1965 Victory Parade.

Capture of Berlin

The capture of Berlin did not end with the storming of the Reichstag. By May 30, the German troops defending the city were cut into four parts. Their management was completely disrupted. The Germans were on the brink of disaster. That same day, the Fuhrer took his own life. On May 1, the Chief of the Wehrmacht General Staff, General Krebe, entered into negotiations with the Soviet command and proposed a temporary cessation of hostilities. Zhukov put forward the only demand - unconditional surrender. It was rejected and the assault resumed.

In the dead of night on May 2, the commander of the defense of the German capital, General Weidling, surrendered, and our radio stations began to receive a message from the Nazis asking for a ceasefire. By 15.00 the resistance had completely ceased. The historical assault is over.

The Battle of Berlin ended, but the offensive operation continued. The 1st Ukrainian Front began a regrouping, the purpose of which was to attack Prague and liberate Czechoslovakia. At the same time, by May 7, the 1st Belorussian reached a broad front towards the Elbe. The 2nd Belorussian reached the shores of the Baltic Sea, and also entered into interaction with the 2nd British Army positioned on the Elbe. Subsequently, he began the liberation of the Danish islands in the Baltic Sea.

Results of the assault on Berlin and the entire Berlin operation

The active phase of the Berlin operation lasted just over two weeks. Its results are as follows:

• a large group of Nazis was defeated, the Wehrmacht command practically lost control of the remaining troops;
• the bulk of Germany's top leadership was captured, as well as almost 380 thousand soldiers and officers;
• gained experience in using different types of troops in urban battles;
• made an invaluable contribution to Soviet military art;
• According to various estimates, it was the Berlin operation that dissuaded the leadership of the United States and Britain from starting a war against the USSR.

On the night of May 9, Field Marshal Keitel signed an act in Potsdam that meant the complete and unconditional surrender of Germany. So May 9 became Great Victory Day. A conference was soon held there, at which the fate of post-war Germany was decided and the map of Europe was finally redrawn. There were still a few months left before the end of the Second World War of 1939-1945.

All heroes of the battle were noted by the leadership of the USSR. More than six hundred people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In addition, in order to recognize special services to the Fatherland, a medal was developed "For the capture of Berlin." An interesting fact is that the fighting in the German capital was still ongoing, but in Moscow they had already presented a sketch of the future medal. The Soviet leadership wanted Russian soldiers to know that wherever they fought for the glory of their Motherland, their heroes would find their rewards.

More than a million people were awarded. In addition to our soldiers, soldiers of the Polish army who particularly distinguished themselves in battle also received medals. There are a total of seven such awards, established for victories in cities outside the borders of the USSR.

When planning the Berlin offensive operation, the Soviet command understood that heavy, stubborn battles lay ahead. More than two million soldiers and officers of the Red Army became its true heroes.

Whose army would be the first to approach the German capital - already at the beginning of 1945, this question turned out to be a key one for the Allies. Each of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition sought to conquer Berlin before the others. Capturing the main lair of the enemy was not just prestigious: it opened up broad geopolitical prospects. Wanting to get ahead of the Red Army, the British and Americans joined the race to capture the German capital.

Race for Berlin

Back at the end of November 1943 Franklin Roosevelt held an Anglo-American-Chinese meeting on board the battleship Iowa. During the meeting, the US President noted that the opening of a second front should take place primarily because the Red Army troops are located only 60 miles from the border with Poland and 40 miles from Bessarabia. Even then, on board the Iowa, Roosevelt pointed out the need for the United States and Great Britain to occupy most of Europe, while declaring that “Berlin must be taken by the United States.”

The “Berlin Question” was also discussed in Moscow. When on April 1, 1945, the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal, was summoned to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Georgy Zhukov and commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Ivan Konev, there was only one question on the agenda: who will take Berlin?

Road to Berlin

By that time Stalin has already received information that the Allies are preparing a group of troops under the command of Field Marshal to take the capital of Germany Bernarda Montgomery. Marshal Konev assured the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that Berlin would be taken by the Red Army. Zhukov announced the readiness of the 1st Belorussian Front to carry out this task, since it had enough forces and was aimed at the main city of the Third Reich from the shortest distance.

On the same day, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent to the American President Franklin Roosevelt telegram with the following content:

“Nothing will have such a psychological impact and cause such despair among all German resistance forces as an attack on Berlin. For the German people this will be the most convincing sign of defeat. On the other hand, if Berlin, lying in ruins, is allowed to withstand the Russian siege, then it should be taken into account that as long as the German flag flies there, Berlin will inspire resistance from all Germans under arms.

Fight on the streets of Berlin.
Photo by Vladimir Grebnev/RIA Novosti

Besides, there is another aspect of the matter which you and I would do well to consider. The Russian armies will undoubtedly conquer all of Austria and enter Vienna. If they capture Berlin, will they not have a very exaggerated idea that they have made an overwhelming contribution to our common victory, and might this lead them into a frame of mind which will cause serious and very significant difficulties in the future? Therefore I believe that from a political point of view we should advance as far east as possible in Germany and that if Berlin comes within our reach we should certainly take it. This seems reasonable from a military point of view as well.”

"It's too high a price"

However, the Allies soon abandoned the idea of ​​storming the German capital. The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Dwight Eisenhower. Back on March 27, 1945, during a press conference, he made it clear: the troops subordinate to him would not force the attack on Berlin. To the question of an American correspondent: “Who will enter Berlin first, the Russians or us?” - the general replied: “The distance alone suggests that they will do this. They are thirty-five miles from Berlin, we are two hundred and fifty. I don't want to predict anything. They have a shorter distance, but the main forces of the Germans are in front of them.”

On March 28, 1945, Eisenhower, in a personal message to Stalin, announced that he planned to encircle and defeat enemy troops in the Ruhr region in order to isolate the area from the rest of Germany and thus speed up the overall defeat of the enemy. It is obvious that the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe to abandon the attack on Berlin was caused, among other things, by the understanding of the high price that would have to be paid for this. Thus, the commander of the 12th American Army Group, General Omar Bradley(it was his troops who operated on the central sector of the front) believed that the capture of the German capital would cost about 100 thousand soldiers' lives. “This is too high a price for a prestigious property, especially considering that we will have to transfer it to others,” Bradley said. (Berlin was part of the Red Army's occupation zone, so even if the Allies had taken it first, they would still have been forced to abandon the city.) As a result, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then President Roosevelt, supported Eisenhower's decision. The Red Army was to storm Berlin.

