The Berlin operation: the final chord of the great war. Berlin offensive operation

Berlin in 1945 was the largest city of the Reich and its center. The headquarters of the commander-in-chief, the Reich Chancellery, the headquarters of most of the armies and many other administrative buildings were located here. By the spring, more than 3 million inhabitants and about 300 thousand of the hijacked civilian population of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition lived in Berlin.

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

Preparation of the operation

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.
Allies of the USSR refused to participate in the operation. Berlin in 1945 was an extremely important strategic target. In addition, the fall of the city would invariably lead to a propaganda victory. The Americans were developing an assault plan back in 1944. After the troops were consolidated in Normandy, it was planned to make a dash north to the Ruhr and begin an attack on the city. But in September the Americans suffered huge losses in Holland and abandoned the operation.
Soviet troops on both fronts had more than 2 million manpower and about 6 thousand tanks. Of course, all of them could not participate in the assault. For the strike, 460 thousand people were concentrated, Polish formations also took part.

City defense

The 1945 defense of Berlin 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 set up on the outskirts of the city.

Berlin in 1945 was defended by the best troops of the Reich, including the SS. Also, the so-called Volkssturm was created - militia units recruited from civilians. They were actively armed with faust cartridges. This is a single-shot anti-tank gun that fires commutative rounds. 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, raids by the British and Americans became more frequent. Prior to that, in 1941, on the personal order of Stalin, a number of secret operations were carried out by Soviet aviation, as a result, a number of bombs were dropped on the city.
On April 25, a massive artillery barrage began. Soviet aviation ruthlessly suppressed firing points. Howitzers, mortars, MLRS hit Berlin with direct fire. On April 26, the fiercest fighting of the entire war began in the city. For the Red Army, the city's building density was a huge problem. The advance was extremely difficult due to the abundance of barricades and heavy 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 path, 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 such a unit included flamethrowers. They were needed to destroy the enemy hiding in underground communications.
The rapid advance of Soviet troops led to the encirclement of the Reichstag area within 3 days after the start of active fighting. 5 thousand Nazis were concentrated in a small area in the center of the city. A moat was dug around the building, making a tank breakthrough impossible. All available artillery fired at the building. On April 30, shells broke through the Reichstag. At 14:25, a red flag was raised over the buildings.

The photograph that captures this moment will later become one of the

The 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 personally conveyed the proposal of the German side to Stalin. 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 1945 showed the whole world the power of the liberation Red Army and the Soviet people. Taking the Nazi lair forever remains one of the most important moments in the history of mankind.

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

Whose army will be the first to approach the German capital - already at the beginning of 1945 this issue turned out to be a key issue for the Allies. Each of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition sought to conquer Berlin earlier than others. Taking possession of the enemy's main lair was not only prestigious: it opened up broad geopolitical prospects. Wanting to get ahead of the Red Army, the British and Americans joined the race to capture the German capital.

Race for Berlin

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

The "Berlin question" was also discussed in Moscow. When on April 1, 1945, the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Marshal Ivan Konev, there was only one question on the agenda: who will take Berlin?

Road to Berlin

By that time Stalin has already received information that the Allies are preparing a grouping of troops under the command of a field marshal for the capture of the German capital Bernard Montgomery... Marshal Konev assured the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that the Red Army would take Berlin. Zhukov announced the readiness of the 1st Belorussian Front to fulfill this task, since it had enough strength and was aimed at the main city of the Third Reich from the shortest distance.

On the same day, the Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill sent to the American president Franklin Roosevelt a telegram with the following content:

“Nothing will have such a psychological impact and will not cause such despair among all German resistance forces as the attack on Berlin. For the German people, this will be the most convincing sign of defeat. On the other hand, if you allow Berlin, lying in ruins, to withstand the siege of the Russians, then it should be borne in mind that as long as the German flag flies there, Berlin will inspire the resistance of all Germans under arms.

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

Besides, there is another side of the case that you and I should consider. The Russian armies will undoubtedly capture all of Austria and enter Vienna. If they take Berlin, will they not get too exaggerated the idea that they have made an overwhelming contribution to our common victory, and may this lead them to a frame of mind that will cause serious and very significant difficulties in the future? Therefore, I believe that politically, we should move as far east as possible in Germany and that if Berlin is within our reach, we should certainly take it. It seems reasonable from a military point of view as well.

