The Battle of Berlin: the end of the Great Patriotic War. Battle of Berlin

Berlin strategic offensive operation (Berlin operation, Capture of Berlin) - an offensive operation of Soviet troops during the Great Patriotic War, which ended with the capture of Berlin and victory in the war.

The military operation was carried out in Europe from April 16 to May 9, 1945, during which the territories captured by the Germans were liberated and Berlin was taken under control. The Berlin operation was the last in the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.

The following smaller operations were carried out as part of the Berlin Operation:

• Stettin-Rostock;
• Seelovsko-Berlinskaya;
• Cottbus-Potsdam;
• Stremberg-Torgauskaya;
• Brandenburg-Ratenow.

The goal of the operation was to capture Berlin, which would allow Soviet troops to open the way to join the Allies on the Elbe River and thus prevent Hitler from prolonging the Second World War for a longer period.

Progress of the Berlin operation

In November 1944, the General Staff of the Soviet Forces began planning an offensive operation on the approaches to the German capital. During the operation it was supposed to defeat the German Army Group “A” and finally liberate the occupied territories of Poland.

At the end of the same month, the German army launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes and was able to push back the Allied forces, thereby putting them almost on the brink of defeat. To continue the war, the Allies needed the support of the USSR - for this, the leadership of the United States and Great Britain turned to the Soviet Union with a request to send their troops and conduct offensive operations in order to distract Hitler and give the Allies the opportunity to recover.

The Soviet command agreed, and the USSR army launched an offensive, but the operation began almost a week earlier, which resulted in insufficient preparation and, as a result, large losses.

By mid-February Soviet troops were able to cross the Oder - the last obstacle on the way to Berlin. There were a little more than seventy kilometers left to the capital of Germany. From that moment on, the battles took on a more protracted and fierce character - Germany did not want to give up and tried with all its might to hold back the Soviet offensive, but it was quite difficult to stop the Red Army.

At the same time, preparations began on the territory of East Prussia for the assault on the Konigsberg fortress, which was extremely well fortified and seemed almost impregnable. For the assault, the Soviet troops carried out thorough artillery preparation, which ultimately bore fruit - the fortress was taken unusually quickly.

In April 1945, the Soviet army began preparations for the long-awaited assault on Berlin. The leadership of the USSR was of the opinion that in order to achieve the success of the entire operation, it was necessary to urgently carry out the assault, without delaying it, since prolonging the war itself could lead to the fact that the Germans could open another front in the West and conclude a separate peace. In addition, the leadership of the USSR did not want to give Berlin to the Allied forces.

The Berlin offensive operation was prepared very carefully. Huge reserves of military weapons were transferred to the outskirts of the city. military equipment and ammunition, the forces of three fronts were pulled together. The operation was commanded by Marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky and I.S. Konev. In total, more than 3 million people took part in the battle on both sides.

Storm of Berlin

The assault on the city began on April 16 at 3 am. Under the light of searchlights, one and a half hundred tanks and infantry attacked the German defensive positions. A fierce battle lasted for four days, after which the forces of three Soviet fronts and troops of the Polish army managed to encircle the city. On the same day, Soviet troops met with the Allies on the Elbe. As a result of four days of fighting, several hundred thousand people were captured and dozens of armored vehicles were destroyed.

However, despite the offensive, Hitler had no intention of surrendering Berlin; he insisted that the city must be held at all costs. Hitler refused to surrender even after Soviet troops approached the city; he threw all available human resources, including children and the elderly, onto the battlefield.

On April 21, the Soviet army was able to reach the outskirts of Berlin and start street battles there - German soldiers fought to the last, following Hitler's order not to surrender.

On April 29, Soviet soldiers began storming the Reichstag building. On April 30, the Soviet flag was hoisted on the building - the war ended, Germany was defeated.

Results of the Berlin operation

The Berlin operation put an end to the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. As a result of the rapid advance of Soviet troops, Germany was forced to surrender, all chances of opening a second front and concluding peace with the Allies were severed. Hitler, having learned about the defeat of his army and the entire fascist regime, committed suicide.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti

On April 16, 1945, the Berlin offensive operation of the Soviet army began, which was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest battle in history. About 3.5 million people, 52 thousand guns and mortars, 7,750 tanks, and almost 11 thousand aircraft took part in it on both sides.

The assault was carried out by eight combined arms and four tank armies of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts under the command of Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev, the 18th Long-Range Air Army of Air Marshal Alexander Golovanov and the ships of the Dnieper Military Flotilla transferred to the Oder.

In total, the Soviet group consisted of 1.9 million people, 6,250 tanks, 41,600 guns and mortars, more than 7,500 aircraft, plus 156 thousand soldiers of the Polish Army (the Polish flag was the only one raised over the defeated Berlin along with the Soviet one).

The width of the offensive area was about 300 kilometers. In the direction of the main attack was the 1st Belorussian Front, which was destined to capture Berlin.

The operation lasted until May 2 (according to some military experts, until Germany surrendered).

The irretrievable losses of the USSR amounted to 78,291 people, 1,997 tanks, 2,108 guns, 917 aircraft, and the Polish Army - 2,825 people.

In terms of the intensity of average daily losses, the Berlin operation surpassed the Battle of Kursk.

The 1st Belorussian Front lost 20% of its personnel and 30% of its armored vehicles.

Germany lost about one hundred thousand people killed during the entire operation, including 22 thousand directly in the city. 480 thousand military personnel were captured, about 400 thousand retreated to the west and surrendered to the allies, including 17 thousand people who fought their way out of the encircled city.

Military historian Mark Solonin points out that, contrary to the popular belief that in 1945 nothing significant except the Berlin operation happened at the front, Soviet losses in it amounted to less than 10% of the total losses for January-May (801 thousand people). The longest and fiercest battles took place in East Prussia and on the Baltic coast.

The Last Frontier

On the German side, the defense was held by about a million people, gathered in 63 divisions, 1,500 tanks, 10,400 artillery barrels, and 3,300 aircraft. Directly in the city and its immediate surroundings there were about 200 thousand soldiers and officers, three thousand guns and 250 tanks.

"Faustniks", as a rule, fought to the end and showed much greater resilience than the seasoned soldiers, but broken by defeats and many years of fatigue, Marshal Ivan Konev

In addition, there were about 60 thousand (92 battalions) of Volkssturm - militia fighters formed on October 18, 1944 by order of Hitler from teenagers, old people and people with disabilities. In open battle their value was small, but in the city Volkssturm men armed with Faustpatrons could pose a threat to tanks.

Captured Faust cartridges were also used by Soviet troops, primarily against the enemy holed up in basements. The 1st Guards Tank Army alone stocked 3,000 of them on the eve of the operation.

At the same time, the losses of Soviet tanks from Faust cartridges during the Berlin operation amounted to only 23%. The main means of anti-tank warfare, as throughout the war, was artillery.

In Berlin, divided into nine defense sectors (eight peripheral and central), 400 pillboxes were built, many houses with strong walls were turned into firing points.

The commander was Colonel General (in the Wehrmacht this rank corresponded to the Soviet rank of army general) Gotthard Heinrici.

Two defense lines were created with a total depth of 20-40 km, especially strong opposite the Kyustrin bridgehead previously occupied by Soviet troops on the right bank of the Oder.

Preparation

Since mid-1943, the Soviet army had an overwhelming superiority in men and equipment, learned to fight and, in the words of Mark Solonin, “overwhelmed the enemy not with corpses, but with artillery shells.”

On the eve of the Berlin operation, engineering units quickly built 25 bridges and 40 ferry crossings across the Oder. Hundreds of kilometers of railways were converted to the Russian wide gauge.

From April 4 to April 15, large forces were transferred from the 2nd Belorussian Front operating in northern Germany to participate in the assault on Berlin over a distance of 350 km, mainly by road transport, for which 1,900 trucks were involved. According to the memoirs of Marshal Rokossovsky, it was the largest logistics operation during the entire Great Patriotic War.

Reconnaissance aviation provided the command with about 15 thousand photographs, on the basis of which a large-scale model of Berlin and its environs was made at the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front.

Disinformation measures were carried out in order to convince the German command that the main blow would be delivered not from the Küstrin bridgehead, but to the north, in the area of ​​​​the cities of Stettin and Guben.

Stalin's castling

Until November 1944, the 1st Belorussian Front, which geographical location Berlin was to be occupied, led by Konstantin Rokossovsky.

Based on his merits and leadership talent, he had every right to claim part of the capture of the enemy capital, but Stalin replaced him with Georgy Zhukov, and sent Rokossovsky to the 2nd Belorussian Front to clear the Baltic coast.

Rokossovsky could not resist and asked the Supreme Commander why he was so disfavored. Stalin limited himself to a formal answer that the area to which he was transferring him was no less important.

Historians see the real reason in the fact that Rokossovsky was an ethnic Pole.

Marshall's egos

Jealousy between Soviet military leaders also took place directly during the Berlin operation.

On April 20, when units of the 1st Ukrainian Front began to advance more successfully than the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, and the possibility arose that they would be the first to break into the city, Zhukov ordered the commander of the 2nd Tank Army, Semyon Bogdanov: “Send from each corps one one of the best brigades to Berlin and give them the task no later than 4 o’clock in the morning on April 21, to break through to the outskirts of Berlin at any cost and immediately deliver a report to Comrade Stalin and announcements in the press.”

Konev was even more frank.

“Marshal Zhukov’s troops are 10 km from the eastern outskirts of Berlin. I order you to be the first to break into Berlin tonight,” he wrote on April 20 to the commanders of the 3rd and 4th tank armies.

On April 28, Zhukov complained to Stalin that Konev’s troops occupied a number of Berlin blocks, which according to the original plan were within his zone of responsibility, and the Supreme Commander ordered units of the 1st Ukrainian Front to give up the territory they had just occupied in battle.

Relations between Zhukov and Konev remained tense until the end of their lives. According to film director Grigory Chukhrai, soon after the capture of Berlin, things came to a fight between them.

Churchill's attempt

Back in late 1943, at a meeting on board the battleship Iowa, Franklin Roosevelt set the military a task: “We must reach Berlin. The United States must get Berlin. The Soviets can take territory to the east.”

“I think the best objective of attack is the Ruhr, and then to Berlin by the northern route. We must decide that it is necessary to go to Berlin and end the war; everything else must play a secondary role,” wrote British Commander-in-Chief Bernard Montgomery to Dwight Eisenhower on September 18, 1944 . In his response letter, he called the German capital “the main trophy.”

According to the agreement reached in the fall of 1944 and confirmed at the Yalta Conference, the border of the occupation zones was to be approximately 150 km west of Berlin.

After the Allied Ruhr offensive in March, Wehrmacht resistance in the west was greatly weakened.

“The Russian armies will undoubtedly occupy Austria and enter Vienna. If they also take Berlin, will not the unjustified idea be strengthened in their minds that they have made the main contribution to our common victory? Will this not give them a mood that will create serious and insurmountable difficulties in the future? I believe that in view of political significance All this we must advance in Germany as far east as possible, and if Berlin is within our reach, we must, of course, take it,” wrote the British Prime Minister.

Roosevelt consulted with Eisenhower. He rejected the idea, citing the need to save lives. American soldiers. Perhaps the fear that Stalin would respond by refusing to participate in the war with Japan also played a role.

On March 28, Eisenhower personally sent a telegram to Stalin in which he said that he was not going to storm Berlin.

On April 12, the Americans reached the Elbe. According to commander Omar Bradley, the city, which was about 60 kilometers away, “lay at his feet,” but on April 15, Eisenhower forbade the offensive to continue.

Renowned British researcher John Fuller called it "one of the strangest decisions in military history."

Dissenting opinions

In 1964, shortly before the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Marshal Stepan Chuikov, who commanded the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front during the storming of Berlin, expressed the opinion in an article in the magazine "October" that after the Vistula-Oder operation, which was triumphant for the USSR, the offensive should have been continued, and then Berlin would have been taken at the end of February 1945.

From a military point of view, there was no need to storm Berlin. It was enough to encircle the city, and it would have surrendered in a week or two. And during the assault on the very eve of victory in street battles, we killed at least one hundred thousand soldiers Alexander Gorbatov, army general

The other marshals gave him a sharp rebuke. Zhukov wrote to Khrushchev that Chuikov “hasn’t understood the situation in 19 years” and “vilifies the Berlin operation, which our people are rightfully proud of.”

When Chuikov refused to make amendments to the manuscript of his memoirs submitted to Voenizdat, he was given a dressing down in the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army.

According to most military analysts, Chuikov was wrong. After the Vistula-Oder operation, the troops really needed to be reorganized. However, the honored marshal, who was also a direct participant in the events, had the right to personal assessments, and the methods with which he was silenced had nothing to do with scientific discussion.

On the other hand, Army General Alexander Gorbatov believed that Berlin should not have been taken head-on at all.

Progress of the battle

The final plan of the operation was approved on April 1 at a meeting with Stalin with the participation of Zhukov, Konev and Chief of the General Staff Alexei Antonov.

The advanced Soviet positions were separated from the center of Berlin by about 60 kilometers.

When preparing the operation, we somewhat underestimated the complexity of the terrain in the Seelow Heights area. First of all, I must take the blame for the flaw in the issue Georgy Zhukov, “Memories and Reflections”

At 5 am on April 16, the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive with its main forces from the Kyustrin bridgehead. At the same time, a novelty in military affairs was used: 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on.