The defense commander and commandant of Berlin, General Helmut Weidling, leaves the command bunker and surrenders. May 1945 / TASS Photo Chronicle

When planning the Berlin offensive operation, the Soviet command understood that heavy, stubborn battles could not be avoided. The enemy was still strong and had no intention of giving up.

The basis of the city's defense was the Oder-Neisse line and the Berlin defensive region. The line, the depth of which in some areas reached 40 km, included three defensive lines. The main one had up to five continuous lines of trenches, and its front edge ran along the left bank of the Oder and Neisse. 10–20 km from it there was a second defense line with the Seelow Heights, which were the most technically equipped. The third was created at a distance of 20–40 km from the front edge. The German command skillfully used natural obstacles to organize defense: lakes, rivers, canals and ravines.

This well-fortified and almost impregnable fortress was to be taken by storm by Soviet troops.

Under the spotlights

On April 16, 1945, two hours before dawn, the roar of more than 40 thousand guns and mortars announced the beginning of the final operation to defeat Nazi Germany. And shortly before the artillery preparation, 743 long-range bombers launched a massive attack on the enemy’s defenses. For 42 minutes, bombs rained down on the heads of the fascists. The power of the fire was enormous. On the first day of the operation alone, the front artillery used up 1 million 236 thousand shells (that’s almost 2.5 thousand railway cars).

Immediately after the artillery barrage, Soviet troops and the 1st Army of the Polish Army rushed forward. Powerful searchlights shone behind the advancing fighters, blinding the enemy. Soviet planes were in the air. Then, in just the first 24 hours, our pilots dropped over 1.5 thousand tons of bombs on the enemy. And in the first hours, the offensive of the 1st Belorussian Front developed successfully: infantry and tanks advanced 1.5–2 km.

Participated in the Berlin operation 2.5 million Soviet soldiers and officers. Our troops were armed with 6.25 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, 41.6 thousand guns and mortars, as well as 7.5 thousand combat aircraft. The German group reached 1 million people, had 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, 10.4 thousand guns and mortars, 3.3 thousand aircraft

But then serious difficulties began. The battles on the Seelow Heights, which dominated the surrounding area, were especially difficult. The heights were stormed by the 8th Guards Army of General Vasily Chuikov, whose connections moved extremely slowly. “By 13 o’clock,” recalled the marshal Georgy Zhukov“I clearly understood that the enemy’s fire defense system here had basically survived and in the battle formation in which we launched the attack and were conducting the offensive, we would not be able to take the Seelow Heights.”

The steep slopes of the Seelow Heights were dug with trenches and trenches. All approaches to them were covered with cross artillery and rifle-machine-gun fire. Individual buildings were turned into strongholds, barriers made of logs and metal beams were erected on the roads, and the approaches to them were mined. On both sides of the highway running from the city of Seelow to the west, there were anti-aircraft artillery, which was used for anti-tank defense.

On the first day it was not possible to conquer the Seelow Heights. The next day the attempts were repeated. However, the troops were given instructions: without getting involved in protracted battles, bypass strong enemy strongholds. The task of destroying them was assigned to the second echelons of the armies.

The 1st Ukrainian Front of Marshal Konev advanced more successfully. Already on April 16, the forward battalions of the divisions provided conditions for building bridges across the Neisse River, and in just an hour the first echelon crossed to the left bank. However, here too our troops encountered fierce resistance. The enemy counterattacked repeatedly. Only when additional tank and mechanized forces were brought into the battle was it possible to break through the enemy’s defenses.

By the end of April 20, the enemy front in the Berlin direction was cut into two parts: the troops of Army Group Vistula were cut off from Army Group Center. A commotion began in the top leadership of the Wehrmacht when the Imperial Chancellery received a message that Soviet tanks were 10 km south of Zossen, where the main command post of the German armed forces was located underground. The generals rushed to evacuate in a hurry. And by the end of the day on April 22, our troops had already broken into Berlin, and fighting broke out on the outskirts of the city.

But here another problem arose: the Germans could withdraw a group of their troops from the capital and thus preserve personnel and equipment. To prevent this from happening, the Headquarters ordered the commanders of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts to complete the encirclement of the entire Berlin enemy group no later than April 25.

In Hitler's bunker

Meanwhile, the German command made desperate efforts to prevent the encirclement of their capital. On the afternoon of April 22, the last operational meeting was held in the Imperial Chancellery, at which Hitler agreed with the proposal of his generals to withdraw troops from the Western Front and throw them into the battle for Berlin. In connection with this, several operational formations (including the 12th Army of General Walter Wenck) was ordered to make a breakthrough to the capital.

However, the troops of the Red Army thwarted the plan of the Nazi command. On April 25, west of Berlin, in the Ketzin area, units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts united. As a result, the ring around the Berlin enemy group closed. On the same day, near the city of Torgau on the Elbe, a meeting took place between units of the 1st Ukrainian Front and American troops advancing from the west.

Military doctors identify the corpse of Joseph Goebbels. May 1945
Photo by Viktor Kuznetsov/RIA Novosti

The Nazis made furious attempts to open the encirclement. For three days and three nights the bloody battles did not stop. The Germans fought desperately. To break the enemy's resistance, Soviet troops strained every effort. Even the wounded did not leave their combat positions (such as, for example, in the 4th Guards Tank Army Dmitry Lelyushenko there were 2 thousand people). Through the joint efforts of tankers and pilots, the enemy was defeated. The Germans lost 60 thousand killed, 120 thousand soldiers and officers surrendered. Only a few managed to break through to the west. As trophies, the Soviet troops received more than 300 tanks and assault guns, 500 guns and mortars, over 17 thousand vehicles and much other property.

The fortress city will be taken!

While the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front eliminated the enemy group surrounded near Berlin, units of the 1st Belorussian Front stormed the city itself. Back in early March, Hitler declared the capital of the Third Reich a fortified city. And now the Soviet troops needed to capture this fortress, and in an extremely short time.

By April 25, the Berlin garrison numbered 300 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars, 250 tanks and assault guns. It was headed by a general Helmut Weidling, appointed commandant of the city on April 12. The situation in Berlin was extremely difficult: coal reserves ran out, the electricity supply stopped, enterprises, trams, subways stopped working, water supply and sewerage stopped working. The population was given 800 g of bread, 800 g of potatoes, 150 g of meat and 75 g of fat per person for a week.