"This is too high a price."

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

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

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

When planning the Berlin offensive, the Soviet command understood that heavy, stubborn battles could not be avoided. The enemy was still strong and was not going to surrender.

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

This perfectly fortified and almost impregnable fortress was to be taken by storm by the Soviet troops.

Under the spotlights

On April 16, 1945, two hours before dawn, the rumble of more than 40 thousand guns and mortars announced the beginning of the final operation to defeat Nazi Germany. And shortly before the artillery preparation, 743 long-range bombers inflicted a massive blow on the enemy's defenses. For 42 minutes bombs fell on the heads of the fascists. The power of the fire was tremendous. On the first day of the operation alone, the artillery of the front consumed 1 million 236 thousand shells (this is almost 2.5 thousand railway cars).

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

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

But then serious difficulties began. The battles on the Seelow Heights, which dominated the surrounding terrain, were especially difficult. General's 8th Guards Army stormed the heights Vasily Chuikova, whose connections were progressing extremely slowly. "By 13 o'clock," recalled the marshal Georgy Zhukov- I clearly understood that the enemy's fire system of defense here has basically survived and in the battle formation in which we started the attack and are leading the offensive, we cannot take the Seelow Heights. "

The steep slopes of the Seelow Heights were dug by trenches and trenches. All approaches to them were shot through with cross artillery and rifle-machine-gun fire. Some buildings were turned into strongholds, roads were fences made of logs and metal beams, and the approaches to them were mined. On both sides of the highway leading from the town of Seelow to the west, anti-aircraft artillery was located, which was used for anti-tank defense.

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

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

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

But then another problem arose: the Germans could withdraw the grouping of their troops from the capital and thus retain their personnel and equipment. To prevent this from happening, the Stavka ordered the commander of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts to complete the encirclement of the entire Berlin enemy grouping no later than April 25th.

In Hitler's bunker

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

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

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

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

The walled city will be taken!

While the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front liquidated the enemy grouping surrounded near Berlin, units of the 1st Belorussian Front stormed the city itself. Back in early March, Hitler declared the capital of the Third Reich a walled city. And now the Soviet troops had to take possession of this fortress, and in the shortest possible time.

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

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

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

The main role in street battles was played by assault groups and detachments. They acted like this. At a time when the assault squads, having penetrated into the building, tried to throw to the opposite part of it and start attacking the following objects, the assault squad combed the building, destroying the remnants of the enemy garrison, and then advanced behind the assault subunits. The reserve finally cleared the building of enemies, after which it either fixed itself in it, or followed the assault group, assisting it.

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

The battles went on around the clock simultaneously on the ground, in underground communications and in the air. Replacing, the assault units moved forward. Berlin was shrouded in the smoke of fires, pilots with great difficulty distinguished their own from strangers. Mainly dive bombers were used to support the assault squadrons, and the best crews were selected. Fighter aircraft not only covered the troops, but also blocked the Berlin garrison from air supplies.

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

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

Flags over the Reichstag

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

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

On the morning of April 30, the 150th (General Vasily Shatilov) and 171st (colonel Alexey Negoda) rifle divisions, with the support of the 23rd tank brigade, stormed these fortifications. But the first attempt was unsuccessful. Hundreds of guns, tanks, self-propelled guns and rocket launchers had to be brought up to the Reichstag.

On April 30, 1945, at 6 pm, the third assault on the Reichstag began. This attack was crowned with success: battalions of captains Stepana Neustroeva, Vasily Davydov and senior lieutenant Konstantin Samsonov burst into the building.

Everyone knows the story of the scouts hoisting the Victory Banner over the Reichstag Egorov and Cantaria... However, in fact, several red flags were erected over the Reichstag.