Opinions differ about its effectiveness, as the rays had difficulty penetrating the morning fog and dust from the explosions. “The troops did not receive real help from this,” Marshal Chuikov argued at a military-scientific conference in 1946.

9 thousand guns and one and a half thousand Katyusha rockets were concentrated along the 27-kilometer section of the breakthrough. The massive artillery barrage lasted 25 minutes.

The head of the political department of the 1st Belorussian Front, Konstantin Telegin, subsequently reported that 6-8 days were allotted for the entire operation.

The Soviet command expected to take Berlin on April 21, on Lenin’s birthday, but it took three days to take the fortified Seelow Heights.

At 13:00 on the first day of the offensive, Zhukov made an unconventional decision: to throw the 1st Guards Tank Army of General Mikhail Katukov against the unsuppressed enemy defenses.

In the evening telephone conversation with Zhukov, Stalin expressed doubts about the appropriateness of this measure.

After the war, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky criticized both the tactics of using tanks on the Seelow Heights and the subsequent entry of the 1st and 2nd Panzer Armies directly into Berlin, which led to huge losses.

"Unfortunately, tanks were not used in the Berlin operation. in the best possible way", - the marshal pointed out to the armor tank troops Hamazasp Babajanyan.

This decision was defended by Marshals Zhukov and Konev and their subordinates, who accepted and implemented it.

“We took into account the fact that we would have to suffer losses in tanks, but we knew that even if we lost half, we would still bring up to two thousand armored vehicles into Berlin, and this would be enough to take it,” the general wrote Telegin.

The experience of this operation once again convincingly proved the inexpediency of using large tank formations in the battle for a large populated area, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky

Zhukov's dissatisfaction with the pace of advancement was such that on April 17, he banned the issuance of vodka to tank crews until further notice, and many generals received reprimands and warnings from him about incomplete performance.

There were special complaints about long-range bomber aircraft, which repeatedly attacked their own. On April 19, Golovanov’s pilots mistakenly bombed Katukov’s headquarters, killing 60 people, burning seven tanks and 40 cars.

According to the chief of staff of the 3rd Tank Army, General Bakhmetyev, “we had to ask Marshal Konev not to have any aviation.”

Berlin in the ring

However, on April 20, Berlin was fired upon for the first time from long-range guns, which became a kind of “gift” for Hitler’s birthday.

On this day, the Fuhrer announced his decision to die in Berlin.

“I will share the fate of my soldiers and accept death in battle. Even if we cannot win, we will drag half the world into oblivion,” he told those around him.

The next day, units of the 26th Guards and 32nd Rifle Corps reached the outskirts of Berlin and planted the first Soviet banner in the city.

Already on April 24, I was convinced that defending Berlin was impossible and from a military point of view pointless, since the German command did not have sufficient forces for this, General Helmut Weidling

On April 22, Hitler ordered the removal of General Wenck's 12th Army from the Western Front and transfer to Berlin. Field Marshal Keitel flew to her headquarters.

In the evening of the same day, Soviet troops closed a double encirclement ring around Berlin. Nevertheless, Hitler continued to rave about the “Wenck Army” until the last hours of his life.

The last reinforcements - a battalion of naval school cadets from Rostock - arrived in Berlin on transport planes on April 26.

On April 23, the Germans launched their last relatively successful counterattack: they temporarily advanced 20 kilometers at the junction of the 52nd Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army.

On April 23, Hitler, who was in a state close to insanity, ordered the commander of the 56th Panzer Corps, General Helmut Weidling, to be shot “for cowardice.” He obtained an audience with the Fuhrer, during which he not only saved his life, but also appointed him commandant of Berlin.

“It would be better if they shot me,” said Weidling, leaving the office.

In hindsight, we can say that he was right. Once in Soviet captivity, Weidling spent 10 years in the Vladimir special prison, where he died at the age of 64.

On the streets of the metropolis

On April 25, fighting began in Berlin itself. By this time, the Germans did not have a single solid formation left in the city, and the number of defenders was 44 thousand people.

On the Soviet side, 464 thousand people and 1,500 tanks directly took part in the assault on Berlin.

To conduct street fighting, the Soviet command created assault groups consisting of an infantry platoon, two to four guns, and one or two tanks.

On April 29, Keitel sent a telegram to Hitler: “I consider attempts to unblock Berlin hopeless,” once again suggesting that the Fuhrer try to fly by plane to southern Germany.

We finished him [Berlin] off. He will envy Orel and Sevastopol - this is how we treated him General Mikhail Katukov

By April 30, only the government quarter of Tiergarten remained in German hands. At 21:30 part of the 150th rifle division Major General Shatilov and the 171st Infantry Division, Colonel Negoda, approached the Reichstag.

It would be more correct to call further battles a cleansing operation, but it was also not possible to completely capture the city by May 1st.

On the night of May 1, the Chief of the German General Staff, Hans Krebs, appeared at the headquarters of Chuikov's 8th Guards Army and proposed a truce, but Stalin demanded unconditional surrender. The newly appointed Reich Chancellor Goebbels and Krebs committed suicide.

At 6 a.m. on May 2, General Weidling surrendered near the Potsdam Bridge. An hour later, the order of surrender he signed was conveyed to the German soldiers who continued to resist through loudspeakers.

Agony

The Germans fought in Berlin to the last, especially the SS and Volkssturm teenagers brainwashed by propaganda.

Up to two-thirds of the personnel of the SS units were foreigners - fanatical Nazis who deliberately chose to serve Hitler. The last man, who received the Knight's Cross in the Reich on April 29 was not a German, but a Frenchman, Eugene Valot.

This was not the case in the political and military leadership. Historian Anatoly Ponomarenko cites numerous examples of strategic mistakes, the collapse of control and a sense of hopelessness that made it easier for the Soviet army to capture Berlin.

For some time now, self-deception has become the main refuge of the Fuhrer, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel

Because of Hitler's stubbornness, the Germans defended their own capital with relatively small forces, while 1.2 million people remained and surrendered to the end in the Czech Republic, a million in Northern Italy, 350 thousand in Norway, 250 thousand in Courland.

The commander, General Heinrici, openly cared about one thing: to withdraw as many units as possible to the west, so on April 29 Keitel invited him to shoot himself, which Heinrici did not do.

On April 27, SS Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner did not comply with the order to unblock Berlin and took his group into American captivity.

Minister of Armaments Albert Speer, who was responsible for the engineering side of defense, was unable to prevent the flooding of the Berlin metro on Hitler's orders, but saved 120 of the city's 248 bridges from destruction.

The Volkssturm had 42 thousand rifles for 60 thousand people and five cartridges for each rifle and were not even supplied with a boiler allowance, and, being mainly residents of Berlin, ate whatever they had at home.

Victory Banner

Although parliament played no role under the Nazi regime and did not meet at all since 1942, the prominent Reichstag building was considered a symbol of the German capital.

The Red Banner, now kept in the Moscow Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, was hoisted over the Reichstag dome on the night of May 1, according to the canonical version, by privates of the 150th Infantry Division Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria. It was a dangerous operation, since bullets were still whistling around, so, according to battalion commander Stepan Neustroev, his subordinates danced on the roof not for joy, but to evade the shots.

It subsequently turned out that nine banners had been prepared and a corresponding number of assault groups formed, so that it is difficult to determine who was first. Some historians give priority to the group of Captain Vladimir Makov from the 136th Rezhetsk Red Banner Artillery Brigade. Five Makovites were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but were given only the Order of the Red Banner. The banner they erected has not survived.

Walking with Yegorov and Kantaria was the battalion’s political officer, Alexei Berest, a man of heroic strength, who literally dragged his comrades onto the dome shattered by shells in his arms.

However, the PR people of that time decided that, given Stalin’s nationality, Russians and Georgians should become heroes, and everyone else turned out to be superfluous.

The fate of Alexey Berest was tragic. After the war, he managed a regional cinema chain in the Stavropol Territory and received 10 years in the camps on charges of embezzlement, although 17 witnesses confirmed his innocence at trial. According to daughter Irina, the cashiers stole, and the father suffered because he was rude to the investigator during the first interrogation. Soon after his release, the hero died after being run over by a train.

Bormann's Mystery

Hitler committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery on April 30. Goebbels followed suit a day later.

Goering and Himmler were outside Berlin and were captured by the Americans and British respectively.

Another Nazi boss, Deputy Fuhrer in the Party Martin Bormann, went missing during the storming of Berlin.

It feels like our troops did a good job on Berlin. While passing, I saw only a dozen surviving houses. Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference

According to the widespread version, Bormann lived incognito for many years in Latin America. The Nuremberg Tribunal sentenced him to hanging in absentia.

Most researchers are inclined to think that Bormann failed to get out of the city.

In December 1972, while laying a telephone cable near Lehrter station in West Berlin, two skeletons were discovered, which forensic doctors, dentists and anthropologists recognized as belonging to Bormann and Hitler's personal physician Ludwig Stumpfegger. Between the teeth of the skeletons there were fragments of glass ampoules with potassium cyanide.

Bormann's 15-year-old son Adolf, who fought in the ranks of the Volkssturm, survived and became a Catholic priest.

Uranium trophy

One of the targets of the Soviet army in Berlin, according to modern data, was the Kaiser Wilhelm Society Physics Institute, where there was an operating nuclear reactor and 150 tons of uranium purchased before the war in the Belgian Congo.

They failed to capture the reactor: the Germans took it in advance to the Alpine village of Haigerloch, where it was taken over by the Americans on April 23. But the uranium fell into the hands of the winners, which, according to Academician Yuli Khariton, a participant in the Soviet atomic project, brought the creation of the bomb closer by about a year.

On the eve of the 70th anniversary portal offers its readers a chapter from the forthcoming book by M. I. Frolov and V. V. Vasilik “Battles and Victories. Great Patriotic War" about the feat last days war and the courage, perseverance and mercy of Soviet soldiers shown during the capture of Berlin.

One of the final chords of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War was the Berlin operation. It led to the occupation of the capital German Reich, the destruction and capture of almost a million enemy forces and, ultimately, the surrender of Nazi Germany.

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding it recently. The first is that the 1st Belorussian Front, under the command, supposedly could have taken Berlin in January - February 1945 after capturing bridgeheads on the Oder, 70 kilometers from Berlin, and this was prevented only by Stalin’s voluntaristic decision. In fact, there were no real opportunities to capture Berlin in the winter of 1945: the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought 500-600 km, suffering losses, and an attack on the German capital without preparation, with exposed flanks, could end in disaster.

Much in the post-war structure of the world depended on who would enter first Berlin

The operation to capture Berlin was prepared carefully and was carried out only after the destruction of the enemy Pomeranian group. The need to destroy the Berlin group was dictated by both military and political considerations. Much in the post-war structure of the world depended on who would enter first Berlin - us or the Americans. The successful offensive of Anglo-American troops in West Germany created the possibility that the Allies would be the first to capture Berlin, so Soviet military leaders had to hurry.

By the end of March, the Headquarters developed a plan for an attack on the German capital. The main role was given to the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of G.K. Zhukov. The 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of I. S. Konev was assigned a supporting role - “to defeat the enemy group (...) south of Berlin,” and then strike at Dresden and Leipzig. However, as the operation progressed, I. S. Konev, wanting to gain the glory of the winner, secretly made adjustments to the original plans and redirected part of his troops to Berlin. Thanks to this, a myth was created about a competition between two military leaders, Zhukov and Konev, which was allegedly arranged by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: the prize in it was supposedly the glory of the winner, and the bargaining chip was soldiers' lives. In fact, the Stavka plan was rational and provided for the fastest possible capture of Berlin with minimal losses.

The main thing in Zhukov’s plan was to prevent the creation of a strong group in the city and the long-term defense of Berlin

The components of this plan, developed by G.K. Zhukov, were a breakthrough of the front by tank armies. Then, when the tank armies manage to break out into operational space, they must go to the outskirts of Berlin and form a kind of “cocoon” around German capital. “Cocoon” would prevent the garrison from being strengthened by the 200,000-strong 9th Army or reserves from the west. It was not intended to enter the city at this stage. With the approach of the Soviet combined arms armies, the “cocoon” opened, and Berlin could already be stormed according to all the rules. The main thing in Zhukov’s plan was to prevent the creation of a strong group in the city itself and the long-term defense of Berlin following the example of Budapest (December 1944 - February 1945) or Poznan (January - February 1945). And this plan ultimately succeeded.

A group of one and a half million people from two fronts was concentrated against the German forces, which totaled about a million people. The 1st Belorussian Front alone consisted of 3059 tanks and self-propelled guns (self-propelled artillery units), 14038 guns. The forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front were more modest (about 1000 tanks, 2200 guns). The action of ground troops was supported by aviation of three air armies (4th, 16th, 2nd), with a total number of 6706 aircraft of all types. They were opposed by only 1950 aircraft of two air fleets (the 6th WF and the Reich WF). April 14 and 15 were spent in reconnaissance in force at the Kyustrin bridgehead. Careful probing of the enemy's defenses created the illusion among the Germans that the Soviet the offensive will begin only in a few days. However, at three o'clock in the morning Berlin time, artillery preparation began, lasting 2.5 hours. Of the 2,500 guns and 1,600 artillery installations, 450,000 rounds were fired.

