Berlin was surrounded by Soviet troops

Soviet troops encircled the German capital. The Izvestia newspaper reports this in a news item dated April 26, 1945.

"Berlin is surrounded! The valiant Red Army troops have completed the complete encirclement of Berlin. The pincers that were squeezing the capital of Nazi Germany closed into a ring of steel. All routes from Berlin have been cut off," the newspaper said in a statement.

The Germans have concentrated their best forces in Berlin, and the whole world is watching the course of the Berlin battle, the correspondent of the publication emphasizes.

"They have taken into account the experience of all their defeats. They concentrated all the forces and means they could at their disposal around Berlin. They are fighting with the fury of desperation," the article says.

There were exactly 13 days left until the Great Victory.

In the Soviet Union, the state budget was being discussed at that time: "At the XI session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, deputies of the people, discussing the state budget, reveal the power and greatness of the internal forces of the Soviet country. The power of the Soviet state speaks the language of peace and friendliness among the United Nations gathered at the San Francisco conference."

The material was published as part of the Izvestia special project "80 days to Victory."

All articles of Izvestia during the Great Patriotic War can be found in the electronic archive.