How did this important historical event. What preceded it, what were the plans and alignment of forces opposing sides. How did the operation develop? Soviet troops on the capture of Berlin, the chronology of events, the assault on the Reichstag with the hoisting of the Banner of Victory and the significance of the historical battle.

The capture of Berlin and the fall of the Third Reich

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 Finland, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy were withdrawn from the war.

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

The German economy was in great difficulty. The raw material areas of the previously occupied countries were lost. The decline in the industry continued. Production of military products for six months has decreased by more than 60 percent. In addition, the Wehrmacht experienced difficulties with mobilization resources. Sixteen-year-old youths were already subject to the call. However, Berlin still remained not only the political capital of fascism, but also a major economic center. In addition, Hitler concentrated the main forces with a huge combat potential in the Berlin direction.

That is why the defeat of the Berlin grouping of German troops and the capture of the capital of the Third Reich was of such importance. The battle for Berlin and its fall was to put an end to the Great Patriotic War and become the natural outcome of the Second World War of 1939-1945.

Berlin offensive operation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plan for the Battle of Berlin

The idea of ​​​​the command was as follows - with coordinated strikes from three fronts, break through the Oder-Neissen line, then, developing the offensive, go to Berlin, surround the enemy grouping, cut it into several parts and destroy it. In the future, no later than 15 days from the beginning of the operation, reach the Elbe to join the Allied forces. To do this, the Headquarters decided to involve the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts.

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

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

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

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

Operation start

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

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

On the first and second days of the operation, battles were fought in the first line of defense of the German fascists. It was not until April 17 that a breach was finally made in the second lane. The German command tried to stop the offensive by committing available reserves into battle, but they did not succeed. The battles continued on 18 and 19 April. The pace of progress remained very low. The Nazis were not going to give up, their defense was filled with a large number of anti-tank weapons. Dense artillery fire, stiffness of maneuver due to difficult terrain - all this influenced the actions of our troops. Nevertheless, on April 19, at the end of the day, they broke through the third, last line of defense of this line. As a result, in the first four days, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front advanced 30 kilometers.

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

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

Storming Berlin

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

The beginning of the battle

On April 20, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front began shelling the outskirts of Berlin with long-range artillery, and on April 21 they broke through the first bypass line. Since April 22, fighting has already been fought directly in the city. The distance between the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts advancing from the northeast from the south was reduced. The prerequisites for the complete encirclement of the German capital were created, it also became possible to cut off from the city and encircle a large grouping of the 9th infantry army of the enemy, numbering up to two hundred thousand people, with the task of preventing it from breaking through to Berlin or retreating to the west. This plan was implemented on 23 and 24 April.

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

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

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

Culmination of the Battle of Berlin

Meanwhile, in Berlin, the fighting reached its climax. Assault detachments and groups carried out advancement deep into the city. They consistently moved from building to building, from quarter to quarter, from district to district, destroying pockets of resistance, disrupting the control of the defenders. In the city, the use of tanks was limited.

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

Storming of the Reichstag. Banner over the Reichstag

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

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

Standard-bearers of Victory

While preparations for the Victory Parade in June 1945 were in full swing, there was not even a question of whom to appoint as the flag bearers of the Victory. It was Yegorov and Kantaria who were instructed to act as assistant denominator and carry the Banner of Victory across the main square of the country.

Unfortunately, the plans did not materialize. The front-line soldiers, who defeated the Nazis, could not cope with combat science. In addition, combat wounds still made themselves felt. Despite everything, they trained very hard, sparing neither effort nor time.

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

But after 20 years, two heroes still carried the Banner of Victory across Red Square. It happened at the 1965 Victory Parade.

Capture of Berlin

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

Late at night on May 2, the commander of the defense of the German capital, General Weidling, surrendered, and our radio stations began to receive a message from the Nazis asking for a ceasefire. By 3:00 p.m., the resistance had completely ceased. The historic assault is over.

The battle for Berlin was over, but the offensive continued. The 1st Ukrainian Front began a regrouping, the purpose of which was an attack on Prague and the liberation of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, the 1st Belorussian by May 7 went out on a wide front to the Elbe. The 2nd Belorussian reached the coast of the Baltic Sea, and also entered into interaction with the 2nd British army, positioned on the Elbe. Later, he began the liberation of the Danish islands in the Baltic Sea.