During the Berlin operation The troops of the 1st, 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, having advanced to a depth of 160 to 220 km, defeated 93 German divisions, as well as many individual regiments and battalions. About 480 thousand prisoners of war were captured

On April 23, the command of the 1st Belorussian Front invited the Berlin garrison to surrender, but there was no response. Then, over the course of two days, more than 2 thousand Soviet aircraft carried out three massive strikes on the city. And then eight armies of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, advancing on the capital from three directions, began the assault.

The main role in street battles was played by assault groups and detachments. This is how they acted. While the assault squads, having penetrated the building, sought to rush out to the opposite part of it and begin an attack on the following objects, the supporting squad combed the building, destroying the remnants of the enemy garrison, after which it advanced behind the assault divisions. The reserve finally cleared the building of enemies, after which it either consolidated in it or followed the assault group, assisting it.

As experience has shown, the battle in the city does not tolerate a break. Having captured one building, you must immediately begin to storm the next one. This was the only way to deprive the enemy of the opportunity to understand the current situation and organize a defense.

The fighting went on around the clock simultaneously on the ground, in underground communications and in the air. Taking turns, the assault units moved forward. Berlin was shrouded in smoke from fires, and the pilots had great difficulty distinguishing friend from foe. To support the assault troops, mainly dive bombers were used, and the best crews were selected. Fighter aircraft not only covered the troops, but also blocked the Berlin garrison from air supplies.

The tanks supporting the assault groups on the streets of Berlin became easy prey for the Faustians. The 2nd Guards Tank Army alone lost 204 vehicles during a week of fighting in the German capital. Half of them were hit by Faust cartridges.

The fighting reached its highest intensity on April 27. On this day, Soviet troops defeated the enemy in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, and captured it. In Berlin, fighting was already taking place in the city center.

Flags over the Reichstag

The 3rd Shock Army was the first to reach the Reichstag. Advancing from the north, its 79th Rifle Corps broke through to the bridge over the Spree and, after fierce fighting, captured it on the night of April 29. On the way to the Reichstag, corps soldiers captured the Moabit prison, freeing thousands of surviving prisoners: Soviet prisoners of war, German anti-fascist patriots, French, Belgians, and British.

There were 500 meters left to the Reichstag. But they were incredibly difficult. They were defended by SS units, Volkssturm, three companies of a naval school from Rostock, three field artillery battalions and an anti-aircraft artillery battalion. The fortified zone consisted of three trenches, 16 reinforced concrete pillboxes, minefields and an anti-tank ditch with water.

On the morning of April 30, the 150th (General Vasily Shatilov) and 171st (Colonel Alexey Negoda) rifle divisions, with the support of the 23rd Tank Brigade, launched an assault on these fortifications. But the first attempt was unsuccessful. We had to bring hundreds of guns, tanks, self-propelled guns and rocket launchers to the Reichstag.

On April 30, 1945, at 6 p.m., the third assault on the Reichstag began. This attack was a success: the battalions of captains Stepan Neustroyev, Vasily Davydov and senior lieutenant Konstantina Samsonova broke into the building.

Everyone knows the story that the Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag by scouts Egorov And Kantaria. However, in fact, several red flags were placed over the Reichstag.

More than 600 soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army who took part in the storming of Berlin were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 1 million 141 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 187 units and formations received the names of Berlin. To commemorate this battle, the medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was established. It was awarded to 1 million 82 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army and the Polish Army

The first to reach the roof of the building were the soldiers of the captain's assault group. Vladimir Makov as part of Sgt. Mikhail Minin, senior sergeants Gazi Zagitova, Alexandra Lisimenko And Alexey Bobrov. At 22:40 a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin. The fighters attached it to a metal pipe-rod on the sculpture of the Goddess of Victory, located above the main entrance in the western part of the building. After some time, the fighters of Major’s assault group strengthened their flag on the same sculptural group Mikhail Bondar. Another red flag was placed on the western part of the Reichstag building by scouts of the 674th regiment under the command of Lieutenant Semyon Sorokin.

Lieutenant's group Alexey Berest, which included regimental reconnaissance sergeant Mikhail Egorov and junior sergeant Meliton Kantaria, at that moment was still at the observation post of the 756th Infantry Regiment. Around midnight, the regiment commander, Colonel, arrived there Fedor Zinchenko and ordered the immediate installation of a red banner on the roof of the Reichstag. At approximately three o'clock in the morning on May 1, Egorov and Kantaria, accompanied by the battalion's political officer, Lieutenant Berest, attached a red flag to the equestrian sculpture of William I, located on the eastern part of the building. And then, in the afternoon, the flag was transferred as the Victory Banner to the Reichstag dome and fixed there.

For hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag, many were nominated for awards, and the soldiers of Captain Makov, at the request of the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, were given the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. However, then, in early May 1945, reports began to arrive from various units that stormed the Reichstag that it was their fighters who were the first to hoist the Victory Banner over Berlin. The commanders petitioned for their subordinates to receive the “Gold Star”. This forced Zhukov to postpone making a final decision. By order of the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front dated May 18, 1945, the fighters of the group Vladimir Makov awarded only Orders of the Red Banner. The scouts Egorov and Kantaria received the same award.

Participants in the storming of the Reichstag (from left to right): Konstantin Samsonov, Meliton Kantaria, Mikhail Egorov, Ilya Syanov, Stepan Neustroyev at the Victory Banner. May 1945

And only a year later, on May 8, 1946, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to battalion commanders for hoisting the Victory Banner over the Reichstag Vasily Davydov, Stepan Neustroyev And Konstantin Samsonov, as well as Sgt. Mikhail Egorov and junior sergeant Meliton Kantaria. And on May 15 of the same year, eight more participants in the storming of the Reichstag were awarded the title of Hero, three of them posthumously...

Berlin was taken. General Hans Krebs, having arrived at the location of Soviet troops, reported Hitler’s suicide, the composition of the new German government and conveyed an appeal Goebbels and Bormann to the main command of the Red Army with a request for a temporary cessation of hostilities in Berlin as a condition for peace negotiations between Germany and the USSR. The message was transmitted to Marshal Zhukov, who, in turn, reported everything to Moscow. Soon I called Stalin: “No negotiations other than unconditional surrender, either with Krebs, nor with other Nazis." With these words, Krebs went back to the bunker.

However, without waiting for the decision of their command, individual enemy garrisons began to surrender. By the end of May 1, the Reichstag garrison laid down its arms. And on May 2 at 6:30 a.m., the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling announced the unconditional surrender of all units defending the city. By 3 p.m., the remnants of the Berlin garrison—135 thousand people—surrendered.

Thus the last battle of the war ended victoriously.