The actual artillery preparation took 30 minutes, the rest of the time was occupied by the “barrage of fire” - fire support of the advancing troops of the 5th Shock Army (commander N.E. Berzarin) and the 8th Guards Army under the command of the hero V.I. Chuikov. In the afternoon, two tank guard armies were sent to the emerging breakthrough at once - the 1st and 2nd, under the command of M.E. Katukov and S.I. Bogdanov, for a total of 1237 tanks and self-propelled guns. Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, including divisions of the Polish Army, crossed the Oder along the entire front line. The actions of the ground forces were supported by aviation, which on the first day alone made about 5,300 sorties, destroyed 165 enemy aircraft and hit a number of important ground targets.

Nevertheless, the advance of the Soviet troops was quite slow due to the stubborn resistance of the Germans and the presence of a large number of engineering and natural barriers, especially canals. By the end of April 16, Soviet troops had reached only the second line of defense. A particular difficulty was overcoming the seemingly impregnable Seelow Heights, which our troops “gnawed through” with great difficulty. Tank operations were limited due to the nature of the terrain, and artillery and infantry were often tasked with assaulting enemy positions. Due to unstable weather, aviation was at times unable to provide full support.

However, the German forces were no longer the same as in 1943, 1944, or even at the beginning of 1945. They turned out to be no longer capable of counterattacks, but only formed “traffic jams” that, with their resistance, tried to delay the advance of the Soviet troops.

Nevertheless, on April 19, under the attacks of the 2nd Tank Guards and 8th Guards Armies, the Wotan defensive line was broken through and a rapid breakthrough to Berlin began; On April 19 alone, Katukov’s army covered 30 kilometers. Thanks to the actions of the 69th and other armies, the “Halba cauldron” was created: the main forces of the German 9th Army stationed on the Oder under the command of Busse were surrounded in the forests southeast of Berlin. This was one of the major defeats of the Germans, according to A. Isaev, undeservedly remaining in the shadow of the actual assault on the city.

It is customary in the liberal press to exaggerate the losses on the Seelow Heights, mixing them with losses in the entire Berlin operation (irretrievable losses of Soviet troops in it amounted to 80 thousand people, and total losses - 360 thousand people). Real total losses of the 8th Guards and 69th armies during the offensive in the Seelow Heights area amounted to about 20 thousand people. Irreversible losses amounted to approximately 5 thousand people.

During April 20-21, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, overcoming German resistance, moved to the suburbs of Berlin and closed the external encirclement. At 6 o'clock in the morning on April 21, the advanced units of the 171st division (commander - Colonel A.I. Negoda) crossed the Berlin ring highway and thereby began the battle for Greater Berlin.

Meanwhile, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Neisse, then the Spree, and entered Cottbus, which was captured on April 22. By order of I. S. Konev, two tank armies were turned to Berlin - the 3rd Guards under the command of P. S. Rybalko and the 4th Guards under the command of A. D. Lelyushenko. In stubborn battles, they broke through the Barut-Zossen defensive line and captured the city of Zossen, where the General Headquarters of the German ground forces was located. On April 23, the advanced units of the 4th Panzer The armies reached the Teltow Canal in the area of ​​Standorf, a southwestern suburb of Berlin.

Steiner's army group was made up of motley and very shabby units, right down to a battalion of translators

Anticipating his imminent end, on April 21, Hitler ordered SS General Steiner to assemble a group to relieve Berlin and restore communications between the 56th and 110th Corps. Steiner's so-called army group was a typical "patchwork quilt", made up of motley and very shabby units, right down to a battalion of translators. According to the Fuhrer's order, she was supposed to set out on April 21, but was able to go on the offensive only on April 23. The offensive was unsuccessful; moreover, under pressure from Soviet troops from the east, German troops had to retreat and leave a bridgehead on the southern bank of the Hohenzollern Canal.

Only on April 25, having received more than modest reinforcements, Steiner’s group resumed its offensive in the direction of Spandau. But at Hermannsdorf it was stopped by Polish divisions, which launched a counteroffensive. Steiner’s group was finally neutralized by the forces of P. A. Belov’s 61st Army, which on April 29 came to its rear and forced its remnants to retreat to the Elbe.

Another failed savior of Berlin was Walter Wenck, commander of the 12th Army, hastily assembled from recruits in order to plug the hole on the Western Front. By order of Reichsmarschall Keitel on April 23, the 12th Army was to leave its positions on the Elbe and go to relieve Berlin. However, although clashes with units of the Red Army began on April 23, the 12th Army was able to go on the offensive only on April 28. The direction was chosen to Potsdam and the southern suburbs of Berlin. Initially, it had some success due to the fact that units of the 4th Guards Tank Army were on the march and the 12th Army managed to somewhat push back the Soviet motorized infantry. But soon the Soviet command organized a counterattack with the forces of the 5th and 6th mechanized corps. Near Potsdam, Wenck's army was stopped. Already on April 29, he radioed to the General Staff of the Ground Forces: “The army... is under such strong pressure from the enemy that an attack on Berlin is no longer possible.”

Information about the situation of Wenck's army accelerated Hitler's suicide.

The only thing that parts of the 12th Army were able to achieve was to hold positions near Beelitz and wait for a small part of the 9th Army (about 30 thousand people) to leave the “Halba cauldron”. On May 2, Wenck's army and parts of the 9th Army began to retreat towards the Elbe in order to surrender to the Allies.

Berlin buildings were being prepared for defense, bridges across the Spree River and canals were mined. Pillboxes and bunkers were built, machine gun nests were equipped

On April 23, the assault on Berlin began. At first glance, Berlin was a fairly powerful fortress, especially considering that the barricades on its streets were built at an industrial level and reached a height and width of 2.5 m. The so-called air defense towers were a great help in defense. Buildings were being prepared for defense, bridges across the Spree River and canals were mined. Pillboxes and bunkers were built everywhere, and machine gun nests were equipped. The city was divided into 9 defense sectors. According to the plan, the garrison size of each sector was supposed to be 25 thousand people. However, in reality there were no more than 10-12 thousand people. In total, the Berlin garrison numbered no more than 100 thousand people, which was affected by the miscalculation of the command of the Vistula Army, which focused on the Oder Shield, as well as the blocking measures of the Soviet troops, which did not allow a significant number of German units to withdraw to Berlin. The withdrawal of the 56th Panzer Corps provided little reinforcement to the defenders of Berlin, as its strength was reduced to a division. For 88 thousand hectares of the city there were only 140 thousand defenders. Unlike Stalingrad and Budapest, there could be no talk of occupying every house; only the key buildings of the neighborhoods were defended.

In addition, the garrison of Berlin was an extremely motley sight, there were up to 70 (!) types of troops. A significant part of the defenders of Berlin were Volkssturm (people's militia), among them there were many teenagers from the Hitler Youth. The Berlin garrison was in dire need of weapons and ammunition. The entry of 450 thousand battle-hardened Soviet soldiers into the city left no chance for the defenders. This led to a relatively quick assault on Berlin - about 10 days.

However, these ten days, which shocked the world, were filled with hard, bloody labor for the soldiers and officers of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts. Significant difficulties associated with large losses were the crossing of water barriers - rivers, lakes and canals, the fight against enemy snipers and faustpatronniks, especially in the ruins of buildings. At the same time, it should be noted that there was a lack of infantry in the assault troops, due to both general losses and those suffered before the direct assault on Berlin. The experience of street fighting, starting from Stalingrad, was taken into account, especially during the storming of the German “festungs” (fortresses) - Poznan, Konigsberg. In the assault detachments, special assault groups were formed, consisting of blocking subgroups (a motorized infantry platoon, a sapper squad), a support subgroup (two motorized infantry platoons, an anti-tank rifle platoon), two 76 mm and one 57 mm guns. The groups moved along the same street (one on the right, the other on the left). While the blocking subgroup was blowing up houses and blocking firing points, the support subgroup supported it with fire. Often assault groups were given tanks and self-propelled guns, which provided them with fire support.

In street battles in Berlin, tanks acted as a shield for advancing soldiers, covering them with their fire and armor, and with a sword in street battles

The question was repeatedly raised in the liberal press: “Was it worth entering Berlin with tanks?” and even a kind of cliché was formed: tank armies burned by Faustpatrons on the streets of Berlin. However, the participants in the battle for Berlin, in particular the commander of the 3rd Tank Army P.S. Rybalko, have a different opinion: “The use of tank and mechanized formations and units against populated areas, including cities, despite the undesirability of limiting their mobility in these battles, as the extensive experience of the Patriotic War has shown, very often becomes inevitable. Therefore, our tank and mechanized troops need to be well trained in this type of combat.” In the conditions of street fighting in Berlin, tanks were at the same time a shield for the advancing soldiers, covering them with their fire and armor, and with a sword in street battles. It is worth noting that the importance of Faustpatrons is greatly exaggerated: under normal conditions, the losses of Soviet tanks from Faustpatrons were 10 times less than from the actions of German artillery. The fact that in the battles for Berlin half of the losses of Soviet tanks were caused by Faust cartridges once again proves the huge level of German losses in equipment, primarily in anti-tank artillery and tanks.

Often, assault groups showed miracles of courage and professionalism. So, on April 28, soldiers of the 28th Rifle Corps captured 2021 prisoners, 5 tanks, 1380 vehicles, and freed 5 thousand prisoners from a concentration camp different nationalities, losing only 11 killed and 57 wounded. Soldiers of the 117th battalion of the 39th Infantry Division took a building with a garrison of 720 Nazis, destroying 70 Nazis and capturing 650. The Soviet soldier learned to fight not with numbers, but with skill. All this refutes the myths that we took Berlin, filling the enemy with corpses.

Let us briefly touch upon the most remarkable events of the storming of Berlin from April 23 to May 2. The troops that stormed Berlin can be divided into three groups - northern (3rd shock, 2nd Guards Tank Army), southeastern (5th shock, 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Army) and south- western (troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front). On April 23, the troops of the southeastern group (5th Army) unexpectedly crossed the Spree River for the enemy, captured a bridgehead and transported as many as two divisions to it. The 26th Rifle Corps captured the Silesian railway station. On April 24, the 3rd Shock Army, advancing on the center of Berlin, captured the suburb of Reinickendorf. Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front captured a number of bridgeheads on the opposite bank of the Spree River and linked up with the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Schenefeld area. On April 25, the 2nd Panzer Army launched an offensive from the bridgeheads captured the day before on the Berlin-Spandauer-Schiffarts canal. On the same day, Tempelhof airfield was captured, thanks to which Berlin was supplied. The next day, April 26, while trying to recapture it, the German tank division “Munchenberg” was defeated. On the same day, the 9th Corps of the 5th Shock Army cleared 80 enemy quarters of the enemy. On April 27, troops of the 2nd Tank Army captured the area and Westend station. On April 28, troops of the 3rd Shock Army cleared the Moabit district and the political prison of the same name from the enemy, where thousands of anti-fascists were tortured, including the great Soviet poet Musa Jalil. On the same day, Anhalt station was captured. It is noteworthy that it was defended by the SS Nordland division, partly consisting of French and Latvian “volunteers”.

On April 29, Soviet troops reached the Reichstag, the symbol of German statehood, which was stormed the next day. The first to rush into it were the soldiers of the 171st Division, led by Captain Samsonov, who at 14.20 hoisted the Soviet flag in the window of the building. After fierce fighting, the building (with the exception of the basement) was cleared of the enemy. At 21.30, according to the traditional point of view, two soldiers - M. Kantaria and A. Egorov hoisted the Victory Banner on the dome of the Reichstag. On the same day, April 30, at 15.50, having learned that the armies of Wenck, Steiner and Holse would not come to the rescue, and the Soviet troops were only 400 m from the Reich Chancellery, where the possessed Fuhrer and his associates had taken refuge. They tried to delay their end with the help of numerous new victims, including among the German civilian population. To slow down the advance of Soviet troops, Hitler ordered the floodgates in the Berlin subway to be opened, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Berlin civilians fleeing bombing and shelling. In his will, Hitler wrote: “If the German people are unworthy of their mission, then they must disappear.” Soviet troops sought to spare the civilian population whenever possible. As participants in the battles recall, additional difficulties, including moral ones, were caused by the fact that German soldiers dressed in civilian clothes and treacherously shot our soldiers in the back. Because of this, many of our soldiers and officers died.

After Hitler's suicide, the new German government, led by Dr. Goebbels, wanted to enter into negotiations with the command of the 1st Belorussian Front, and through it, with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief J.V. Stalin. However, G.K. Zhukov demanded unconditional surrender, to which Goebbels and Bormann did not agree. The fighting continued. By May 1, the area occupied by German troops was reduced to only 1 square. km. The commander of the German garrison, General Krebs, committed suicide. The new commander, General Weidling, commander of the 56th Corps, seeing the hopelessness of resistance, accepted the terms of unconditional surrender. At least 50 thousand were captured German soldiers and officers. Goebbels, fearing retribution for his crimes, committed suicide.

The assault on Berlin ended on May 2, which fell on Maundy Tuesday in 1945 - a day dedicated to the remembrance of the Last Judgment

The capture of Berlin was, without exaggeration, an epochal event. The symbol of the German totalitarian state was defeated and the center of its control was struck. It is deeply symbolic that the assault on Berlin ended on May 2, which in 1945 fell on Maundy Tuesday, a day dedicated to the remembrance of the Last Judgment. And the capture of Berlin truly became the Last Judgment of occult German fascism, of all its lawlessness. Nazi Berlin was quite reminiscent of Nineveh, about which the holy prophet Nahum prophesied: “Woe to the city of blood, the city of deceit and murder!<…>There is no cure for your wound, your ulcer is painful. Everyone who heard the news about you will applaud you, for to whom has your malice not continually extended?” (Nahum 3:1,19). But the Soviet soldier was much more merciful than the Babylonians and Medes, although the German fascists were no better in their deeds than the Assyrians with their refined atrocities. Food was immediately provided to the two million population of Berlin. The soldiers generously shared the latter with their yesterday's enemies.