The results of the assault on Berlin and the entire Berlin operation

The active phase of the Berlin operation lasted a little over two weeks. Her results are:

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

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

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

In addition, in order to recognize special merits to the Fatherland, a medal was developed "For the capture of Berlin." Interesting fact- the battles in the German capital were still ongoing, and in Moscow they had already presented a sketch of the future medal. The Soviet leadership wanted Russian soldiers to know that wherever they fought for the glory of the Motherland, their awards would find their heroes.

Over a million people have been awarded. In addition to our soldiers, servicemen of the Polish army, who especially distinguished themselves in battles, also received medals. There are a total of seven such awards established for victories in cities outside the USSR.

Banner over the Reichstag / Photo: www.mihailov.be

On May 2, 1945, Soviet troops completely captured the capital of Germany, Berlin, during the Berlin strategic offensive operation, which was carried out from April 16 to May 8, 1945 during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

In the spring of 1945 on the territory Nazi Germany the armed forces of the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France fought. Soviet troops were located 60 kilometers from Berlin, and the advanced units of the American-British troops reached the Elbe River, 100-120 kilometers from the German capital.

Berlin was not only the political stronghold of Nazism, but also one of the largest military-industrial centers in Germany.

The main forces of the Wehrmacht were concentrated in the Berlin direction. In Berlin itself, about 200 Volkssturm battalions (detachments of the people's militia of the Third Reich) were formed, and the total number of the garrison exceeded 200 thousand people.

The defense of the city was carefully thought out and well prepared. The Berlin defensive area included three ring bypass. The outer defensive bypass passed along rivers, canals and lakes 25-40 kilometers from the center of the capital. It was based on large settlements turned into nodes of resistance. The inner defensive contour, which was considered the main line of defense of the fortified area, ran along the outskirts of the suburbs of Berlin. Anti-tank obstacles and barbed wire were erected on their streets. The total depth of defense on this bypass was six kilometers. The third, urban, bypass passed along the district railway. All the streets leading to the city center were blocked by all sorts of barriers, and the bridges were prepared to be blown up.

For the convenience of defense management, Berlin was divided into nine sectors. The most strongly fortified was the central sector, where the main state and administrative institutions were located, including the Reichstag and the imperial chancellery. Trenches for artillery, mortars, tanks and assault guns were dug in the streets and squares, numerous firing points were prepared, protected by reinforced concrete structures. For a covert maneuver by forces and means, it was supposed to widely use the metro, the total length of the lines of which reached 80 kilometers. Most of the fortifications in the city itself and on the outskirts of it were occupied by troops in advance.

The plan of the operation of the Soviet Supreme High Command was to inflict several powerful blows on a wide front, dismember the Berlin enemy grouping, surround and destroy it in parts. The operation began on April 16, 1945. After powerful artillery and aviation preparation, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front attacked the enemy on the Oder River. At the same time, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front began to force the Neisse River. Despite the fierce resistance of the enemy, the Soviet troops broke through his defenses.

On April 20, long-range artillery fire of the 1st Belorussian Front on Berlin laid the foundation for its assault. By the evening of April 21, its strike units reached the northeastern outskirts of the city.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a swift maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 21, having advanced 95 kilometers, the tank units of the front broke into the southern outskirts of the city. Using the success of tank formations, the combined arms armies of the shock group of the 1st Ukrainian Front quickly moved west.

On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined up west of Berlin, completing the encirclement of the entire enemy Berlin grouping (500 thousand people).

The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Oder and, breaking through the enemy defenses, advanced to a depth of 20 kilometers by April 25. They firmly fettered the 3rd German tank army, preventing its use on the outskirts of Berlin.

The German fascist group in Berlin, despite the obvious doom, continued stubborn resistance. In fierce street battles on April 26-28, it was cut by Soviet troops into three isolated parts.