Russian archive: The Great Patriotic War. Battle of Berlin (Red Army in defeated Germany). T. 15 (4–5). M., 1995

Rzheshevsky O.A. Stalin and Churchill. M., 2010

A photo selection dedicated to the final part of the Berlin offensive operation of 1945, during which the Red Army captured the capital of Nazi Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted from April 25 to May 2.

1. A battery of 152-mm ML-20 howitzer guns of the 136th artillery brigade of the 313th rifle division is preparing to fire on Berlin.

2. Broken German Focke-Wulf Fw.190 fighters at the Juterborg airfield near Berlin.

3. Soviet soldiers at the window of a house during the storming of Berlin.

4. Civilians queue for food at a Soviet field kitchen in Berlin.

5. German prisoners of war on the streets of Berlin, captured by Soviet troops (1).

6. A broken German anti-aircraft gun on a Berlin street. In the foreground is the body of a killed member of the gun crew.

7. A broken German anti-aircraft gun on a Berlin street.

8. Soviet tank T-34-85 in a pine forest south of Berlin.

9. Soldiers and T-34-85 tanks of the 12th Guards Tank Corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in Berlin.

10. Burnt German cars on the streets of Berlin.

11. A dead German soldier and a T-34-85 tank of the 55th Guards Tank Brigade on a Berlin street.

12. Soviet signal sergeant at the radio during the fighting in Berlin.

13. Residents of Berlin, fleeing street fighting, go to areas liberated by Soviet troops.

14. A battery of 152-mm howitzers ML-20 of the 1st Belorussian Front in position on the approaches to Berlin.

15. A Soviet soldier runs near a burning house during a battle in Berlin.

16. Soviet soldiers in the trenches on the outskirts of Berlin.

17. Soviet soldiers on horse-drawn carts pass near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

18. View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

19. White flags on Berlin houses after the surrender.

20. Soviet soldiers listen to an accordion player while sitting on the frame of a 122-mm M-30 howitzer on a Berlin street.

21. The crew of the Soviet 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun model 1939 (61-K) is monitoring the air situation in Berlin.

22. Destroyed German cars near a building in Berlin.

23. A photograph of Soviet officers next to the bodies of the dead company commander and Volkssturm soldier.

24. The bodies of the dead company commander and Volkssturm soldier.

25. Soviet soldiers are walking along one of the streets of Berlin.

26. Battery of Soviet 152-mm howitzer guns ML-20 near Berlin. 1st Belorussian Front.

27. Soviet tank T-34-85, accompanied by infantry, moves along a street on the outskirts of Berlin.

28. Soviet artillerymen fire on the street on the outskirts of Berlin.

29. A Soviet tank gunner looks out of the hatch of his tank during the Battle of Berlin.

30. Soviet self-propelled guns SU-76M on one of the streets of Berlin.

31. The facade of the Berlin Hotel Adlon after the battle.

32. The body of a killed German soldier next to a Horch 108 car on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin.

33. Soldiers and commanders of the 7th Guards Tank Corps near the T-34-85 tank with its crew in Berlin.

34. Sergeant Trifonov’s 76-mm gun crew at lunch on the outskirts of Berlin.

35. Soldiers and T-34-85 tanks of the 12th Guards Tank Corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in Berlin.

36. Soviet soldiers run across the street during the battle in Berlin.

37. Tank T-34-85 on a square in Berlin.

39. Soviet artillerymen prepare a BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher for a salvo in Berlin.

40. Soviet 203-mm howitzer B-4 fires in Berlin at night.

41. A group of German prisoners escorted by Soviet soldiers on the streets of Berlin.

42. Crew of the Soviet 45-mm anti-tank gun 53-K model 1937 in a battle on the streets of Berlin near the T-34-85 tank.

43. The Soviet assault group with a banner is moving towards the Reichstag.

44. Soviet artillerymen write on shells “To Hitler”, “To Berlin”, “Across the Reichstag” (1).

45. T-34-85 tanks of the 7th Guards Tank Corps in the suburbs of Berlin. In the foreground, the skeleton of a destroyed German car is burning.

46. ​​A salvo of BM-13 (Katyusha) rocket launchers in Berlin.

47. Guards rocket mortar BM-31-12 in Berlin.This is a modification of the famous Katyusha rocket launcher (by analogy it was called “Andryusha”).

48. A damaged Sd.Kfz.250 armored personnel carrier from the 11th SS Division “Nordland” on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin.

49. Commander of the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard Colonel Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin at the airfield.

50. Killed German soldiers and a BM-31-12 rocket launcher (a modification of the Katyusha, nicknamed “Andryusha”) on a Berlin street.

51. Soviet 152-mm howitzer-gun ML-20 on the street of Berlin.

52. Soviet tank T-34-85 from the 7th Guards Tank Corps and captured militiamen from the Volkssturm on the streets of Berlin.

53. Soviet tank T-34-85 from the 7th Guards Tank Corps and captured Volkssturm militia on the streets of Berlin.

54. Soviet traffic policewoman against the backdrop of a burning building on a Berlin street.

55. Soviet tanks T-34-76 after the battle on the streets of Berlin.

56. Heavy tank IS-2 near the walls of the destroyed Reichstag.

57. Formation of military personnel of the Soviet 88th separate heavy tank regiment in Berlin's Humboldt-Hain Park at the beginning of May 1945. The formation is carried out by the regiment's political officer, Major L.A. Glushkov and deputy regiment commander F.M. Hot.

58. A column of Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on the streets of Berlin.

59. A battery of Soviet 122-mm howitzers M-30 on the streets of Berlin.

60. The crew is preparing a BM-31-12 rocket artillery mount (a modification of the Katyusha with M-31 shells, nicknamed “Andryusha”) on a Berlin street.

61. A column of Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on the streets of Berlin. In the background of the photo you can see ZiS-5 trucks from the logistics support.

62. Column of a unit of Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on the streets of Berlin.

63. A battery of Soviet 122-mm howitzers, model 1938 (M-30), fires at Berlin.

64. Soviet tank IS-2 on a destroyed street in Berlin. Elements of camouflage are visible on the car.

65. French prisoners of war shake hands with their liberators - Soviet soldiers. Author's title: “Berlin. French prisoners of war released from Nazi camps."

66. Tankers of the 44th Guards Tank Brigade of the 11th Guards Tank Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army on vacation near the T-34-85 in Berlin.