Veteran Kirill Vasilyevich Zakharov told an amazing story. His brother Mikhail Vasilyevich Zakharov died in the Tallinn crossing, two uncles were killed near Leningrad, his father lost his sight. He himself survived the blockade and miraculously escaped. And since 1943, when he went to the front, starting from Ukraine, he kept dreaming about how he would get to Berlin and take revenge. And during the battles for Berlin, during a respite, he stopped in the gateway to have a snack. And suddenly I saw the hatch rising, an elderly hungry German leaning out of it and asking for food. Kirill Vasilyevich shared his rations with him. Then another German civilian came out and also asked for food. In general, that day Kirill Vasilyevich was left without lunch. So he took revenge. And he did not regret this action.

Courage, perseverance, conscience and mercy - these Christian qualities were demonstrated by a Russian soldier in Berlin in April - May 1945. Eternal glory to him. A low bow to those participants in the Berlin operation who have survived to this day. For they gave freedom to Europe, including the German people. And they brought long-awaited peace to earth.

The war was ending. Everyone understood this - both the Wehrmacht generals and their opponents. Only one person - Adolf Hitler - despite everything, continued to hope for the strength of the German spirit, for a “miracle”, and most importantly - for a split between his enemies. There were reasons for this - despite the agreements reached in Yalta, England and the United States did not particularly want to cede Berlin to Soviet troops. Their armies advanced almost unhindered. In April 1945, they broke through into the center of Germany, depriving the Wehrmacht of its “forge” - the Ruhr Basin - and gaining the opportunity to rush to Berlin. At the same time, Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front and Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front froze in front of the powerful German defense line on the Oder. Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front finished off the remnants of enemy troops in Pomerania, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts advanced towards Vienna.

On April 1, Stalin convened a meeting of the State Defense Committee in the Kremlin. The audience was asked one question: “Who will take Berlin - us or the Anglo-Americans?” “The Soviet Army will take Berlin,” Konev was the first to respond. He, Zhukov’s constant rival, was also not taken by surprise by the Supreme Commander’s question - he showed the members of the State Defense Committee a huge model of Berlin, where the targets of future strikes were precisely indicated. The Reichstag, the Imperial Chancellery, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - all these were powerful centers of defense with a network of bomb shelters and secret passages. The capital of the Third Reich was surrounded by three lines of fortifications. The first took place 10 km from the city, the second - on its outskirts, the third - in the center. Berlin was defended by selected units of the Wehrmacht and SS troops, to whose aid the last reserves were urgently mobilized - 15-year-old members of the Hitler Youth, women and old men from the Volkssturm (people's militia). Around Berlin in the Vistula and Center army groups there were up to 1 million people, 10.4 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, the superiority of Soviet troops in manpower and equipment was not just significant, but overwhelming. 2.5 million soldiers and officers, 41.6 thousand guns, more than 6.3 thousand tanks, 7.5 thousand aircraft were supposed to attack Berlin. The main role in the offensive plan approved by Stalin was assigned to the 1st Belorussian Front. From the Küstrinsky bridgehead, Zhukov was supposed to storm the defense line head-on on the Seelow Heights, which towered above the Oder, closing the road to Berlin. Konev’s front had to cross the Neisse and strike the capital of the Reich with the forces of the tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko. It was planned that in the west it would reach the Elbe and, together with Rokossovsky’s front, would link up with the Anglo-American troops. The Allies were informed of the Soviet plans and agreed to halt their armies on the Elbe. The Yalta agreements had to be implemented, and this also made it possible to avoid unnecessary losses.

The offensive was scheduled for April 16. To make it unexpected for the enemy, Zhukov ordered an attack early in the morning, in the dark, blinding the Germans with the light of powerful searchlights. At five in the morning, three red rockets gave the signal to attack, and a second later thousands of guns and Katyushas opened hurricane fire of such force that an eight-kilometer space was plowed up overnight. “Hitler’s troops were literally sunk in a continuous sea of ​​fire and metal,” Zhukov wrote in his memoirs. Alas, the day before, a captured Soviet soldier revealed to the Germans the date of the future offensive, and they managed to withdraw their troops to the Seelow Heights. From there, targeted shooting began at Soviet tanks, which, wave after wave, made a breakthrough and died in a completely shot through field. While the enemy's attention was focused on them, the soldiers of Chuikov's 8th Guards Army managed to move forward and occupy lines near the outskirts of the village of Zelov. By evening it became clear: the planned pace of the offensive was being disrupted.

At the same time, Hitler addressed the Germans with an appeal, promising them: “Berlin will remain in German hands,” and the Russian offensive “will drown in blood.” But few people believed in this anymore. People listened with fear to the sounds of cannon fire, which were added to the already familiar bomb explosions. The remaining residents - there were at least 2.5 million of them - were forbidden to leave the city. The Fuhrer, losing his sense of reality, decided: if the Third Reich perishes, all Germans must share its fate. Goebbels' propaganda frightened the people of Berlin with the atrocities of the "Bolshevik hordes", convincing them to fight to the end. A Berlin defense headquarters was created, which ordered the population to prepare for fierce battles on the streets, in houses and underground communications. Each house was planned to be turned into a fortress, for which all remaining residents were forced to dig trenches and equip firing positions.

At the end of the day on April 16, Zhukov received a call from the Supreme Commander. He dryly reported that Konev overcame Neisse “happened without any difficulties.” Two tank armies broke through the front at Cottbus and rushed forward, continuing the offensive even at night. Zhukov had to promise that during April 17 he would take the ill-fated heights. In the morning, General Katukov's 1st Tank Army moved forward again. And again the “thirty-four”, which passed from Kursk to Berlin, burned out like candles from the fire of “Faust cartridges”. By evening, Zhukov's units had advanced only a couple of kilometers. Meanwhile, Konev reported to Stalin about new successes, announcing his readiness to take part in the storming of Berlin. Silence on the phone - and the dull voice of the Supreme: “I agree. Turn your tank armies towards Berlin." On the morning of April 18, the armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko rushed north to Teltow and Potsdam. Zhukov, whose pride suffered severely, threw his units into a last desperate attack. In the morning, the 9th German Army, which received the main blow, could not stand it and began to roll back to the west. The Germans still tried to launch a counterattack, but the next day they retreated along the entire front. From that moment on, nothing could delay the denouement.

Friedrich Hitzer, German writer, translator:

My answer regarding the assault on Berlin is purely personal, not a military strategist. In 1945 I was 10 years old, and, being a child of the war, I remember how it ended, how the defeated people felt. Both my father and my closest relative took part in this war. The latter was a German officer. Returning from captivity in 1948, he decisively told me that if this happened again, he would go to war again. And on January 9, 1945, on my birthday, I received a letter from the front from my father, who also wrote with determination that we needed to “fight, fight and fight the terrible enemy in the east, otherwise we will be taken to Siberia.” Having read these lines as a child, I was proud of the courage of my father - “the liberator from the Bolshevik yoke.” But very little time passed, and my uncle, that same German officer, told me many times: “We were deceived. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you again.” The soldiers realized that this was not the same war. Of course, not all of us were “deceived.” One of my father's best friends warned him back in the 30s: Hitler is terrible. You know, any political ideology of the superiority of some over others, absorbed by society, is akin to drugs...

The significance of the assault, and the finale of the war in general, became clear to me later. The assault on Berlin was necessary - it saved me from the fate of being a conquering German. If Hitler had won, I would probably have become a very unhappy person. His goal of world domination is alien and incomprehensible to me. As an action, the capture of Berlin was terrible for the Germans. But in reality it was happiness. After the war I worked in one military commission, dealing with the issues of German prisoners of war, and was once again convinced of this.

I recently met with Daniil Granin, and we talked for a long time about what kind of people they were who surrounded Leningrad...

And then, during the war, I was afraid, yes, I hated the Americans and the British, who almost bombed my hometown of Ulm to the ground. This feeling of hatred and fear lived in me until I visited America.

I remember well how, evacuated from the city, we lived in a small German village on the banks of the Danube, which was the “American zone”. Our girls and women then inked themselves with pencils so as not to be raped... Every war is a terrible tragedy, and this war was especially terrible: today they talk about 30 million Soviet and 6 million German victims, as well as millions of dead people of other nations.

Last birthday

On April 19, another participant appeared in the race for Berlin. Rokossovsky reported to Stalin that the 2nd Belorussian Front was ready to storm the city from the north. On the morning of this day, the 65th Army of General Batov crossed the wide channel of the Western Oder and moved towards Prenzlau, cutting into pieces the German Army Group Vistula. At this time, Konev’s tanks moved north easily, as if in a parade, meeting almost no resistance and leaving the main forces far behind. The Marshal consciously took risks, rushing to approach Berlin before Zhukov. But the troops of the 1st Belorussian were already approaching the city. His formidable commander issued an order: “No later than 4 o’clock in the morning on April 21, break into the suburbs of Berlin at any cost and immediately convey a message about this for Stalin and the press.”

On April 20, Hitler celebrated his last birthday. Selected guests gathered in a bunker 15 meters into the ground under the imperial chancellery: Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann, the top of the army and, of course, Eva Braun, who was listed as the Fuhrer’s “secretary”. His comrades suggested that their leader leave doomed Berlin and move to the Alps, where a secret refuge had already been prepared. Hitler refused: “I am destined to conquer or perish with the Reich.” However, he agreed to withdraw the command of the troops from the capital, dividing it into two parts. The north found itself under the control of Grand Admiral Dönitz, to whom Himmler and his staff went to help. The south of Germany had to be defended by Goering. At the same time, a plan arose to defeat the Soviet offensive by the armies of Steiner from the north and Wenck from the west. However, this plan was doomed from the very beginning. Both Wenck's 12th Army and the remnants of SS General Steiner's units were exhausted in battle and incapable of active action. Army Group Center, on which hopes were also pinned, fought heavy battles in the Czech Republic. Zhukov prepared a “gift” for the German leader - in the evening his armies approached the city border of Berlin. The first shells from long-range guns hit the city center. The next morning, General Kuznetsov's 3rd Army entered Berlin from the northeast, and Berzarin's 5th Army from the north. Katukov and Chuikov attacked from the east. The streets of the dull Berlin suburbs were blocked by barricades, and “Faustniks” fired at the attackers from the gateways and windows of houses.

Zhukov ordered not to waste time suppressing individual firing points and to hurry forward. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the headquarters of the German command in Zossen. Most of the officers fled to Potsdam, and the chief of staff, General Krebs, went to Berlin, where on April 22 at 15.00 Hitler held his last military meeting. Only then did they decide to tell the Fuhrer that no one could save the besieged capital. The reaction was violent: the leader burst into threats against the “traitors,” then collapsed on a chair and groaned: “It’s over... the war is lost...”

And yet the Nazi leadership was not going to give up. It was decided to completely stop resistance to the Anglo-American troops and throw all forces against the Russians. All military personnel capable of holding weapons were to be sent to Berlin. The Fuhrer still pinned his hopes on Wenck's 12th Army, which was supposed to link up with Busse's 9th Army. To coordinate their actions, the command led by Keitel and Jodl was withdrawn from Berlin to the town of Kramnitz. In the capital, besides Hitler himself, the only leaders of the Reich left were General Krebs, Bormann and Goebbels, who was appointed head of defense.

Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov, Lieutenant General of the Foreign Intelligence Service:

The Berlin operation is the penultimate operation of the Second World War. It was carried out by forces of three fronts from April 16 to April 30, 1945 - from the raising of the flag over the Reichstag and the end of resistance - on the evening of May 2. Pros and cons of this operation. Plus, the operation was completed quite quickly. After all, the attempt to take Berlin was actively promoted by the leaders of the allied armies. This is reliably known from Churchill’s letters.

Cons - almost everyone who participated recalls that there were too many sacrifices and, perhaps, without objective necessity. The first reproaches to Zhukov - he stood at the shortest distance from Berlin. His attempt to enter with a frontal attack from the east is regarded by many participants in the war as a mistaken decision. It was necessary to encircle Berlin from the north and south and force the enemy to capitulate. But the marshal went straight. Regarding the artillery operation on April 16, the following can be said: Zhukov brought the idea of ​​​​using searchlights from Khalkhin Gol. It was there that the Japanese launched a similar attack. Zhukov repeated the same technique: but many military strategists claim that the searchlights had no effect. The result of their use was a mess of fire and dust. This frontal attack was unsuccessful and poorly thought out: when our soldiers walked through the trenches, there were few German corpses in them. So the advancing units wasted more than 1,000 wagons of ammunition. Stalin deliberately arranged competition between the marshals. After all, Berlin was finally surrounded on April 25th. It would be possible not to resort to such sacrifices.