The fighting went on day and night. Breaking through to the center of Berlin, Soviet soldiers stormed every street and every house. On some days they managed to clear up to 300 quarters of the enemy. Hand-to-hand fights took place in the subway tunnels, underground communication facilities and communication passages. During the fighting in the city, assault detachments and groups formed the basis of the combat formations of rifle and tank units. Most of the artillery (up to 152 mm and 203 mm guns) was attached to rifle units for direct fire. Tanks operated as part of both rifle formations and tank corps and armies, operationally subordinate to the command of combined arms armies or operating in their offensive zone. Attempts to use tanks on their own led to their heavy losses from artillery fire and faustpatrons. Due to the fact that Berlin was shrouded in smoke during the assault, the massive use of bomber aircraft was often difficult. The most powerful strikes on military targets in the city were carried out by aviation on April 25 and on the night of April 26, 2049 aircraft participated in these strikes.

By April 28, only the central part remained in the hands of the defenders of Berlin, which was shot through from all sides. Soviet artillery, and by the evening of the same day, units of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Reichstag area.

The Reichstag garrison numbered up to one thousand soldiers and officers, but it continued to grow steadily. He was armed with a large number of machine guns and faustpatrons. There were also artillery pieces. Deep ditches were dug around the building, various barriers were set up, machine-gun and artillery firing points were equipped.

On April 30, the troops of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front began fighting for the Reichstag, which immediately took on an extremely fierce character. Only in the evening, after repeated attacks, Soviet soldiers broke into the building. The Nazis offered fierce resistance. Hand-to-hand fights broke out on the stairs and in the corridors. The assault units, step by step, room by room, floor by floor, cleared the Reichstag building of the enemy. The entire path of the Soviet soldiers from the main entrance to the Reichstag and up to the roof was marked with red flags and flags. On the night of May 1, the Banner of Victory was hoisted over the building of the defeated Reichstag. The battles for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1, and individual groups of the enemy, who had settled in the compartments of the cellars, capitulated only on the night of May 2.

In the battles for the Reichstag, the enemy lost more than 2 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded. Soviet troops captured over 2.6 thousand Nazis, as well as 1.8 thousand rifles and machine guns as trophies, 59 artillery pieces, 15 tanks and assault guns.

On May 1, units of the 3rd Shock Army, advancing from the north, met south of the Reichstag with units of the 8th Guards Army, advancing from the south. On the same day, two important Berlin defense centers surrendered: the Spandau citadel and the Flakturm I ("Zoobunker") anti-aircraft concrete air defense tower.

By 3 p.m. on May 2, the enemy’s resistance had completely ceased, the remnants of the Berlin garrison surrendered in total more than 134 thousand people.

During the fighting, out of about 2 million Berliners, about 125 thousand died, a significant part of Berlin was destroyed. Of the 250 thousand buildings in the city, about 30 thousand were completely destroyed, more than 20 thousand buildings were in a dilapidated state, more than 150 thousand buildings had medium damage. More than a third of metro stations were flooded and destroyed, 225 bridges were blown up by Nazi troops.

Fighting with separate groups, breaking through from the outskirts of Berlin to the west, ended on May 5th. On the night of May 9, the Act of Surrender of the Armed Forces of Nazi Germany was signed.

During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops surrounded and liquidated the largest grouping of enemy troops in the history of wars. They defeated 70 infantry, 23 tank and mechanized divisions of the enemy, captured 480 thousand people.

The Berlin operation cost the Soviet troops dearly. Their irretrievable losses amounted to 78,291 people, and sanitary - 274,184 people.

More than 600 participants in the Berlin operation were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 13 people were awarded the second Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

(Additional

The capture of Berlin was a necessary final point in the Great Patriotic War Soviet people.

The enemy, who came to Russian soil and brought incredible losses, terrible destruction, plunder of cultural values ​​and left scorched territories behind, should not just be expelled.

He must be defeated and defeated in his own land. for all four bloody years of the war, it was associated with the Soviet people as the lair and stronghold of Hitlerism.

The complete and final victory in this war was to end with the capture of the capital of Nazi Germany. And it was the Red Army that had to complete this victorious operation.

This was demanded not only by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin, but it was necessary for the entire Soviet people.

Battle for Berlin

The final operation during the Second World War began on April 16, 1945 and ended on May 8, 1945. The Germans defended themselves fanatically and desperately in Berlin, which turned into a city-fortress on the orders of the Wehrmacht.

Literally every street was prepared for a long and bloody battle. 900 square kilometers, including not only the city itself, but also its suburbs, were turned into a well-fortified area. All sectors of the area were connected by a network of underground passages.