67. Soviet artillerymen write on shells “To Hitler”, “To Berlin”, “Across the Reichstag” (2).

68. Loading wounded Soviet soldiers onto a ZIS-5v military truck for evacuation.

69. Soviet self-propelled guns SU-76M with tail numbers “27” and “30” in Berlin in the Karlshorst area.

70. Soviet orderlies transfer a wounded soldier from a stretcher to a cart.

71. View of the Brandenburg Gate in captured Berlin. May 1945.

72. Soviet tank T-34-85, shot down on the streets of Berlin.

73. Soviet soldiers in battle on Moltke Strasse (now Rothko Street) in Berlin.

74. Soviet soldiers resting on an IS-2 tank. The author's title of the photo is “Tankers on vacation.”

75. Soviet soldiers in Berlin at the end of the fighting. In the foreground and behind, behind the car, are ZiS-3 guns of the 1943 model.

76. Participants of the “last Berlin conscription” at a collection point for prisoners of war in Berlin.

77. German soldiers in Berlin surrender to Soviet troops.

78. View of the Reichstag after the battles. German 8.8 cm FlaK 18 anti-aircraft guns are visible. To the right lies the body of a dead German soldier. The author's title of the photo is “Final”.

79. Berlin women cleaning the street. The beginning of May 1945, even before the signing of the Act of Surrender of Germany.

80. Soviet soldiers in position in a street battle in Berlin. A street barricade built by the Germans is used as cover.

81. German prisoners of war on the streets of Berlin.

82. Soviet 122-mm howitzer M-30 horse-drawn in the center of Berlin. On the shield of the gun there is an inscription: “We will avenge the atrocities.” In the background is the Berlin Cathedral.

83. Soviet machine gunner at a firing position in a Berlin tram car.

84. Soviet machine gunners in a street battle in Berlin, taking a position behind a fallen tower clock.

85. A Soviet soldier walks past the murdered SS Hauptsturmführer in Berlin at the intersection of Chaussestrasse and Oranienburgerstrasse.

86. Burning building in Berlin.

87. A Volkssturm militiaman killed on one of the streets of Berlin.

88. Soviet self-propelled gun ISU-122 in the suburbs of Berlin. Behind the self-propelled guns there is an inscription on the wall: “Berlin will remain German!” (Berlin bleibt deutsch!).

89. A column of Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-122 on one of the streets of Berlin.

90. Former Estonian tanks of English construction Mk.V in Berlin's Lustgarten park. The building of the Old Museum (Altes Museum) can be seen in the background. These tanks, rearmed with Maxim machine guns, took part in the defense of Tallinn in 1941, were captured by the Germans and transported to Berlin for an exhibition of trophies. In April 1945, they allegedly took part in the defense of Berlin.

91. Shot from a Soviet 152-mm howitzer ML-20 in Berlin. On the right you can see the track of the IS-2 tank.

92. Soviet soldier with a Faustpatron.

93. A Soviet officer checks the documents of German soldiers who surrendered. Berlin, April-May 1945

94. The crew of the Soviet 100-mm BS-3 cannon fires at the enemy in Berlin.

95. Infantrymen from the 3rd Guards Tank Army attack the enemy in Berlin with the support of a ZiS-3 cannon.

96. Soviet soldiers hoist the banner over the Reichstag on May 2, 1945. This is one of the banners installed on the Reistag in addition to the official hoisting of the banner by Egorov and Kantaria.

97. Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft from the 4th Air Army (Colonel General of Aviation K.A. Vershinin) in the sky over Berlin.

98. Soviet soldier Ivan Kichigin at the grave of a friend in Berlin. Ivan Aleksandrovich Kichigin at the grave of his friend Grigory Afanasyevich Kozlov in Berlin in early May 1945. Signature on the back of the photo: “Sasha! This is the grave of Kozlov Gregory.” There were such graves all over Berlin - friends buried their comrades near the place of their death. About six months later, reburial from such graves to memorial cemeteries in Treptower Park and Tiergarten began. The first memorial in Berlin, inaugurated in November 1945, was the burial of 2,500 Soviet soldiers in the Tiergarten park. At its opening, the allied forces of the anti-Hitler coalition held a solemn parade in front of the memorial monument.

100. A Soviet soldier pulls a German soldier out of a hatch. Berlin.

101. Soviet soldiers run to a new position in battle in Berlin. The figure of a murdered German sergeant from the RAD (Reichs Arbeit Dienst, pre-conscription labor service) in the foreground.

102. Units of the Soviet heavy self-propelled artillery regiment at the crossing of the Spree River. On the right is the self-propelled gun ISU-152.

103. Crews of Soviet 76.2 mm ZIS-3 divisional guns on one of the streets of Berlin.

104. A battery of Soviet 122-mm howitzers model 1938 (M-30) fires at Berlin.

105. A column of Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on one of the streets of Berlin.

106. Captured German soldier at the Reichstag. A famous photograph, often published in books and on posters in the USSR under the title "Ende" (German: "The End").

107. Soviet tanks and other equipment near the bridge over the Spree River in the Reichstag area. On this bridge, Soviet troops, under fire from the defending Germans, marched to storm the Reichstag. The photo shows IS-2 and T-34-85 tanks, ISU-152 self-propelled guns, and guns.

108. Column of Soviet IS-2 tanks on the Berlin highway.

109. Dead German woman in an armored personnel carrier. Berlin, 1945.

110. A T-34 tank from the 3rd Guards Tank Army stands in front of a paper and stationery store on Berlin Street. Vladimir Dmitrievich Serdyukov (born in 1920) sits at the driver’s hatch.

The Berlin operation was not the most difficult for the Soviet troops. In 1945, when everyone, even the most inexperienced fighters, understood that there was very little left until the end of the war, when almost the entire native land was cleared of the enemy, and Soviet troops, surpassing the enemy in both the quantity and quality of weapons, stood on the outskirts to Hitler's lair, it seems, it was still easier to fight than a year later, when we had to surrender city after city, region after region, to the enemy. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the operation, developed by the best Soviet commanders, would end in success: neither in Moscow, nor even in Berlin, which continued to agonize, from where the Fuhrer continued to send directives to army headquarters and call the piece of Central Europe torn apart by bombing and flooded with refugees “ empire."

War and politics

But despite all the obviousness of the outcome of the Berlin operation, on the eve of the upcoming battles, military aspects gave way to political ones. The closer the end of the war was, the more attention the Allied powers paid to the issue of post-war reconstruction of the world. The impending collapse of the Third Reich posed a lot of questions for the USSR, the USA and Great Britain (at that time France had already joined them), which, even if they were discussed at the Yalta Conference, still gave rise to wariness and even distrust towards each other. The command of the Soviet troops had to build their plans in accordance not with the convenience of the current military positions, but with the need to give more weight to Moscow's arguments during its future negotiations with its allies. That is why, at the last stage of the Great Patriotic War, political considerations sometimes so decisively interfered with the operational plans of Soviet military leaders.