City on fire

On April 22, 1945, Zhukov appeared in Berlin. His armies - five rifle and four tank - destroyed the German capital with all types of weapons. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the city limits, occupying a bridgehead in the Teltow area. Zhukov gave his vanguard - the armies of Chuikov and Katukov - the order to cross the Spree, no later than the 24th to be in Tempelhof and Marienfeld - the central regions of the city. For street fighting, assault detachments were hastily formed from fighters from different units. In the north, the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich crossed the Havel River along a bridge that had accidentally survived and headed west, preparing to connect there with Konev’s units and close the encirclement. Having taken northern regions city, Zhukov finally excluded Rokossovsky from among the participants in the operation. From this moment until the end of the war, the 2nd Belorussian Front was engaged in the defeat of the Germans in the north, drawing over a significant part of the Berlin group.

The glory of the winner of Berlin has passed by Rokossovsky, and it has passed by Konev as well. Stalin's directive, received on the morning of April 23, ordered the troops of the 1st Ukrainian to stop at the Anhalter station - literally a hundred meters from the Reichstag. The Supreme Commander entrusted Zhukov with occupying the center of the enemy capital, noting his invaluable contribution to the victory. But we still had to get to Anhalter. Rybalko with his tanks froze on the bank of the deep Teltow Canal. Only with the approach of artillery, which suppressed the German firing points, were the vehicles able to cross the water barrier. On April 24, Chuikov’s scouts made their way west through the Schönefeld airfield and met Rybalko’s tankers there. This meeting split the German forces in half - about 200 thousand soldiers were surrounded in a wooded area southeast of Berlin. Until May 1, this group tried to break through to the west, but was cut into pieces and almost completely destroyed.

And Zhukov’s strike forces continued to rush towards the city center. Many fighters and commanders had no experience of fighting in a big city, which led to huge losses. The tanks moved in columns, and as soon as the front one was knocked out, the entire column became easy prey for the German Faustians. We had to resort to merciless but effective combat tactics: first, the artillery fired hurricane fire at the target of the future offensive, then volleys of Katyusha rockets drove everyone alive into shelters. After this, tanks moved forward, destroying barricades and destroying houses from which shots were fired. Only then did the infantry get involved. During the battle, the city was hit by almost two million gun shots - 36 thousand tons of deadly metal. Fortress guns were delivered from Pomerania by rail, firing shells weighing half a ton into the center of Berlin.

But even this firepower could not always cope with the thick walls of buildings built back in the 18th century. Chuikov recalled: “Our guns sometimes fired up to a thousand shots at one square, at a group of houses, even at a small garden.” It is clear that no one thought about the civilian population, trembling with fear in bomb shelters and flimsy basements. However, the main blame for his suffering lay not with the Soviet troops, but with Hitler and his entourage, who, with the help of propaganda and violence, did not allow residents to leave the city, which had turned into a sea of ​​​​fire. After the victory, it was estimated that 20% of the houses in Berlin were completely destroyed, and another 30% - partially. On April 22, the city telegraph closed for the first time, having received the last message from the Japanese allies - “we wish you good luck.” Water and gas were cut off, transport stopped running, and food distribution stopped. Starving Berliners, not paying attention to the continuous shelling, robbed freight trains and shops. They were more afraid not of Russian shells, but of SS patrols, which grabbed men and hung them from trees as deserters.

The police and Nazi officials began to flee. Many tried to get to the west to surrender to the Anglo-Americans. But the Soviet units were already there. On April 25 at 13.30 they went to the Elbe and met near the town of Torgau with tank crews of the 1st American army.

On this day, Hitler entrusted the defense of Berlin to tank general Weidling. Under his command there were 60 thousand soldiers who were opposed by 464 thousand Soviet troops. The armies of Zhukov and Konev met not only in the east, but also in the west of Berlin, in the Ketzin area, and now they were separated from the city center by only 7–8 kilometers. On April 26, the Germans made a last-ditch attempt to stop the attackers. Fulfilling the Fuhrer's order, Wenck's 12th Army, which consisted of up to 200 thousand people, struck from the west at Konev's 3rd and 28th armies. The fighting, unprecedentedly fierce even for this brutal battle, continued for two days, and by the evening of the 27th, Wenck had to retreat to his previous positions.

The day before, Chuikov’s soldiers occupied the Gatov and Tempelhof airfields, carrying out Stalin’s order to prevent Hitler from leaving Berlin at any cost. The Supreme Commander was not going to let the one who treacherously deceived him in 1941 escape or surrender to the Allies. Corresponding orders were also given to other Nazi leaders. There was another category of Germans who were intensively searched for - specialists in nuclear research. Stalin knew about the Americans’ work on the atomic bomb and was going to create “his own” as quickly as possible. It was already necessary to think about the world after the war, where the Soviet Union had to take a worthy place, paid for in blood.

Meanwhile, Berlin continued to suffocate in the smoke of fires. Volkssturmov soldier Edmund Heckscher recalled: “There were so many fires that night turned into day. You could read a newspaper, but newspapers were no longer published in Berlin.” The roar of guns, shooting, explosions of bombs and shells did not stop for a minute. Clouds of smoke and brick dust clouded the city center, where deep under the ruins imperial chancellery Hitler again and again tormented his subordinates with the question: “Where is Wenck?”

On April 27, three-quarters of Berlin was in Soviet hands. In the evening, Chuikov’s strike forces reached the Landwehr Canal, one and a half kilometers from the Reichstag. However, their path was blocked by selected SS units, who fought with special fanaticism. Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army was stuck in the Tiergarten area, whose parks were dotted with German trenches. Every step here was taken with difficulty and a lot of blood. Chances again appeared for Rybalko’s tankers, who on that day made an unprecedented rush from the west to the center of Berlin through Wilmersdorf.

By nightfall, a strip 2–3 kilometers wide and up to 16 kilometers long remained in the hands of the Germans. The first batches of prisoners, still small, came out with raised hands from the basements and entrances of houses to the rear. Many were deaf from the incessant roar, others, gone crazy, laughed wildly. The civilian population continued to hide, fearing the revenge of the victors. The Avengers, of course, were - they could not help but be after what the Nazis did on Soviet soil. But there were also those who, risking their lives, pulled German elderly people and children out of the fire, who shared their soldiers’ rations with them. The feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who saved a three-year-old German girl from a destroyed house on the Landwehr Canal, went down in history. It is he who is depicted by the famous statue in Treptower Park - a memory of Soviet soldiers who preserved humanity in the fire of the most terrible of wars.

Even before the end of the fighting, the Soviet command took measures to restore normal life in the city. On April 28, General Berzarin, appointed commandant of Berlin, issued an order to dissolve the National Socialist Party and all its organizations and transfer all power to the military commandant's office. In areas cleared of the enemy, soldiers were already beginning to put out fires, clear buildings, and bury numerous corpses. However, it was possible to establish a normal life only with the assistance of the local population. Therefore, on April 20, the Headquarters demanded that the commanders of the troops change their attitude towards German prisoners and civilians. The directive put forward a simple rationale for such a step: “A more humane attitude towards the Germans will reduce their stubbornness in defense.”

Former foreman of the 2nd article, member of the international PEN Club (International Organization of Writers), Germanist writer, translator Evgenia Katseva:

The greatest of our holidays is approaching, and the cats are scratching at my soul. Recently (in February) of this year I was at a conference in Berlin, seemingly dedicated to this great, I think, not only for our people, date, and I became convinced that many had forgotten who started the war and who won it. No, this stable phrase “win the war” is completely inappropriate: you can win and lose in a game, but in a war you either win or lose. For many Germans, the war is only the horrors of those few weeks when it went on on their territory, as if our soldiers came there of their own free will, and did not fight their way to the west for 4 long years across their native scorched and trampled land. This means that Konstantin Simonov was not so right when he believed that there is no such thing as someone else’s grief. It happens, it happens. And if you forgot who put an end to one of the most terrible wars, who defeated German fascism, how can we remember who took the capital of the German Reich - Berlin. Our Soviet Army, our Soviet soldiers and officers took it. Whole, completely, fighting for every district, block, house, from the windows and doors of which shots rang out until the last moment.

It was only later, a whole bloody week after the capture of Berlin, on May 2, that our allies appeared, and the main trophy, as a symbol of the joint Victory, was divided into four parts. Into four sectors: Soviet, American, English, French. With four military commandant's offices. Four or four, even more or less equal, but in general Berlin was divided into two completely different parts. For the three sectors quite soon united, and the fourth - the eastern - and, as usual, the poorest - turned out to be isolated. It remained so, although it later acquired the status of the capital of the GDR. In return, the Americans “generously” gave us back Thuringia, which they had occupied. The region is good, but for a long time the disappointed residents harbored a grudge for some reason not against the renegade Americans, but against us, the new occupiers. This is such an aberration...

As for the looting, our soldiers did not come there on their own. And now, 60 years later, all sorts of myths are being spread, growing to ancient proportions...

Reich convulsions

The fascist empire was disintegrating before our eyes. On April 28, Italian partisans caught dictator Mussolini trying to escape and shot him. The next day, General von Wietinghof signed the act of surrender of the Germans in Italy. Hitler learned about the execution of the Duce at the same time as another bad thing: his closest associates Himmler and Goering began separate negotiations with the Western allies, bargaining for their lives. The Fuhrer was beside himself with rage: he demanded that the traitors be immediately arrested and executed, but this was no longer in his power. They managed to get even on Himmler’s deputy, General Fegelein, who fled from the bunker - a detachment of SS men grabbed him and shot him. The general was not saved even by the fact that he was the husband of Eva Braun’s sister. On the evening of the same day, Commandant Weidling reported that there was only enough ammunition left in the city for two days, and there was no fuel at all.

General Chuikov received from Zhukov the task of connecting from the east with the forces advancing from the west, through the Tiergarten. The Potsdamer Bridge, leading to the Anhalter train station and Wilhelmstrasse, became an obstacle to the soldiers. Sappers managed to save him from the explosion, but the tanks that entered the bridge were hit well-aimed shots Faustpatrons. Then the tank crews tied sandbags around one of the tanks, doused it with diesel fuel and sent it forward. The first shots caused the fuel to burst into flames, but the tank continued to move forward. A few minutes of enemy confusion were enough for the rest to follow the first tank. By the evening of the 28th, Chuikov approached Tiergarten from the southeast, while Rybalko's tanks were entering the area from the south. In the north of Tiergarten, Perepelkin's 3rd Army liberated the Moabit prison, from where 7 thousand prisoners were released.

The city center has turned into a real hell. The heat made it impossible to breathe, the stones of buildings were cracking, and water was boiling in ponds and canals. There was no front line - a desperate battle went on for every street, every house. In dark rooms and on staircases - the electricity in Berlin had long gone out - hand-to-hand fighting broke out. Early in the morning of April 29, soldiers of General Perevertkin’s 79th Rifle Corps approached the huge building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - “Himmler’s house.” Having shot the barricades at the entrance with cannons, they managed to break into the building and capture it, which made it possible to get close to the Reichstag.

Meanwhile, nearby, in his bunker, Hitler was dictating his political will. He expelled the "traitors" Goering and Himmler from the Nazi Party and accused the entire German army of failing to maintain "commitment to duty until death." Power over Germany was transferred to “President” Dönitz and “Chancellor” Goebbels, and command of the army to Field Marshal Scherner. Towards evening, the official Wagner, brought by the SS men from the city, performed the civil wedding ceremony of the Fuhrer and Eva Braun. The witnesses were Goebbels and Bormann, who stayed for breakfast. During the meal, Hitler was depressed, muttering something about the death of Germany and the triumph of the “Jewish Bolsheviks.” During breakfast, he gave two secretaries ampoules of poison and ordered them to poison his beloved shepherd Blondie. Behind the walls of his office, the wedding quickly turned into a drinking party. One of the few sober employees remained Hitler’s personal pilot Hans Bauer, who offered to take his boss to any part of the world. The Fuhrer once again refused.

On the evening of April 29, General Weidling last time reported the situation to Hitler. The old warrior was frank - tomorrow the Russians will be at the entrance to the office. Ammunition is running out, there is nowhere to wait for reinforcements. Wenck's army was thrown back to the Elbe, and nothing is known about most other units. We need to capitulate. This opinion was confirmed by SS Colonel Mohnke, who had previously fanatically carried out all the Fuhrer’s orders. Hitler prohibited surrender, but allowed soldiers in “small groups” to leave the encirclement and make their way to the west.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops occupied one building after another in the city center. The commanders had difficulty finding their way on the maps - the pile of stones and twisted metal that was previously called Berlin was not indicated there. After taking the “Himmler House” and the town hall, the attackers had two main targets - the Imperial Chancellery and the Reichstag. If the first was the real center of power, then the second was its symbol, the tallest building of the German capital, where the Victory Banner was to be hoisted. The banner was already ready - it was handed over to one of the best units of the 3rd Army, the battalion of Captain Neustroev. On the morning of April 30, the units approached the Reichstag. As for the office, they decided to break through to it through the zoo in Tiergarten. In the devastated park, soldiers rescued several animals, including a mountain goat, which had the German Iron Cross hung around its neck for its bravery. Only in the evening the center of defense was taken - a seven-story reinforced concrete bunker.

Near the zoo, Soviet assault troops came under attack from the SS from the torn up metro tunnels. Chasing them, the fighters penetrated underground and discovered passages leading towards the office. A plan arose right away to “finish off the fascist beast in its lair.” The scouts went deeper into the tunnels, but after a couple of hours water rushed towards them. According to one version, upon learning that the Russians were approaching the office, Hitler ordered to open the floodgates and let the Spree water flow into the metro, where, in addition to Soviet soldiers, there were tens of thousands of wounded, women and children. Berliners who survived the war recalled that they heard an order to urgently leave the metro, but due to the resulting crush, few were able to get out. Another version refutes the existence of the order: water could have broken into the subway due to continuous bombing that destroyed the walls of the tunnels.