More than 600 soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army, who took part in the storming of Berlin, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 1 million 141 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 187 units and formations were named Berlin. In commemoration of this battle, the medal "For the capture of Berlin" was instituted. She was awarded 1 million 82 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army and the Polish Army

The fighters of the captain's assault group were the first to make their way to the roof of the building. Vladimir Makov as part of a sergeant Mikhail Minin, senior sergeants Gazi Zagitova, Alexandra Lisimenko and Alexey Bobrov... At 22 hours 40 minutes a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin. The soldiers attached it to a metal pipe-bar on the sculpture of the goddess of Victory, located above the main entrance in the western part of the building. After a while, on the same sculptural group, the soldiers of the major's assault group strengthened their flag Mikhail Bondar... Another red flag on the western part of the Reichstag building was installed by scouts of the 674th regiment under the command of a lieutenant Sorokin's seeds.

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

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

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

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

Berlin was taken. General Hans Krebs, having arrived at the location of the Soviet troops, informed about Hitler's suicide, about the composition of the new government of Germany and conveyed the appeal Goebbels and Bormann to the main command of the Red Army with a request for a temporary cessation of hostilities in Berlin as a condition for peace negotiations between Germany and the USSR. The message was passed on to Marshal Zhukov, who, in turn, reported everything to Moscow. Soon I called Stalin: “No negotiations, except for unconditional surrender, nor with Krebs, nor with other Hitlerites not to lead. " With these words, Krebs went back to the bunker.

However, without waiting for the decision of their command, individual enemy garrisons began to surrender. By the end of May 1, the garrison of the Reichstag laid down its arms. And on May 2, at 6:30 am, the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling announced the unconditional surrender of all units defending the city. By 15 o'clock the remnants of the Berlin garrison surrendered - 135 thousand people.

This is how the last battle of the war ended victoriously.

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

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

The final battle in the Great Patriotic War was the Battle of Berlin, or the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation, which was conducted from April 16 to May 8, 1945.

On April 16, at 3 o'clock local time, aviation and artillery preparation began in the sector of the 1st Byelorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. After its completion, 143 searchlights were turned on to blind the enemy, and infantry, supported by tanks, went into the attack. Not meeting strong resistance, she advanced 1.5-2 kilometers. However, the further our troops advanced, the stronger the enemy's resistance grew.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a swift maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts united west of Berlin, completing the encirclement of the entire Berlin group of the enemy.

The liquidation of the Berlin enemy grouping directly in the city continued until May 2. Every street and house had to be taken by storm. On April 29, battles for the Reichstag began, the capture of which was entrusted to the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.

Before the storming of the Reichstag, the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army presented its divisions with nine Red Banners, specially made according to the type of the State Flag of the USSR. One of these Red Banners, known as the Victory Banner No. 5, was handed over to the 150th Infantry Division. Similar homemade red banners, flags and flags were in all forward units, formations and subunits. They, as a rule, were handed over to assault groups, which were recruited from among volunteers and went into battle with the main task of breaking into the Reichstag and installing the Victory Banner on it. The first - at 22 hours 30 minutes Moscow time on April 30, 1945, hoisted the assault red banner on the roof of the Reichstag on the sculptural figure "Goddess of Victory" artillery reconnaissance officers of the 136th army cannon artillery brigade senior sergeants G.K. Zagitov, A.F. Lisimenko, A.P. Bobrov and Sergeant A.P. Minin from the assault group of the 79th Rifle Corps, commanded by Captain V.N. Makov, the assault group of artillerymen acted together with the battalion of Captain S.A. Neustroeva. Two to three hours later, on the roof of the Reichstag, on the sculpture of an equestrian knight - Kaiser Wilhelm - by order of the commander of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, the Red Banner No. 5 was installed, which later became famous as the Banner of Victory. Red Banner No. 5 was hoisted by scouts sergeant M.A. Egorov and junior sergeant M.V. Kantaria, accompanied by Lieutenant A.P. Birch bark and machine gunners from the company of senior sergeant I.Ya. Syanova.

The battles for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1. At 6:30 am on May 2, the chief of the Berlin defense, General of Artillery G. Weidling, surrendered and ordered the remnants of the Berlin garrison to end resistance. In the middle of the day, the resistance of the Nazis in the city ceased. On the same day, the encircled groups of German troops southeast of Berlin were eliminated.