For this reason alone, despite the victorious mood of the soldiers and officers of the Red Army, the Berlin operation cannot be called an easy walk. The high stakes of this battle made it one of the most stubborn and bloody on the Eastern Front. The Nazis defended their last line and had nothing to lose. Moreover, the Germans were not simply led by blind fanaticism. In addition to the actual defense of the Reich capital, they had another important goal - to hold back the advance of Soviet troops for as long as possible, so that most of German territory would come under Allied control. And the defenders of Berlin themselves were more attracted by the prospect of ending up in the hands of the Anglo-Americans than of falling into Russian captivity. Such views were universally instilled by Hitler’s propaganda, although it represented the British and Yankees as arrogant hillbillies, but did not attribute to them the satanic bloodthirstiness that, according to Dr. Goebbels, they were distinguished by “ Bolshevik Slavic-Tatar hordes«.

On the approaches to the lair

By mid-April, the Nazi army, despite the beating that had been given to it on all European fronts for two years, continued to remain in a very combat-ready state. The strength of the Wehrmacht was estimated at 223 divisions and brigades, the majority of which, including the most combat-ready, operated on the Soviet-German front. A series of defeats and heavy losses undermined the morale of the German troops at the front and the population in the rear, but it was not completely broken.

In the Berlin direction, the fascist German command concentrated a large group of army groups "Vistula" and "Center" (in total about 1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,530 tanks and assault guns, over 3,300 aircraft). A deeply layered defense was created on the western banks of the Oder and Neisse rivers, which included the Oder-Neisse line, which consisted of three stripes 20-40 kilometers deep, and the Berlin defensive area. The total number of the Berlin garrison exceeded 200 thousand people. For the convenience of troop control, the city was divided into 9 sectors. The central sector, which covered the main state and administrative institutions, including the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery, was most carefully prepared. All defensive positions were connected to each other by communication passages. The metro was widely used for covert maneuver by forces and means.

For the offensive in the Berlin direction, the Soviet command concentrated 19 combined arms (including 2 Polish), 4 tank and 4 air armies (2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 7,500 aircraft). The plan of the operation was to deliver several powerful blows on a wide front, dismember the enemy’s Berlin group, encircle and destroy it piece by piece. The main role in the capture of Berlin was given to the armies of Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, commander of the 1st Belorussian Front. At the same time, the Headquarters directives did not provide for the organization of operational-tactical cooperation with the 1st Ukrainian (commander Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev) and 2nd Belorussian Fronts (commander Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky). When breaking through the Oder-Neissen line, the 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow from a small bridgehead, attack with an open right flank, and attack the enemy’s deeply echeloned defenses head-on.

They tried to implement this plan back in February, but then the offensive did not work out - the Soviet command underestimated the enemy. In bloody battles, both sides suffered heavy losses, but the Germans still managed to stop the advance of Soviet troops by transferring additional units to this section of the front.

Having relied on a lightning strike right in the heart of Hitler's Reich in order to get ahead of the allies and single-handedly put an end to Nazi Germany, Moscow, as always in such cases, pushed into the background the question of the cost of victory. If it were possible to squeeze the German troops concentrated around Berlin into a “cauldron”, dismember them into parts and destroy them individually, without rushing to storm the well-fortified Seelow Heights, which covered the capital of the Reich from the east, then the Soviet army would have avoided those losses. which she carried, striving at all costs to enter the city by the shortest route.

But it was here that operational expediency was forced to give way to political considerations. Despite the few days allotted to the Red Army to capture Berlin, the Allied troops, moving at an accelerated march, could well have gotten there earlier - on the Western Front by that time the Germans had practically stopped resisting, surrendering entire corps and divisions. But, apparently, the blow inflicted in January by German tanks in the Ardennes had such an effect on the Allies that even in the absence of resistance they observed the greatest caution in Germany. But the pace of advance for the Soviet army during the Berlin operation was determined as follows: for combined arms armies - 8-14 kilometers, for tank armies - 30-37 kilometers per day.

To Berlin!

On April 16, at 3 o'clock local time, aviation and artillery preparation began in the sector of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. After its completion, 143 searchlights were turned on, and the infantry, supported by tanks, attacked the enemy. Without encountering strong resistance, she advanced 1.5-2 kilometers. However, the closer our troops came, the stronger the enemy’s resistance grew.

In order to strengthen the onslaught, Zhukov brought tank armies into the battle in the afternoon. Their vanguards completed the breakthrough of the first line of defense. However, approaching the Seelow Heights, the infantry and tanks encountered unsuppressed enemy defenses. During the first day of the offensive, the front troops advanced only 3-8 kilometers and were unable to break through the defenses on the Seelow Heights. The premature introduction of tank formations created chaos in the operational formation of combined arms armies, caused a disruption in their rear communications, and confusion in command and control of troops.

Only towards the end of April 17 did the front troops overcome the second line of defense. Two days later the Oder line of German defense was finally broken through. As a result of a four-day fierce struggle, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front advanced to a depth of 34 kilometers.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front, in turn, advanced 1-1.5 kilometers by the end of the first day of the offensive. The Germans began to retreat across the Spree River, and Marshal Konev on April 17 ordered troops “on the shoulders of the enemy” to cross the river in order to “open a non-stop route to Berlin.” Taking into account the hitch of Marshal Zhukov’s armies and the success of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the Supreme High Command Headquarters decided to encircle the city with the forces of three fronts, which was not initially included in the operation plan.

Despite the unrelenting resistance of the enemy, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts resolutely “bite into” its defenses and, bypassing fortified settlements, approached Berlin. By the end of April 21, the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front reached the outer defensive line of the German capital. On the same day, part of the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front bypassed Berlin and continued their accelerated advance towards the Elbe, where a meeting with the Allied troops was expected.

It was on the eve of the decisive assault on Berlin that a not entirely justified competition developed between Marshals Zhukov and Konev for the right to be the first to report on the breakthrough of the troops of their front to the capital of the Third Reich. In fact, the front command demanded that the troops move forward, regardless of any losses in manpower and equipment.