If the Fuhrer ordered the drowning of his fellow citizens, this was the last of his criminal orders. On the afternoon of April 30, he was informed that the Russians were on Potsdamerplatz, a block from the bunker. Soon after this, Hitler and Eva Braun said goodbye to their comrades and retired to their room. At 15.30 a shot was heard from there, after which Goebbels, Bormann and several other people entered the room. The Fuhrer, pistol in hand, lay on the sofa with his face covered in blood. Eva Braun did not disfigure herself - she took poison. Their corpses were taken into the garden, where they were placed in a shell crater, doused with gasoline and set on fire. The funeral ceremony did not last long - Soviet artillery opened fire, and the Nazis hid in a bunker. Later, the burnt bodies of Hitler and his girlfriend were discovered and transported to Moscow. For some reason, Stalin did not show the world evidence of the death of his worst enemy, which gave rise to many versions of his salvation. Only in 1991, Hitler's skull and his ceremonial uniform were discovered in the archive and demonstrated to everyone who wanted to see these dark evidence of the past.

Zhukov Yuri Nikolaevich, historian, writer:

The winners are not judged. That's all. In 1944, it turned out to be quite possible to withdraw Finland, Romania, and Bulgaria from the war without serious fighting, primarily through the efforts of diplomacy. An even more favorable situation for us arose on April 25, 1945. On that day, troops of the USSR and the USA met on the Elbe, near the city of Torgau, and the complete encirclement of Berlin was completed. From that moment on, the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed. Victory became inevitable. Only one thing remained unclear: exactly when the complete and unconditional surrender of the moribund Wehrmacht would follow. Zhukov, having removed Rokossovsky, took upon himself the leadership of the assault on Berlin. I could just squeeze the blockade ring every hour.

Force Hitler and his henchmen to commit suicide not on April 30, but a few days later. But Zhukov acted differently. Over the course of a week, he mercilessly sacrificed thousands of soldiers' lives. He forced units of the 1st Belorussian Front to fight bloody battles for every quarter of the German capital. For every street, every house. Achieved the surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2. But if this surrender had followed not on May 2, but, say, on the 6th or 7th, tens of thousands of our soldiers could have been saved. Well, Zhukov would have gained the glory of a winner anyway.

Molchanov Ivan Gavrilovich, participant in the assault on Berlin, veteran of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front:

After the battles at Stalingrad, our army under the command of General Chuikov passed through all of Ukraine, the south of Belarus, and then through Poland it reached Berlin, on the outskirts of which, as is known, the very difficult Kyustrin operation took place. I, a scout in an artillery unit, was 18 years old at the time. I still remember how the earth trembled and a barrage of shells plowed it up and down... How, after a powerful artillery barrage on the Zelovsky Heights, the infantry went into battle. The soldiers who drove the Germans from the first line of defense later said that after being blinded by the searchlights that were used in this operation, the Germans fled clutching their heads. Many years later, during a meeting in Berlin, German veterans who took part in this operation told me that they then thought that the Russians had used a new secret weapon.

After the Seelow Heights we moved directly to the German capital. Because of the flood, the roads were so muddy that both equipment and people had difficulty moving. It was impossible to dig trenches: water came out as deep as a spade bayonet. We reached the ring road by the twentieth of April and soon found ourselves on the outskirts of Berlin, where incessant battles for the city began. The SS men had nothing to lose: they strengthened residential buildings, metro stations, and various institutions thoroughly and in advance. When we entered the city, we were horrified: its center was completely bombed by Anglo-American aircraft, and the streets were so littered that equipment could barely move along them. We moved with a map of the city - it was difficult to find the streets and neighborhoods marked on it. On the same map, in addition to objects - fire targets, museums, book depositories, and medical institutions were indicated, at which it was prohibited to shoot.

In the battles for the center, our tank units also suffered losses: they became easy prey for the German patrons. And then the command applied a new tactic: first, artillery and flamethrowers destroyed enemy firing points, and after that, tanks cleared the way for the infantry. At this point, only one gun remained in our unit. But we continued to act. When approaching the Brandenburg Gate and the Anhalt Station, we received the order “not to shoot” - the accuracy of the battle here turned out to be such that our shells could hit our own. By the end of the operation, the remnants of the German army were cut into four parts, which began to be squeezed with rings.

The shooting ended on May 2nd. And suddenly there was such silence that it was impossible to believe. Residents of the city began to come out of their shelters, they looked at us from under their brows. And here, in establishing contacts with them, their children helped. The ubiquitous children, 10-12 years old, came to us, we treated them to cookies, bread, sugar, and when we opened the kitchen, we began to feed them cabbage soup and porridge. It was a strange sight: somewhere the shooting was renewed, gunfire could be heard, and there was a line for porridge outside our kitchen...

And soon a squadron of our horsemen appeared on the streets of the city. They were so clean and festive that we decided: “Probably somewhere near Berlin they were specially dressed and prepared...” This impression, as well as the arrival of G.K. to the destroyed Reichstag. Zhukov - he drove up in an unbuttoned overcoat, smiling - etched into my memory forever. There were, of course, other memorable moments. In the battles for the city, our battery had to be redeployed to another firing point. And then we came under German artillery attack. Two of my comrades jumped into a hole torn apart by a shell. And I, not knowing why, lay down under the truck, where after a few seconds I realized that the car above me was full of shells. When the shelling ended, I got out from under the truck and saw that my comrades had been killed... Well, it turns out that I was born for the second time that day...

last fight

The assault on the Reichstag was led by the 79th Rifle Corps of General Perevertkin, reinforced by shock groups of other units. The first onslaught on the morning of the 30th was repulsed - up to one and a half thousand SS men dug in in the huge building. At 18.00 a new assault followed. For five hours, the fighters moved forward and upward, meter by meter, to the roof decorated with giant bronze horses. Sergeants Egorov and Kantaria were assigned to hoist the flag - they decided that Stalin would be pleased to have his fellow countryman participate in this symbolic act. Only at 22.50 two sergeants reached the roof and, risking their lives, inserted the flagpole into the shell hole right next to the horse's hooves. This was immediately reported to front headquarters, and Zhukov called the Supreme Commander in Moscow.

A little later, another news came - Hitler's heirs decided to negotiate. This was reported by General Krebs, who appeared at Chuikov’s headquarters at 3.50 am on May 1. He began by saying: “Today is the First of May, a great holiday for both our nations.” To which Chuikov replied without unnecessary diplomacy: “Today is our holiday. It’s hard to say how things are going for you.” Krebs spoke about Hitler's suicide and the desire of his successor Goebbels to conclude a truce. A number of historians believe that these negotiations were supposed to prolong time in anticipation of a separate agreement between the “government” of Dönitz and the Western powers. But they did not achieve their goal - Chuikov immediately reported to Zhukov, who called Moscow, waking Stalin on the eve of the May Day parade. The reaction to Hitler’s death was predictable: “I’ve done it, you scoundrel!” It's a shame we didn't take him alive." The answer to the proposal for a truce was: only complete surrender. This was conveyed to Krebs, who objected: “Then you will have to destroy all the Germans.” The response silence was more eloquent than words.

At 10.30, Krebs left headquarters, having had time to drink cognac with Chuikov and exchange memories - both commanded units at Stalingrad. Having received the final “no” from the Soviet side, the German general returned to his troops. In pursuit of him, Zhukov sent an ultimatum: if Goebbels and Bormann’s 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 Reich leadership did not give an answer, and at 10.40 Soviet artillery opened hurricane fire on the center of the capital.

The shooting did not stop all day - Soviet units suppressed pockets of German resistance, which weakened a little, but was still fierce. IN different parts Tens of thousands of soldiers and Volkssturm troops were still fighting in the huge city. Others, throwing down their weapons and tearing off their insignia, tried to escape to the west. Among the latter was Martin Bormann. Having learned of Chuikov’s refusal to negotiate, he and a group of SS men fled from the office through an underground tunnel leading to the Friedrichstrasse metro station. There he got out into the street and tried to hide from the fire behind a German tank, but it was hit. The leader of the Hitler Youth, Axman, who happened to be there and shamefully abandoned his young charges, later stated that he saw the dead body of “Nazi No. 2” under the railway bridge.

At 18.30, soldiers of the 5th Army of General Berzarin stormed the last stronghold of Nazism - the Imperial Chancellery. Before this, they managed to storm the post office, several ministries and a heavily fortified Gestapo building. Two hours later, when the first groups of attackers had already approached the building, Goebbels and his wife Magda followed their idol by taking poison. Before this, they asked the doctor to administer a lethal injection to their six children - they were told that they would give an injection that would never make them sick. The children were left in the room, and the corpses of Goebbels and his wife were taken out into the garden and burned. Soon everyone who remained below - about 600 adjutants and SS men - rushed out: the bunker began to burn. Somewhere in its depths only General Krebs, who fired a bullet in the forehead, remained. Another Nazi commander, General Weidling, took responsibility and radioed Chuikov agreeing to unconditional surrender. At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, German officers with white flags appeared on the Potsdam Bridge. Their request was reported to Zhukov, who gave his consent. At 6.00 Weidling signed the order to surrender addressed to all German troops, and he himself set an example to his subordinates. After this, the shooting in the city began to subside. From the basements of the Reichstag, from under the ruins of houses and shelters, the Germans came out, silently putting their weapons on the ground and forming columns. They were observed by the writer Vasily Grossman, who accompanied the Soviet commandant Berzarin. Among the prisoners, he saw old men, boys and women who did not want to part with their husbands. The day was cold, and a light rain fell on the smoldering ruins. Hundreds of corpses lay on the streets, crushed by tanks. There were also flags with swastikas and party cards lying around - Hitler's supporters were in a hurry to get rid of the evidence. In Tiergarten, Grossman saw a German soldier and a nurse on a bench - they were sitting hugging each other and not paying any attention to what was happening around them.

After noon they started driving through the streets soviet tanks, broadcasting the surrender order through loudspeakers. Around 15.00 the fighting finally stopped, and only in the western regions did explosions roar - there they were chasing SS men who were trying to escape. An unusual, tense silence hung over Berlin. And then it was torn apart by a new barrage of shots. Soviet soldiers crowded on the steps of the Reichstag, on the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery and fired again and again - this time into the air. Strangers They threw themselves into each other's arms and danced right on the pavement. They couldn't believe that the war was over. Many of them had new wars, hard work, difficult problems ahead, but they had already accomplished the most important thing in their lives.

IN last battle The Great Patriotic Red Army crushed 95 enemy divisions. Up to 150 thousand German soldiers and officers died, 300 thousand were captured. The victory came at a heavy price - in two weeks of the offensive, three Soviet fronts lost from 100 thousand to 200 thousand people killed. The senseless resistance claimed the lives of approximately 150 thousand Berlin civilians, and a significant part of the city was destroyed.

Chronicle of the operation
April 16, 5.00.
Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov), after powerful artillery bombardment, begin an offensive on the Seelow Heights near the Oder.
April 16, 8.00.
Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) cross the Neisse River and move west.
April 18, morning.
The tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko turn north, towards Berlin.
April 18, evening.
The German defense on the Seelow Heights was broken through. Zhukov's units begin to advance towards Berlin.
April 19, morning.
Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) cross the Oder, cutting apart the German defenses north of Berlin.
April 20, evening.
Zhukov's armies are approaching Berlin from the west and northwest.
April 21, day.
Rybalko's tanks occupy the German military headquarters in Zossen, south of Berlin.
April 22, morning.
Rybalko's army occupies the southern outskirts of Berlin, and Perkhorovich's army occupies the northern areas of the city.
April 24, day.
Meeting of the advancing troops of Zhukov and Konev in the south of Berlin. The Frankfurt-Gubensky group of Germans is surrounded by Soviet units, and its destruction has begun.
April 25, 13.30.
Konev's units reached the Elbe near the city of Torgau and met there with the 1st American Army.
April 26, morning.
Wenck's German army launches a counterattack on the advancing Soviet units.
April 27, evening.
After stubborn fighting, Wenck's army was driven back.
April 28.
Soviet units surround the city center.
April 29, day.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs building and the town hall were stormed.
April 30, day.
The Tiergarten area with its zoo is busy.
April 30, 15.30.
Hitler committed suicide in a bunker under the Imperial Chancellery.
April 30, 22.50.
The assault on the Reichstag, which had lasted since the morning, was completed.
May 1, 3.50.
The beginning of unsuccessful negotiations between the German General Krebs and the Soviet command.
May 1, 10.40.
After the failure of negotiations, Soviet troops begin storming the buildings of the ministries and the imperial chancellery.
May 1, 22.00.
The Imperial Chancellery is stormed.
May 2, 6.00.
General Weidling gives the order to surrender.
May 2, 15.00.
The fighting in the city finally stopped.

Map

Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (Battle of Berlin):

Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation

Dates (start and end of operation)

The operation continued 23 day - from April 16 By May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced westward to a distance of 100 to 220 km. The width of the combat front is 300 km.

Goals of the parties to the Berlin operation

Germany

The Nazi leadership tried to prolong the war in order to achieve separate peace with England and the USA and the split of the anti-Hitler coalition. At the same time, holding the front against the Soviet Union became crucial.