The German command hastily removed troops from the Western Front and transferred them to Berlin, directing them against the Red Army. The allies of the Soviet Union in the anti-Hitler coalition planned to take Berlin first, this was their priority task. But for the Soviet command, it was also the most important.

Intelligence provided the Soviet command with a plan for the Berlin fortified area, and on the basis of this, a plan was drawn up for a military operation to take Berlin. Three fronts under the command of G.K. participated in the capture of Berlin. a, K.K. and I.S. Konev.

The forces of these fronts had to gradually break through, crush and crush the enemy defenses, encircle and dismember the main enemy forces, and encircle the fascist capital. An important aspect of this operation, which was supposed to bring tangible results, was a night attack using searchlights. Previously, the Soviet command had already applied this practice and it had a significant effect.

The amount of ammunition for shelling amounted to almost 7 million. A huge number of manpower - more than 3.5 million people were involved in this operation from both sides. It was the largest operation ever. From the German side, almost all forces took part in the defense of Berlin.

The battles involved not only professional soldiers, but also the militia, regardless of age and physical capabilities. The defense consisted of three lines. The first line included natural obstacles - rivers, canals, lakes. Large-scale mining was used against tanks and infantry - about 2 thousand mines per sq. km.

A huge number of tank destroyers with faustpatrons were involved. The assault on the Nazi citadel began on April 16, 1945 at 3 o'clock in the morning with a strong artillery attack. After its completion, the Germans began to blind 140 powerful searchlights, which helped to successfully carry out the attack with tanks and infantry.

Already after four days of fierce hostilities, the first line of defense was crushed and the fronts of Zhukov and Konev closed a ring around Berlin. During the first stage, the Red Army defeated 93 German divisions and captured almost 490,000 Nazis. A meeting of Soviet and American soldiers took place on the Elbe River.

The Eastern Front merged with the Western Front. The second defensive line was considered the main one and ran along the outskirts of the suburbs of Berlin. Anti-tank obstacles and numerous barbed wire were erected on the streets.

Fall of Berlin

On April 21, the second line of defense of the Nazis was crushed and fierce, bloody battles were already taking place on the outskirts of Berlin. The German soldiers fought with the desperation of the doomed and surrendered extremely reluctantly, only if they were aware of the hopelessness of their situation. The third line of defense ran along the district railway.

All the streets that led to the center were barricaded and mined. Bridges, including the subway, are prepared for explosions. After a week of fierce street fighting, on April 29, Soviet soldiers launched an assault on the Reichstag, and on April 30, 1945, they hoisted the Red Banner over it.

On May 1, the Soviet command received the news that he had committed suicide the day before. General Krabs, Chief of the General Staff of the German ground forces, was delivered to the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army with a white flag and negotiations on a truce were started. The headquarters of the Berlin defense on May 2 gave the order to stop the resistance.

German troops stopped fighting and Berlin fell. More than 300 thousand killed and wounded - such losses were suffered by Soviet troops during the capture of Berlin. On the night of May 8-9, an act of unconditional surrender was signed between defeated Germany and members of the anti-Hitler coalition. The war in Europe was over.

conclusions

The capture of Berlin, which personified for all progressive mankind, the stronghold of fascism and Hitlerism, Soviet Union confirmed its leading role in World War II. The victorious defeat of the Wehrmacht led to complete capitulation and the fall of the existing regime in Germany.

Commanders G. K. Zhukov
I. S. Konev G. Weidling

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

Storming Berlin

"Zoobunker" - a huge reinforced concrete fortress with anti-aircraft batteries on the towers and an extensive underground shelter - served at the same time as the largest bomb shelter in the city.

Early in the morning of May 2, the Berlin metro was flooded - a group of sappers from the SS division "Nordland" blew up a tunnel passing under the Landwehr Canal in the Trebbiner Strasse area. The explosion led to the destruction of the tunnel and filling it with water at a 25-km section. Water rushed into the tunnels, where a large number of civilians and the wounded were hiding. The number of victims is still unknown.

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

In the first hour of the night on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “Please cease fire. We are sending parliamentarians 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 am 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 an order to surrender, which was reproduced and, using loud-speaking installations and radio, brought to the enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was brought to the attention of 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. Separate units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

On May 2, at 10 o'clock in the morning, everything suddenly calmed down, the fire ceased. And everyone understood that something had happened. We saw white sheets that were “thrown away” in the Reichstag, the Chancellery building and the Royal Opera and cellars that had not yet been taken. Entire columns were toppled from there. Ahead of us was a column, where there were generals, colonels, then soldiers behind them. It must have been three hours.