On April 22, the last operational meeting of the German High Command, at which Hitler was present, took place in the Imperial Chancellery. It was decided to withdraw Walter Wenck's 12th Army from its positions on the Elbe and send it east to meet the troops of the 9th Army, which was striking at Soviet troops, from the area southeast of Berlin. In an effort to delay the advance of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the German command launched a counterattack from the Görlitz area to the rear of the strike group of Soviet troops. By April 23, German troops had penetrated 20 kilometers into their location. However, by the end of the next day, the enemy's advance was stopped.

On April 24, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front linked up southeast of Berlin with the armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The encirclement to the west of the city has closed. At the same time, in the Torgau region, Soviet troops met with the Americans. Thus, the Berlin enemy group was divided into two isolated groups: Berlin and Frankfurt-Guben

Flag over the Reichstag

It took the Red Army five days to eliminate the then-strong Frankfurt-Guben group of Germans from the Red Army - from April 26 to May 2. The enemy fought with the desperation of a cornered beast, before which the hope of salvation suddenly loomed, since, if they had united with Wenck’s army, the Germans would have had a corridor to escape to the West, straight into captivity by the Americans. After stubborn fighting on the night of April 29, the Nazis managed to break through the encirclement of Soviet troops at the junction of two fronts. As a result, they formed a corridor up to two kilometers wide, through which they began to retreat west to Luckenwalde. But by the end of the day the enemy was stopped, and his troops were cut up, surrounded and destroyed by May 1. Only a few broke through to the West.

The assault on the German capital itself also began on April 26. The Soviet armies launched attacks in converging directions towards the city center. The fighting went on day and night. They were carried out on the ground, in underground communications and in the air. The next day, the enemy in Potsdam was destroyed, and in Berlin he was compressed into a strip up to 2-3 kilometers wide, stretching from east to west for another 16 kilometers.

The intensity of the fighting in Berlin increased as Soviet troops advanced towards the city center, towards the Reichstag and government buildings. The armies that stormed Berlin had predetermined offensive lines; units and subunits attacked specific objects - areas, streets, buildings and structures. The battles were fought, as a rule, by assault groups and detachments made up of units of all branches of the military; Tanks, direct fire guns, flamethrowers and even captured Faust cartridges were used.

It is difficult to talk about the intensity of the fighting in Berlin, even after reading the memories of the participants in those events. There was an assault on the real lair - the city from where fascism spread like a plague throughout Europe, where the craziest Nazi ideas were born and where every house was an enemy fortress. The whole city was full of defensive structures - the Reich Chancellery and the Reichstag were especially fortified, as already mentioned. A strong fortified area was created in Tiergaten Park. The Nazis made extensive use of tanks and heavy artillery, turning their capital into a pile of ruins without mercy. All measures were taken to contain the advance of the Soviet troops - the metro was flooded, houses were blown up to block the streets, and most importantly, until the very last moment people were driven to slaughter so that they would hold the line. In essence, it was a mass suicide - the behavior of the defenders of Berlin can probably be compared to the Japanese “kamikazes”. The same lack of alternative - only death in the name of the Fuhrer, who himself was already on the brink of the grave.

By the end of April 28, the encircled Berlin group was cut into three parts. The next day in the evening, the commander of the city's defense, General Weidling, presented Hitler with a plan for a breakthrough to the west, and Hitler approved it. The breakthrough was scheduled for April 30. One can only envy the optimism of this man, although perhaps the whole point is that in the last days of his life, seeing how the monstrous empire he built was crumbling to dust under the blows of Soviet troops, the Fuhrer practically lost the ability to think soberly.

On April 29, fighting began for the Reichstag, which was defended by about a thousand people. It is difficult to understand what these people were fighting for, but each floor of the building had to be taken with a fight. After a series of attacks, units of the 171st and 150th Infantry Divisions burst into the building. On April 30, at 14:25, sergeants Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. The capture of the Reichstag had enormous political and moral significance. The courage, dedication and heroism of Soviet soldiers were actively promoted among the troops, the names of the heroes of those battles were heard in Sovinformburo reports throughout the country. And the very sight of the main building of Nazism, decorated with inscriptions of Soviet soldiers who carried all their hatred of the enemy and rejoicing at the victory from the banks of the Volga and Dnieper, told everyone - the Third Reich was crushed.

On May 1, at 3:50 a.m., the chief of the general staff of the Wehrmacht ground forces, Infantry General Krebs, was delivered to the command post of the 8th Guards Army, commanded by the hero of Stalingrad, General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov. He stated that he was authorized to negotiate a truce and reported on Hitler's suicide. Zhukov’s deputy went to Chuikov for negotiations with Krebs with Stalin’s order not to conduct any negotiations with anyone other than unconditional surrender. Zhukov himself set an ultimatum: if consent to unconditional surrender is not given by 10 o’clock, Soviet troops will strike such a blow that “there will be nothing left in Berlin but ruins.” The leadership of the dying Reich was slow to respond. Therefore, at 10:40 a.m., Soviet troops opened heavy fire on the remnants of the defense in the center of Berlin. By 18:00 it became known that the enemy had rejected the demand for unconditional surrender. After this, the final assault began on the central part of the city, where the Imperial Chancellery was located.

The battle for this object continued throughout the night from May 1 to 2. The Germans made desperate attempts to push back the Soviet soldiers, but all their counterattacks were thwarted. By morning, all the premises were cleared of the enemy: Goebbels’s corpse was discovered near the entrance to the chancellery bunker, and in one of the rooms the bodies of his wife and six children were discovered. According to eyewitnesses, several corpses of Hitler's doubles were also found in the building, but the remains of the Fuhrer themselves were discovered later.

On the night of May 2 at 1:50 a.m., the radio station of the Berlin Defense Headquarters broadcast in German and Russian: “ We are sending our envoys to the Bismarck Strasse bridge. We stop hostilities". On May 2, Deputy Minister of Propaganda Dr. Fritsche turned to the Soviet command with a request for permission to speak on the radio with an appeal to the German troops of the Berlin garrison to end all resistance. By 15:00 on May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison with a total of more than 134 thousand people surrendered.

The price of victory

After the fall of Berlin, active hostilities were conducted essentially only in Czechoslovakia. On the territory of Germany itself, only individual units tried not even to hold off the Soviet troops, but to break through to the west in order to surrender to the allies. Despite the fact that Admiral Karl Doenitz, appointed Reich Chancellor by Hitler, continued to issue orders calling on German soldiers not to lay down their arms, surrenders became widespread.