USSR

The military-political situation that had developed by April 1945 required the Soviet command to prepare and carry out an operation in the shortest possible time to defeat a group of German troops in the Berlin direction, capture Berlin and reach the Elbe River to join the Allied forces. The successful completion of this strategic task made it possible to thwart the plans of the Nazi leadership to prolong the war.

To carry out the operation, the forces of three fronts were involved: the 1st Belorussian, 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian, as well as the 18th Air Army of Long-Range Aviation, the Dnieper Military Flotilla and part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet.

• Capture the capital of Germany, Berlin
• After 12-15 days of the operation, reach the Elbe River

• Deliver a cutting blow south of Berlin, isolate the main forces of Army Group Center from the Berlin group and thereby ensure the main attack of the 1st Belorussian Front from the south
• Defeat the enemy group south of Berlin and operational reserves in the Cottbus area
• In 10-12 days, no later, reach the Belitz - Wittenberg line and further along the Elbe River to Dresden

• Deliver a cutting blow north of Berlin, protecting the right flank of the 1st Belorussian Front from possible enemy counterattacks from the north
• Press to the sea and destroy German troops north of Berlin

• Two brigades of river ships will assist the troops of the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies in crossing the Oder and breaking through enemy defenses on the Küstrin bridgehead
• The third brigade will assist the troops of the 33rd Army in the Furstenberg area
• Ensure mine defense of water transport routes.

• Support the coastal flank of the 2nd Belorussian Front, continuing the blockade of Army Group Courland pressed to the sea in Latvia (Courland Pocket)

Relationships of forces before surgery

Soviet troops:

• 1.9 million people
• 6250 tanks
• more than 7500 aircraft
• Allies - Polish troops: 155,900 people

German troops:

• 1 million people
• 1500 tanks
• more than 3300 aircraft

Photo gallery

Preparation for the Berlin operation



Commanders-in-Chief of the Allied Forces of the Anti-Hitler Coalition Countries



Soviet attack aircraft in the sky over Berlin



Soviet artillery on the approaches to Berlin, April 1945



Soviet salvo rocket launchers Katyusha in Berlin



Soviet soldier in Berlin



Fighting on the streets of Berlin



Hoisting the Victory Banner on the Reichstag building



Soviet artillerymen write on shells “To Hitler”, “To Berlin”, “Across the Reichstag”



Gun crew of Guard Senior Sergeant Zhirnov M.A. fights on one of the streets of Berlin



Infantrymen fight for Berlin



Heavy artillery in one of the street battles



Street fight in Berlin



The crew of the tank of the Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel N.P. Konstantinov. knocks the Nazis out of a house on Leipzigerstrasse



Infantrymen fight for Berlin 1945.



A battery of the 136th Army Cannon Artillery Brigade prepares to fire on Berlin in 1945.

Commanders of fronts, armies and other units

1st Belorussian Front: Commander Marshal - G.K. Zhukov M.S. Malinin

Front composition:

• 1st Army of the Polish Army - Commander Lieutenant General Poplavsky S.G.

Zhukov G.K.

• 1st Guards Tank Army - Commander Colonel General of Tank Forces Katukov M.E.
• 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps - Commander Lieutenant General V.V. Kryukov
• 2nd Guards Tank Army - Commander Colonel General of Tank Forces Bogdanov S.I.
• 3rd Army - Commander Colonel General Gorbatov A.V.
• 3rd Shock Army - Commander Colonel General Kuznetsov V.I.
• 5th Shock Army - Commander Colonel General Berzarin N. E.
• 7th Guards Cavalry Corps - Commander Lieutenant General Konstantinov M.P.
• 8th Guards Army - Commander Colonel General Chuikov V.I.
• 9th Tank Corps - Commander, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Kirichenko I.F.
• 11th Tank Corps - Commander: Major General of Tank Forces Yushchuk I. I.
• 16th Air Army - Commander Colonel General of Aviation S.I.
• 33rd Army - Commander Colonel General V.D. Tsvetaev
• 47th Army - Commander Lieutenant General F.I. Perkhorovich
• 61st Army - Commander Colonel General Belov P.A.
• 69th Army - Commander Colonel General V. Ya. Kolpakchi.

1st Ukrainian Front: Commander Marshal - I. S. Konev, Chief of Staff Army General I. E. Petrov

Konev I.S.

Front composition:

• 1st Guards Cavalry Corps - Commander Lieutenant General Baranov V.K.
• 2nd Army of the Polish Army - Commander: Lieutenant General Sverchevsky K.K.
• 2nd Air Army - Commander, Colonel General of Aviation Krasovsky S.A.
• 3rd Guards Army - Commander Colonel General Gordov V.N.
• 3rd Guards Tank Army - Commander Colonel General Rybalko P.S.
• 4th Guards Tank Corps - Commander, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces, P. P. Poluboyarov.
• 4th Guards Tank Army - Commander Colonel General D. D. Lelyushenko
• 5th Guards Army - Commander Colonel General Zhadov A.S.
• 7th Guards Motorized Rifle Corps - Commander: Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Korchagin I.P.
• 13th Army - Commander Colonel General N.P. Pukhov.
• 25th Tank Corps - Commander, Major General of Tank Forces E. I. Fominykh.
• 28th Army - Commander Lieutenant General A. A. Luchinsky
• 52nd Army - Commander Colonel General K. A. Koroteev.

2nd Belorussian Front: commander Marshal - K.K. Rokossovsky, chief of staff Colonel General A.N. Bogolyubov

Rokossovsky K.K.

Front composition:

• 1st Guards Tank Corps - Commander, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces M. F. Panov.
• 2nd Shock Army - Commander Colonel General I.I. Fedyuninsky
• 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps - Commander Lieutenant General Oslikovsky N.S.
• 3rd Guards Tank Corps - Commander, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Panfilov A.P.
• 4th Air Army - Commander Colonel General of Aviation Vershinin K.A.
• 8th Guards Tank Corps - Commander, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Popov A.F.
• 8th Mechanized Corps - Commander, Major General of Tank Forces Firsovich A.N.
• 49th Army - Commander Colonel General Grishin I.T.
• 65th Army - Commander Colonel General Batov P.I.
• 70th Army - Commander Colonel General Popov V.S.

18th Air Army- Commander Chief Air Marshal Golovanov A.E.

Dnieper military flotilla- Commander Rear Admiral V.V. Grigoriev

Red Banner Baltic Fleet- Commander Admiral Tributs V.F.

Progress of hostilities

At 5 a.m. Moscow time (2 hours before dawn) on April 16, artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9,000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1,500 BM-13 and BM-31 RS installations, crushed the first line of German defense in the 27-kilometer breakthrough area for 25 minutes. With the start of the attack, artillery fire was transferred deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their dazzling light stunned the enemy and at the same time illuminated

Soviet artillery on the approaches to Berlin

way for the advancing units. For the first one and a half to two hours, the offensive of the Soviet troops developed successfully, and individual formations reached the second line of defense. However, soon the Nazis, relying on a strong and well-prepared second line of defense, began to offer fierce resistance. Intense fighting broke out along the entire front. Although in some sectors of the front the troops managed to capture individual strongholds, they failed to achieve decisive success. The powerful resistance unit equipped on the Zelovsky Heights turned out to be insurmountable for rifle formations. This jeopardized the success of the entire operation. In such a situation, the front commander, Marshal Zhukov, decided to bring the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies into battle. This was not provided for in the offensive plan, however, the stubborn resistance of the German troops required strengthening the penetrating ability of the attackers by introducing tank armies into battle. The course of the battle on the first day showed that the German command attached decisive importance to holding the Seelow Heights. To strengthen the defense in this sector, by the end of April 16, the operational reserves of Army Group Vistula were deployed. All day and all night on April 17, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought fierce battles with the enemy. By the morning of April 18, tank and rifle formations, with the support of aviation from the 16th and 18th Air Armies, took the Zelovsky Heights. Overcoming the stubborn defense of German troops and repelling fierce counterattacks, by the end of April 19, front troops broke through the third defensive line and were able to develop an offensive on Berlin.

The real threat of encirclement forced the commander of the 9th German Army, T. Busse, to come up with a proposal to withdraw the army to the suburbs of Berlin and establish a strong defense there. This plan was supported by the commander of Army Group Vistula, Colonel General Heinrici, but Hitler rejected this proposal and ordered the occupied lines to be held at all costs.

April 20 was marked by an artillery attack on Berlin, carried out by long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army. It was a kind of birthday gift for Hitler. On April 21, units of the 3rd Shock, 2nd Guards Tank, 47th and 5th Shock Armies, having overcome the third line of defense, broke into the outskirts of Berlin and started fighting there. The first to break into Berlin from the east were the troops that were part of the 26th Guards Corps of General P. A. Firsov and the 32nd Corps of General D. S. Zherebin of the 5th Shock Army. On the evening of April 21, the advanced units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army of P. S. Rybalko approached the city from the south. On April 23 and 24, fighting in all directions became especially fierce. On April 23, the greatest success in the assault on Berlin was achieved by the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly. The warriors of this corps took possession of Karlshorst and part of Kopenick with a decisive assault and, reaching the Spree, crossed it on the move. The ships of the Dnieper military flotilla provided great assistance in crossing the Spree, transferring rifle units to the opposite bank under enemy fire. Although the pace of Soviet advance had slowed by April 24, the Nazis were unable to stop them. On April 24, the 5th Shock Army, fighting fiercely, continued to successfully advance towards the center of Berlin.

Operating in the auxiliary direction, the 61st Army and the 1st Army of the Polish Army, having launched an offensive on April 17, overcame the German defenses with stubborn battles, bypassed Berlin from the north and moved towards the Elbe.

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully. On April 16, early in the morning, a smoke screen was placed along the entire 390-kilometer front, blinding the enemy's forward observation posts. At 6:55 a.m., after a 40-minute artillery strike on the front edge of the German defense, reinforced battalions of the first echelon divisions began crossing the Neisse. Having quickly captured bridgeheads on the left bank of the river, they provided conditions for building bridges and crossing the main forces. During the first hours of the operation, 133 crossings were equipped by front engineering troops in the main direction of attack. With each passing hour, the amount of forces and means transported to the bridgehead increased. In the middle of the day, the attackers reached the second line of German defense. Sensing the threat of a major breakthrough, the German command, already on the first day of the operation, threw into battle not only its tactical, but also operational reserves, giving them the task of throwing the advancing Soviet troops into the river. However, by the end of the day, front troops broke through the main defense line on the 26 km front and advanced to a depth of 13 km.

Storm of Berlin

By the morning of April 17, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies crossed the Neisse in full force. All day long, the front troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, continued to widen and deepen the gap in the German defense. Aviation support for the advancing troops was provided by pilots of the 2nd Air Army. Attack aircraft, acting at the request of ground commanders, destroyed enemy fire weapons and manpower at the front line. Bomber aircraft destroyed suitable reserves. By the middle of April 17, the following situation had developed in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front: the tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko were marching west along a narrow corridor penetrated by troops of the 13th, 3rd and 5th Guards armies. By the end of the day they approached the Spree and began crossing it.

Meanwhile, in the secondary, Dresden, direction, the troops of the 52nd Army of General K. A. Koroteev and the 2nd Army of the Troops of the Polish General K. K. Swierchevsky broke through the enemy’s tactical defenses and in two days of fighting advanced to a depth of 20 km.

Taking into account the slow advance of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, as well as the success achieved in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, on the night of April 18, the Headquarters decided to turn the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front to Berlin. In his order to the army commanders Rybalko and Lelyushenko for the offensive, the front commander wrote: “In the main direction, with a tank fist, push forward boldly and decisively. Bypass cities and large populated areas and not get involved in protracted frontal battles. I demand to firmly understand that the success of tank armies depends on courageous maneuver and swiftness in actions"

Following the orders of the commander, on April 18 and 19 the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front marched uncontrollably towards Berlin. The rate of their advance reached 35-50 km per day. At the same time, the combined arms armies were preparing to eliminate large enemy groups in the area of ​​Cottbus and Spremberg.

By the end of the day on April 20, the main strike group of the 1st Ukrainian Front was deeply wedged into the enemy’s position and completely cut off the German Army Group Vistula from Army Group Center. Sensing the threat caused by the rapid actions of the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the German command took a number of measures to strengthen the approaches to Berlin. To strengthen the defense, infantry and tank units were urgently sent to the area of ​​​​the cities of Zossen, Luckenwalde, and Jutterbog. Overcoming their stubborn resistance, Rybalko’s tankers reached the outer Berlin defensive perimeter on the night of April 21. By the morning of April 22, Sukhov's 9th Mechanized Corps and Mitrofanov's 6th Guards Tank Corps of the 3rd Guards Tank Army crossed the Notte Canal, broke through the outer defensive perimeter of Berlin, and by the end of the day reached the southern bank of the Teltovkanal. There, encountering strong and well-organized enemy resistance, they were stopped.

On the afternoon of April 22, a meeting of the top military leadership was held at Hitler's headquarters, at which it was decided to remove W. Wenck's 12th Army from the Western Front and send it to join the semi-encircled 9th Army of T. Busse. To organize the offensive of the 12th Army, Field Marshal Keitel was sent to its headquarters. This was the last serious attempt to influence the course of the battle, since by the end of the day on April 22, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts had formed and almost closed two encirclement rings. One is around the enemy’s 9th Army east and southeast of Berlin; the other is to the west of Berlin, around the units directly defending in the city.

