The last blow: how Soviet troops took Berlin
On April 16, 1945, the largest military offensive in history began, drawing a line under the main actions of the Second World War. The Red Army reached Berlin — as it happened, Izvestia recalled.
"Who's going to take Berlin?"
On April 1, 1945, Stalin discussed with the front commanders what the last battle with Germany would be like. "So who's going to take Berlin, us or the allies?" asked the supreme. Marshal Ivan Konev hastened to give a militarily clear answer: "We will take Berlin before the Allies." Three fronts participated in the operation, the development and preparation of which began immediately: the 1st Belarusian Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the 1st Ukrainian Marshal Konev and the 2nd Belarusian Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky.
Battery of Soviet 152-mm ML-20 howitzers on the outskirts of Berlin
The headquarters needed to find a compromise, the right solution between the political need to take Berlin as quickly as possible and the tactical task of defeating the last forces of the Nazis with minimal losses. The main role was assigned to Marshal Zhukov's troops. It was up to them to capture Berlin. The 1st Ukrainian was supposed to strike south of Berlin and isolate the troops of Army Group Center from the Berlin group. The 2nd Belorussian, advancing with fighting from the north, was supposed to cover our forces from counterattacks in this direction.
Under the spotlight
Aviation and artillery training began at 3 a.m. Berlin time on April 16. And then 143 searchlights came on, which were supposed to blind the enemy, covering the advance of infantry and tanks. They quickly advanced 1.5–2 km. The Nazis desperately resisted. The next day, they managed to delay the advance of the armies of the 1st Belorussian Front on the Seelow Heights. With serious losses, these lines of defense were overcome on April 18. The Germans were slowly retreating to the suburbs of Berlin, trying to defend every frontier.
The front line of the German defense was covered by minefields, wire fences and other obstacles. Reinforced concrete pillboxes disguised as a peaceful village can be seen in the background.
On April 20, Hitler's birthday, the Red Army congratulated him with a powerful artillery strike on the city. The next day, fighting broke out in the suburbs of Berlin. The troops of the 5th Shock Army of Colonel—General Nikolai Berzarin, who would later become the first Soviet commandant of the defeated German capital, were the first to break into Berlin from the east. On April 21, Corporal Alexander Muravyov fixed the first red banner on the dome of a five-story building. It was on the outskirts of Berlin. Soon, there were many red banners and white flags displayed by Berliners in the city. On April 23, Major General Ivan Rosly's 9th Rifle Corps performed heroically. Having captured Karlshorst, the nearest suburb of Berlin, his troops crossed the Spree.
Soviet bombers in the sky over Berlin
On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined forces west of Berlin. The German capital was surrounded. The assault on Berlin, the city in which the Nazis hoped to turn every house into a fortress, began.
Senseless intrigues
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill tried to the last not to concede Berlin to the Red Army. But Britain did not have the strength to break through to Berlin — even considering that the Germans, who were desperately fighting with units of the Red Army, were ready to easily surrender to our allies. Churchill tried to put pressure on the American generals. Some of them were willing to take the risk and launch an attack on Berlin from the west. But Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower immediately took a different position. He literally brushed Churchill aside, ruling out the possibility of a risky attack on the German capital.
Antonina Onishchenko, a native of the Kiev region, thanks intelligence officer Vasily Zhuravlev on the street of Berlin for his release from Nazi captivity.
First, he saw that the Russians were already approaching Berlin with huge forces, the Americans simply would not have time to transfer enough troops there, and the Germans would certainly fight for Hitler's lair. Secondly, Eisenhower considered the most important task to occupy the industrial region of Germany — the Ruhr. Thirdly, at that time he was not a politician, but a military commander and considered the main task to save the army. And the Berlin operation would have required enormous losses. And Eisenhower couldn't guarantee success. Moreover, he understood that he would not be able to outrun the Red Army anyway. And even if the Americans take some part in the battle for Berlin, the troops of Zhukov and Konev, whom the American general did not underestimate, will play the first violin there.