Goebbels's propaganda machine worked brilliantly: the image of a bloodthirsty savage feeding on the meat of German babies was permanently entrenched in the minds of the subjects of the Third Reich. Of course, it is impossible to completely deny the facts of murder of civilians, rape of German women and robbery of the population by Soviet troops. And the Allies often behaved on German territory far from like liberators. However, in a war as in a war, especially since the Soviet troops, unlike the Americans and the British, almost until the very end of the war had to overcome fierce resistance at every step. Moreover, not only military personnel were involved in this resistance, but also civilians, hastily armed and stuffed with Hitler’s ideology. Elderly veterans of the First World War and 14-year-old boys armed with fauspatrons joined the ranks of the defenders of Berlin.

These Germans could be understood and humanly pitied - in front of them stood Soviet soldiers, who, thanks to Goebbels' tales, had turned into a horde of cannibals, and behind them were military courts, which, until the very last hours of the war, continued to impose death sentences for desertion. Moreover, in his hatred of everything Soviet, Hitler ordered to turn the whole of Germany into a cemetery. On his orders, the retreating troops everywhere used scorched earth tactics, leaving destruction, hunger and death in their wake.

The fact that the Nazi resistance during the Berlin operation was desperate in the full sense of the word is also evidenced by the fact that the losses of Soviet troops in it amounted to 361,367 people killed and wounded (irretrievable losses - 81 thousand). And the average daily losses (15,712 people) were even higher than during the Battle of Stalingrad or Kursk. However, the desire of the Soviet Headquarters, primarily Marshal Zhukov, to take Berlin at any cost as soon as possible also played a role here.

The enemy also knew about the heavy losses of the Soviet troops trying to push through the defenses on the approaches to Berlin. The hitch in the attack on the Seelow Heights caused great joy at the German command headquarters. Hitler exclaimed with enthusiasm: “ We repulsed this blow. At Berlin, the Russians will suffer the bloodiest defeat that can ever happen!". The Fuhrer, as usual, turned out to be a bad seer, but it cannot be denied that Berlin was taken at a truly high price, even if we take into account the rapid pace of advance of the Soviet troops and the strength of the enemy opposing them - after all, in just 16 days the Red Army defeated about a hundred enemy divisions that did not surrender, but tried desperately to resist.

But this price was paid for the capture of the main stronghold of Nazism, and therefore for victory in the Great Patriotic War. On May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time, Field Marshal General Wilhelm Keitel, as well as representatives of the German Navy, who had the appropriate authority from Doenitz, signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany. A brilliantly executed operation, coupled with the courage of Soviet soldiers and officers who fought to end the four-year nightmare of war, led to a logical result: Victory.

Storm of Berlin- the final part of the Berlin offensive operation of 1945, during which the Red Army captured the capital of Nazi Germany. The operation lasted from April 25 to May 2.

Storm of Berlin [ | ]

Capture of the Reichstag[ | ]

By the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Reichstag area. That same night, a landing party consisting of cadets from the Rostock Naval School was dropped by parachute to support the Reichstag garrison. This was the last significant operation of the Luftwaffe in the skies over Berlin.

Negotiations between Chuikov and Krebs[ | ]

Late in the evening of April 30, the German side requested a ceasefire for negotiations. On May 1, at about 03:30 at night, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army of General Chuikov, reporting Hitler’s suicide and reading out his will. Krebs conveyed to Chuikov a proposal from the new German government to conclude a truce. The message was immediately transmitted to Zhukov, who himself called Moscow. Stalin confirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender. On May 1 at 18:00, the new German government rejected the demand for unconditional surrender, and Soviet troops resumed their assault on the city with renewed vigor. A massive attack was carried out on the areas of Berlin still in enemy hands using all available artillery.

End of fighting and surrender[ | ]

Thus, in the area of ​​the Anhalt station, the enemy widely used tunnels, entrances and exits of the metro to maneuver manpower and deliver unexpected attacks on our units. Three-day attempts by units of the 29th Guards Rifle Corps to destroy the enemy in the metro or drive him out of there were unsuccessful. Then it was decided to flood the tunnels, blowing up the lintels and floors of the metro in the section running under the Teltow Canal. On the night of May 1, the explosion of 1800 kg of explosives placed on trestles under the subway ceiling created a large gap into which water poured from the canal. As a result of the flooding of the tunnel, the enemy was forced to flee quickly, suffering significant losses. The collapse of tunnels and sewers of underground urban facilities in order to prevent the maneuver of enemy personnel underground was widely carried out in other parts of the city.

Nikolai Ivanovich Nikoforov, reserve colonel, candidate of historical sciences, deputy head of the research institute (military history) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces for scientific work, “Assault brigades of the Red Army in battle,” p. 65

The explosion led to the destruction of the tunnel and its subsequent filling with water along a 25-kilometer section. Water rushed into the tunnels, where a large number of civilians were sheltering, hospitals for the wounded were located, and the headquarters of the German defense units were located.

Subsequently, the fact of the destruction and flooding of the metro was covered in Soviet propaganda exclusively as one of the last ominous orders of Hitler and his entourage and was intensively exaggerated (both in fiction and in documentaries) as a symbol of the senseless death throes of the Third Reich. At the same time, thousands of deaths were reported, which was also an extreme exaggeration.

Information about the number of victims... varies - from fifty to fifteen thousand people... The data that about a hundred people died under water seems more reliable. Of course, there were many thousands of people in the tunnels, including the wounded, children, women and old people, but the water did not spread through the underground communications too quickly. Moreover, it spread underground in various directions. Of course, the picture of advancing water caused genuine horror in people. And some of the wounded, as well as drunken soldiers, as well as civilians, became its inevitable victims. But talking about thousands of deaths would be a gross exaggeration. In most places the water barely reached a depth of one and a half meters, and the inhabitants of the tunnels had enough time to evacuate themselves and save the numerous wounded who were in the “hospital cars” near the Stadtmitte station. It is likely that many of the dead, whose bodies were subsequently brought to the surface, actually died not from water, but from wounds and illnesses even before the destruction of the tunnel.

The losses of the German armed forces in killed and wounded are not known with certainty. Of approximately 2 million Berliners, about 125,000 died. The city was heavily damaged by bombing even before the arrival of Soviet troops. The bombing continued during the battles near Berlin - the last American bombing on April 20 (Adolph Hitler's birthday) led to food problems. The destruction intensified as a result of Soviet artillery attacks.

Soviet tanks in Berlin[ | ]

Three separate IS-2 guards heavy tank brigades, the 88th separate guards heavy tank regiment and at least nine guards heavy self-propelled artillery self-propelled artillery regiments took part in the battles in Berlin.