The Teltow Canal was a fairly serious obstacle: a water-filled ditch with high concrete banks forty to fifty meters wide. In addition, its northern coast was very well prepared for defense: trenches, reinforced concrete pillboxes, tanks dug into the ground and self-propelled guns. Above the canal is an almost continuous wall of houses, bristling with fire, with walls a meter or more thick. Having assessed the situation, the Soviet command decided to carry out thorough preparations for crossing the Teltow Canal. All day on April 23, the 3rd Guards Tank Army prepared for the assault. By the morning of April 24, a powerful artillery group was concentrated on the southern bank of the Teltow Canal, with a density of up to 650 guns per kilometer of front, intended to destroy German fortifications on the opposite bank. Having suppressed the enemy defenses with a powerful artillery strike, the troops of the 6th Guards Tank Corps of Major General Mitrofanov successfully crossed the Teltow Canal and captured a bridgehead on its northern bank. On the afternoon of April 24, Wenck's 12th Army launched the first tank attacks on the positions of General Ermakov's 5th Guards Mechanized Corps (4th Guards Tank Army) and units of the 13th Army. All attacks were successfully repulsed with the support of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps of Lieutenant General Ryazanov.

At 12 noon on April 25, west of Berlin, the advanced units of the 4th Guards Tank Army met with units of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. On the same day, another significant event occurred. An hour and a half later on the Elbe 34th guards corps General Baklanov of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.

From April 25 to May 2, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles in three directions: units of the 28th Army, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies took part in the assault on Berlin; part of the forces of the 4th Guards Tank Army, together with the 13th Army, repelled the counterattack of the 12th German Army; The 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army blocked and destroyed the encircled 9th Army.

All the time from the beginning of the operation, the command of Army Group Center sought to disrupt the offensive of the Soviet troops. On April 20, German troops launched the first counterattack on the left flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front and pushed back the troops of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army. On April 23, a new powerful counterattack followed, as a result of which the defense at the junction of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army was broken through and German troops advanced 20 km in the general direction of Spremberg, threatening to reach the rear of the front.

From April 17 to 19, troops of the 65th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, under the command of Colonel General P.I. Batov, conducted reconnaissance in force and advanced detachments captured the Oder interfluve, thereby facilitating subsequent crossings of the river. On the morning of April 20, the main forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive: the 65th, 70th and 49th armies. The crossing of the Oder took place under the cover of artillery fire and smoke screens. The offensive developed most successfully in the sector of the 65th Army, which was largely due to the engineering troops of the army. Having established two 16-ton pontoon crossings by 1 p.m., the troops of this army captured a bridgehead 6 kilometers wide and 1.5 kilometers deep by the evening of April 20.

More modest success was achieved on the central sector of the front in the 70th Army zone. The left-flank 49th Army met stubborn resistance and was unsuccessful. All day and all night on April 21, front troops, repelling numerous attacks by German troops, persistently expanded bridgeheads on the western bank of the Oder. In the current situation, front commander K.K. Rokossovsky decided to send the 49th Army along the crossings of the right neighbor of the 70th Army, and then return it to its offensive zone. By April 25, as a result of fierce battles, front troops expanded the captured bridgehead to 35 km along the front and up to 15 km in depth. To build up striking power, the 2nd Shock Army, as well as the 1st and 3rd Guards Tank Corps, were transported to the western bank of the Oder. At the first stage of the operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, through its actions, shackled the main forces of the 3rd German Tank Army, depriving it of the opportunity to help those fighting near Berlin. On April 26, formations of the 65th Army took Stettin by storm. Subsequently, the armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front, breaking enemy resistance and destroying suitable reserves, stubbornly advanced to the west. On May 3, Panfilov's 3rd Guards Tank Corps southwest of Wismar established contact with the advanced units of the 2nd British Army.

Liquidation of the Frankfurt-Guben group

By the end of April 24, formations of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front came into contact with units of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, thereby encircling the 9th Army of General Busse southeast of Berlin and cutting it off from the city. The surrounded group of German troops began to be called the Frankfurt-Gubensky group. Now the Soviet command was faced with the task of eliminating the 200,000-strong enemy group and preventing its breakthrough to Berlin or to the West. To accomplish the last task, the 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front took up active defense in the path of a possible breakthrough of German troops. On April 26, the 3rd, 69th, and 33rd armies of the 1st Belorussian Front began the final liquidation of the encircled units. However, the enemy not only put up stubborn resistance, but also repeatedly made attempts to break out of the encirclement. By skillfully maneuvering and skillfully creating superiority in forces on narrow sections of the front, German troops twice managed to break through the encirclement. However, each time the Soviet command took decisive measures to eliminate the breakthrough. Until May 2, the encircled units of the 9th German Army made desperate attempts to break through the battle formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front to the west, to join the 12th Army of General Wenck. Only a few small groups managed to penetrate through the forests and go west.

Capture of the Reichstag

At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin when the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army crossed the Havel River and linked up with units of the 328th Division of the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich. By that time, according to the Soviet command, the Berlin garrison numbered at least 200 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and 250 tanks. The city's defense was carefully thought out and well prepared. It was based on a system of strong fire, strongholds and resistance units. The closer to the city center, the denser the defense became. Massive stone buildings with thick walls gave it particular strength. The windows and doors of many buildings were sealed and turned into embrasures for firing. The streets were blocked by powerful barricades up to four meters thick. The defenders had a large number of faustpatrons, which in the context of street battles turned out to be formidable anti-tank weapons. Of no small importance in the enemy’s defense system were underground structures, which were widely used by the enemy to maneuver troops, as well as to shelter them from artillery and bomb attacks.

By April 26, six armies of the 1st Belorussian Front (47th, 3rd and 5th shock, 8th Guards, 1st and 2nd Guards Tank armies) and three armies of the 1st Belorussian Front took part in the assault on Berlin. th Ukrainian Front (28th, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank). Taking into account the experience of capturing large cities, assault detachments were created for battles in the city, consisting of rifle battalions or companies, reinforced with tanks, artillery and sappers. The actions of assault troops, as a rule, were preceded by a short but powerful artillery preparation.

By April 27, as a result of the actions of the armies of two fronts that had deeply advanced to the center of Berlin, the enemy grouping in Berlin stretched out in a narrow strip from east to west - sixteen kilometers long and two or three, in some places five kilometers wide. The fighting in the city did not stop day or night. Block after block, Soviet troops “gnawed through” the enemy’s defenses. So, by the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army reached the Reichstag area. On the night of April 29, the actions of the forward battalions under the command of Captain S. A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K. Ya. Samsonov captured the Moltke Bridge. At dawn on April 30, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, adjacent to the parliament building, was stormed at the cost of considerable losses. The path to the Reichstag was open.

Victory Banner over the Reichstag

On April 30, 1945 at 21.30, units of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Major General V.M. Shatilov and the 171st Infantry Division under the command of Colonel A.I. Negoda stormed the main part of the Reichstag building. The remaining Nazi units offered stubborn resistance. We had to fight for every room. In the early morning of May 1, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was raised over the Reichstag, but the battle for the Reichstag continued all day and only on the night of May 2 did the Reichstag garrison capitulate.

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior agreement, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army. He informed the army commander, General V.I. Chuikov, about Hitler’s suicide and the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. The message was immediately transmitted to G.K. Zhukov, who himself called Moscow. Stalin confirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender. At 18:00 on May 1, the new German government rejected the demand for unconditional surrender, and Soviet troops were forced to resume the assault with renewed vigor.

At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “We ask you to cease fire. We are sending envoys to the Potsdam Bridge.” A German officer who arrived at the appointed place, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance. At 6 a.m. on May 2, Artillery General Weidling, accompanied by three German generals, crossed the front line and surrendered. An hour later, while at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army, he wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, delivered to enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was communicated to the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Some units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

Losses of the parties

USSR

From April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which 78,291 were irretrievable. The losses of Polish troops during the same period amounted to 8,892 people, of which 2,825 were irretrievable. The losses of military equipment amounted to 1,997 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,108 guns and mortars, and 917 combat aircraft.

Germany

According to combat reports from the Soviet fronts:

• The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in the period from April 16 to May 13 destroyed 232,726 people and captured 250,675 people
• The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the period from April 15 to 29 destroyed 114,349 people and captured 55,080 people
• Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the period from April 5 to May 8: destroyed 49,770 people, captured 84,234 people

Thus, according to reports from the Soviet command, the losses of German troops amounted to about 400 thousand people killed and about 380 thousand people captured. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.

Also, according to the assessment of the Soviet command, the total number of troops that emerged from the encirclement in the Berlin area does not exceed 17,000 people with 80-90 units of armored vehicles.

Did Hitler have a chance?

Under the onslaught of the advancing armies, Hitler’s feverish intentions to take refuge either in Berchtesgaden, or in Schleswig-Holstein, or in the South Tyrol fortress advertised by Goebbels, collapsed. At the proposal of the Gauleiter of Tyrol to move to this fortress in the mountains, Hitler, according to Rattenhuber, “hopelessly waved his hand and said: “I no longer see the point in this running from place to place.” The situation in Berlin at the end of April left no doubt that "That our last days had arrived. Events unfolded faster than we expected."

Hitler's last plane was still standing at the airfield. When the plane was destroyed, they hastily began to build an airstrip near the Reich Chancellery. The squadron intended for Hitler was burned by Soviet artillery. But his personal pilot was still with him. The new Air Commander-in-Chief, Graham, was still sending planes, but none of them could make it to Berlin. And, according to Greim’s precise information, not a single plane from Berlin crossed the offensive ring. There was essentially nowhere to move. Armies were advancing from all sides. He considered it a hopeless task to flee from fallen Berlin in order to get caught by the Anglo-American troops.

He chose a different plan. From here, from Berlin, enter into negotiations with the British and Americans, who, in his opinion, should be interested in ensuring that the Russians do not take possession of the German capital, and negotiate some tolerable conditions for themselves. But negotiations, he believed, could only take place on the basis of an improved military situation in Berlin. The plan was unrealistic and unfeasible. But he owned Hitler, and when figuring out the historical picture of the last days of the Imperial Chancellery, he should not be ignored. Hitler could not help but understand that even a temporary improvement in Berlin's position, given the overall catastrophic military situation in Germany, would change little overall. But this was, according to his calculations, a necessary political prerequisite for negotiations, on which he pinned his last hopes.

That’s why he talks with manic frenzy about Wenck’s army. There is no doubt that Hitler was decidedly incapable of leading the defense of Berlin. But we are talking here now only about his plans. There is a letter confirming Hitler's plan. It was sent to Wenk by messenger on the night of April 29. This letter reached our military commandant's office in Spandau on May 7, 1945, in this way.

A certain Josef Brichtsi, a seventeen-year-old boy who was studying to become an electrician and was drafted into the Volkssturm in February 1945, served in an anti-tank detachment defending the government quarter. On the night of April 29, he and another sixteen-year-old boy were called from the barracks from Wilhelmstrasse, and a soldier took them to the Reich Chancellery. Here they were taken to Borman. Bormann announced to them that they had been chosen to carry out the most important task. They have to break out of the encirclement and deliver a letter to General Wenck, commander of the 12th Army. With these words, he handed them each a package.

The fate of the second guy is unknown. Brikhtsi managed to get out of surrounded Berlin on a motorcycle at dawn on April 29. General Wenck, he was told, would be found in the village of Ferch, northwest of Potsdam. Having reached Potsdam, Brikhtsi discovered that none of the military knew or heard where Wenck's headquarters actually were. Then Brikhtsi decided to go to Spandau, where his uncle lived. My uncle advised me not to go anywhere else, but to hand over the package to the military commandant’s office. After waiting, Brikhtsi took it to the Soviet military commandant’s office on May 7.

Here is the text of the letter: “Dear General Wenck! As can be seen from the attached messages, Reichsführer SS Himmler made an offer to the Anglo-Americans that unconditionally hands over our people to the plutocrats. The turnaround can only be carried out personally by the Fuhrer, only by him! A precondition for this is the immediate establishment of communication Wenck's army is with us, in order to thus provide the Fuhrer with domestic and foreign policy freedom of negotiation. Your Krebs, Heil Hitler! Chief of the General Staff, Your M. Bormann"

All of the above suggests that, being in such a hopeless situation in April 1945, Hitler still hoped for something and this last hope was pinned on Wenck’s army. Wenck's army, meanwhile, was moving from the west to Berlin. It was met on the outskirts of Berlin by our troops advancing on the Elbe and scattered. Thus, Hitler's last hope melted away.

Results of the operation

The famous monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Treptower Park in Berlin

• Destruction of the largest group of German troops, capture of the capital of Germany, capture of the highest military and political leadership of Germany.

• The fall of Berlin and the loss of the German leadership's ability to govern led to the almost complete cessation of organized resistance on the part of the German armed forces.

• The Berlin operation demonstrated to the Allies the high combat capability of the Red Army and was one of the reasons for the cancellation of Operation Unthinkable, Britain's plan for a full-scale war against the Soviet Union. However, this decision did not subsequently influence the development of the arms race and the beginning of the Cold War.

• Hundreds of thousands of people were released from German captivity, including at least 200 thousand citizens of foreign countries. In the zone of the 2nd Belorussian Front alone, in the period from April 5 to May 8, 197,523 people were released from captivity, of which 68,467 were citizens of the allied states.