Assault tactics
The Red Army could, having surrounded Berlin, conduct artillery shelling and active bombing, since the Soviet aces dominated the sky at that time. And — wait for the surrender. But in the case of the German capital, this would be an unsuccessful tactic. It could take several weeks to wait, and in war, every day is a loss. And it was possible to truly break the fanaticism of the Nazis only by combining shelling with the invasion of the streets of Berlin. A quick assault in such a situation is better than a prolonged siege, including in terms of losses.
A column of Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on a Berlin street
Hitler intended to fight for Berlin to the last soldier. In those days, he practically did not leave his bunker and at times fell into depression or disillusionment with his people, who turned out to be "unworthy" of the ideas of National Socialism. The most accurate way to define his condition is in one word — agony. Moreover, one by one, his closest associates turned into traitors in Hitler's eyes, offering him to share political power and starting negotiations with the British and Americans. However, even these negotiations could no longer help them.
Machine gunners advance along the burning building on Berlin street
To break through to the center of Berlin — this task required heroism. On the night of April 29, 1945, soldiers of the 1st battalion of the 756th regiment of the 150th Infantry Division broke through the Spree, across the Moltke Bridge - in the historical part of the German capital. Captain Yefim Ponkratov's company was among the first to dismantle the barricade under enemy fire and end up on the southern bank of the Spree. Approaching the shore, the captain, rising to his full height, ran forward, dragging the soldiers with him. A burst of automatic fire caught up with him. The wounded hero was carried away on a stretcher to a shelter. One of the soldiers found a red cross nearby, where a German hospital was located. A German doctor suddenly came out. He provided first aid to the Soviet commander. Ponkratov remained alive. "This incident, which our troops soon learned about, was one of the sprouts of mutual trust," recalled Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Ivan Klochkov, a second lieutenant who participated in this battle in those days. Despite Goebbels' propaganda, many Germans already understood that the Third Reich was collapsing.
Suicide of the Third Reich
On April 30, Adolf Hitler lost his last hopes for the "help of providence." The man who unleashed the bloodiest war in human history committed suicide that day, along with Eva Braun, whom he had married the day before. He handed over power over Germany to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (he, along with his wife and children, would commit suicide in a day) and Admiral Karl Doenitz. The admiral considered his main task to prolong the resistance to the Soviet troops, surrender to the Americans and the British and try to negotiate with them.
Soviet soldiers near the building of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin
On the same day, General Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, began urgent negotiations with Generals Sokolovsky and Chuikov. Krebs informed the Soviet commanders about Hitler's suicide. But realizing that the Russians would only recognize unconditional and complete surrender, without a truce, he committed suicide in the corridor of Hitler's bunker.
The banner over the Reichstag
The symbol of Victory, which the Soviet military commanders wrote about in advance, was the Reichstag hulk located in the center of Berlin. To break through to her, the Red Army crossed the River Spree under fire. And the red flag over the Reichstag, erected on the night of May 1, became the banner of Victory, our historical shrine. As well as soldiers' autographs on the walls of the German parliament. "The Berlin operation was the end of the victorious path of the heroic Soviet troops, who had fought thousands of kilometers, were wise from the experience of major battles, hardened in fierce battles. They were eager to finish off the enemy faster and end the war," Marshal Zhukov recalled.
The capture of the Reichstag and other strategically important Berlin buildings was a severe psychological blow to the Germans. As a result, on the night of May 2, 1945, the commander of the city's defense, General Helmut Weidling, signed the surrender of the German troops and, together with the remnants of the garrison, surrendered. From that day on, the soldiers and officers of the Red Army held out in Berlin like real winners. The end of the operation is considered to be May 8, the day when the German command signed the unconditional surrender in Karlhorst.
The text of the Act is submitted to Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, who signs the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany from the German side. On the left, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, who signed the Act on behalf of the USSR, sits second at the table. Karlshorst. May 8, 1945.
The brilliantly conducted operation did not allow the Allies to push Moscow into the background both at the Potsdam Conference and during the establishment of the United Nations. In short, when the victorious powers determined the future of the world. At that time, no one dared to question the decisive role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of the Nazi Empire.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