Alexander Bessarab, participant in the Battle of Berlin and the capture of the Reichstag

Operation results

Soviet troops defeated the Berlin grouping of enemy troops and stormed the capital of Germany - Berlin. Developing a further offensive, they reached the Elbe River, where they joined up with American and British troops. With the fall of Berlin and the loss of vital areas, Germany lost the opportunity for organized resistance and soon capitulated. With the completion of the Berlin operation, favorable conditions were created for the encirclement and destruction of the last large enemy groupings on the territory of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

German losses armed forces dead and wounded are unknown. Of the approximately 2 million Berliners, about 125,000 perished. The city was badly damaged as a result of the bombing even before the arrival of Soviet troops. The bombing continued during the battles near Berlin - the last bombing of the Americans on April 20 (Adolf Hitler's birthday) led to food problems. The destruction intensified as a result of the actions of Soviet artillery.

Indeed, it is unthinkable that such a huge fortified city should be taken so quickly. We do not know of other such examples in the history of the Second World War.

Alexander Orlov, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

Two guards heavy tank brigades IS-2 and at least nine guards heavy self-propelled artillery regiments of self-propelled guns took part in the battles in Berlin, including:

• 1st Belorussian Front
  • 7th Guards ttbr - 69th army
  • 11th Guards ttbr - frontline submission
  • 334 Guards. tsap - 47th army
  • 351 Guards. tsap - 3rd shock army, front-line subordination
  • 396 guards tsap - 5th shock army
  • 394 guards tsap - 8th Guards Army
  • 362, 399 guards. tsap - 1st Guards Tank Army
  • 347 Guards. tsap - 2nd Guards Tank Army
• 1st Ukrainian Front
  • 383, 384 guards. tsap - 3rd Guards Tank Army

The situation of the civilian population

Fear and despair

A significant part of Berlin, even before the assault, was destroyed as a result of Anglo-American air raids, from which the population hid in basements and bomb shelters. There were not enough bomb shelters and therefore they were constantly overcrowded. By that time, in Berlin, in addition to the three million local population (which consisted mainly of women, the elderly and children), there were up to three hundred thousand foreign workers, including Ostarbeiters, most of whom were forcibly deported to Germany. They were forbidden from entering bomb shelters and cellars.

Although the war for Germany had long been lost, Hitler ordered to resist to the last. Thousands of teenagers and old people were drafted into the Volkssturm. From the beginning of March, on the orders of the Reichskommissar Goebbels, responsible for the defense of Berlin, tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women, were sent to dig anti-tank ditches around the German capital.

Civilians who violated the orders of the authorities, even in last days war was threatened with execution.

There is no exact information on the number of civilian casualties. Different sources indicate a different number of people who died directly during the Battle of Berlin. Even decades after the war construction work find previously unknown mass graves.

Violence against civilians

Western sources, especially Lately, a significant number of materials appeared concerning mass violence by the Soviet troops against the civilian population of Berlin and Germany in general - a topic that practically did not come up for many decades after the end of the war.

There are two opposite approaches to this extremely painful problem. On the one hand, there are documentary works by two English-speaking researchers - The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan and The Fall of Berlin. 1945" by Anthony Beevor, which are, to a greater or lesser extent, a reconstruction of the events of half a century ago based on the testimonies of the participants in the events (in the overwhelming majority - representatives of the German side) and the memoirs of Soviet commanders. The claims Ryan and Beevor make are regularly reproduced by the Western press, which presents them as scientifically proven truth.

On the other hand, there are the opinions of Russian representatives (officials and historians), who admit numerous facts of violence, but question the validity of the allegations of its extreme mass character, as well as the possibility, after so many years, of verifying the shocking digital data that are given in the West. . Russian authors also draw attention to the fact that such publications, which focus on the over-emotional description of scenes of violence allegedly perpetrated by Soviet troops in Germany, follow the standards of Goebbels' propaganda of early 1945 and are aimed at belittling the role of the Red Army as the liberator of the Eastern and Central Europe from fascism and denigrate the image of the Soviet soldier. In addition, the materials distributed in the West practically do not provide information about the measures taken by the Soviet command to combat violence and looting - crimes against the civilian population, which, as has been repeatedly pointed out, not only lead to tougher resistance of the defending enemy, but also undermine the combat effectiveness and discipline of the advancing army.

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Berlin in 1945 was the largest city of the Reich and its center. Here were the headquarters of the commander in chief, the Reich Chancellery, the headquarters of most armies and many other administrative buildings. By spring, more than 3 million inhabitants and about 300,000 abducted civilians from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition lived in Berlin.

The entire top of Nazi Germany remained here: Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Goering and others.

Operation preparation

The Soviet leadership planned to take the city at the end of the Berlin offensive. This task was assigned to the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and Belorussian fronts. At the end of April, the advanced units met, the city was besieged.
The allies of the USSR refused to participate in the operation. Berlin in 1945 was an extremely important strategic goal. In addition, the fall of the city would invariably lead to a victory in terms of propaganda. The Americans were developing an assault plan back in 1944. After securing the troops in Normandy, it was planned to make a throw north to the Ruhr and start an attack on the city. But in September the Americans suffered huge losses in Holland and the operation was abandoned.
Soviet troops on both fronts had more than 2 million manpower and about 6,000 tanks. Of course, all of them could not participate in the assault. 460 thousand people were concentrated for the strike, Polish formations also took part.

City defense

The defense of Berlin in 1945 was prepared very carefully. The garrison numbered over 200 thousand people. It is rather difficult to give an exact figure, since the civilian population was actively involved in the defense of the Nazi capital. The city was surrounded by several lines of defense. Each building was turned into a fortress. Barricades were erected in the streets. Almost the entire population was obliged to take part in the construction of engineering structures. Concrete bunkers were hastily erected on the outskirts of the city.

Berlin in 1945 was defended by the best troops of the Reich, including the SS. The so-called Volkssturm was also created - recruited from civilians militia units. They were actively armed with faustpatrons. This is a single-shot anti-tank gun that fires cumulative projectiles. Machine-gun crews were in buildings and just on city streets.

Offensive

Berlin in 1945 had been under regular bombardment for several months. In the 44th, British and American raids became more frequent. Prior to that, in 1941, on the personal orders of Stalin, a number of secret operations by Soviet aviation were carried out, as a result, a number of bombs were dropped on the city.
On April 25, massive artillery preparation began. Soviet aviation ruthlessly suppressed firing points. Howitzers, mortars, MLRS hit Berlin with direct fire. On April 26, the most fierce battles of the entire war began in the city. For the Red Army, a huge problem was the density of the city. It was extremely difficult to advance because of the abundance of barricades and dense fire.
Large losses in armored vehicles were caused by the many anti-tank groups of the Volkssturm. To take one city block, it was first treated with artillery.

The fire stopped only when the infantry approached the German positions. Then the tanks destroyed the stone buildings blocking the way, and the Red Army moved on.

Liberation of Berlin (1945)

Marshal Zhukov ordered to use the experience of the Stalingrad battles. In a similar situation, Soviet troops successfully used small mobile groups. Several armored vehicles, a group of sappers, mortars and artillerymen were attached to the infantry. Also, sometimes flamethrowers were included in such a unit. They were needed to destroy the enemy, who hid in underground communications.
The rapid advance of the Soviet troops led to the encirclement of the Reichstag area already 3 days after the start of active fighting. 5 thousand Nazis concentrated on a small area in the city center. A moat was dug around the building, which made a tank breakthrough impossible. All available artillery bombarded the building. On April 30, shells broke through the Reichstag. At 2:25 p.m., a red flag was raised over the buildings.

The photo that captured this moment would later become one of

Fall of Berlin (1945)

After the capture of the Reichstag, the Germans began to flee en masse. Chief of Staff Krebs requested a ceasefire. Zhukov conveyed the proposal of the German side to Stalin personally. The commander-in-chief demanded only the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The Germans rejected this ultimatum. Immediately after that, heavy fire fell on Berlin. The fighting continued for several more days, as a result of which the Nazis were finally defeated, in Europe they were over. in Berlin in 1945 showed the whole world the power of the liberating Red Army and the Soviet people. The capture of the Nazi lair will forever remain one of the most important points in the history of mankind.