On May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, as well as representatives of the German Navy, who had the appropriate authority from Doenitz, in the presence of Marshal G.K. Zhukov from the Soviet side signed the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender. A brilliantly carried out operation, coupled with the courage of Soviet soldiers and officers who fought to end the four-year nightmare of war, led to a logical outcome: Victory.

Taking Berlin. 1945 year. Documentary

PROGRESS OF BATTLE

The Berlin operation of the Soviet troops began. Objective: to complete the defeat of Germany, capture Berlin, unite with the allies

Infantry and tanks of the 1st Belorussian Front launched an attack before dawn under the illumination of anti-aircraft searchlights and advanced 1.5-2 km

With the onset of dawn on the Seelow Heights, the Germans came to their senses and are fighting with fierceness. Zhukov introduces tank armies into battle

Apr 16 45g. The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev meet less resistance on the way of their offensive and immediately force the Neisse

Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Konev orders the commanders of his tank armies Rybalko and Lelyushenko to attack Berlin

Konev demands from Rybalko and Lelyushenko not to get involved in protracted and frontal battles, to move forward to Berlin more boldly

In the battles for Berlin, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the commander of a tank battalion, Guards. Mr. S. Khokhryakov

The 2nd Belorussian Front of Rokossovsky joined the Berlin operation, covering the right flank

By the end of the day, Konev's front completed the breakthrough of the Neissen line of defense, crossed the river. Spree and provided the conditions for the encirclement of Berlin from the south

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of Zhukov all day break the 3rd line of enemy defense on the Oderen-Seelow Heights

By the end of the day, Zhukov's troops completed the breakthrough of the 3rd strip of the Oder line at the Seelow Heights

On the left wing of Zhukov's front, conditions were created to cut off the Frankfurt-Guben group of the enemy from the district of Berlin

Directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters to the commander of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts: "It is better to treat the Germans." , Antonov

Another directive of the Headquarters: on identification marks and signals when Soviet armies and allied troops meet

At 13.50, the long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army was the first to open fire on Berlin - the beginning of the assault on the city itself

Apr 20 45g. Konev and Zhukov send almost identical orders to the troops of their fronts: "Be the first to break into Berlin!"

By the evening, the formations of the 2nd Guards Tank, 3rd and 5th Shock Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the northeastern outskirts of Berlin

8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies wedged into the city defensive bypass of Berlin in the districts of Petershagen and Erkner

Hitler ordered the 12th Army, previously targeted against the Americans, to turn against the 1st Ukrainian Front. It now has the goal of linking up with the remnants of the 9th and 4th Panzer Armies, making their way south of Berlin to the west.

Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army burst into the southern part of Berlin and by 17.30 is fighting for the Teltows - Konev's telegram to Stalin

Hitler refused to leave Berlin for the last time while there was such an opportunity.

Assault flags were presented by the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army to the divisions storming Berlin. Among them is the flag that became the banner of victory - the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division

In the area of ​​Spremberg, Soviet troops liquidated the encircled group of Germans. Among the destroyed parts of the Panzer Division "Fuehrer's Guard"

Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front are fighting in the south of Berlin. At the same time, they reached the Elbe River northwest of Dresden

Goering, who left Berlin, turned to Hitler on the radio, asking him to be approved as head of the government. Received an order from Hitler to remove him from the government. Bormann ordered the arrest of Goering for high treason

Himmler unsuccessfully tries, through the Swedish diplomat Bernadotte, to offer the Allies surrender on the Western Front

Shock formations of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts in the Brandenburg region closed the circle of encirclement of German troops in Berlin

Forces of the German 9th and 4th tank. armies are surrounded in the forests southeast of Berlin. Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front reflect the counterstrike of the 12th German army

Report: "There are restaurants in the Berlin suburb of Ransdorf, where they" willingly sell "beer to our fighters for the occupation marks." The head of the political department of the 28th Guards Rifle Regiment, Borodin, ordered the owners of Ransdorf's restaurants to close them for a while until the battle is over.

In the area of ​​the city of Torgau on the Elbe, Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian fr. met with the troops of the 12th American Army Group of General Bradley

Having crossed the Spree, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev and the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of Zhukov rush to the center of Berlin. The rush of Soviet soldiers in Berlin can no longer be stopped

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in Berlin occupied Gartenstadt and the Gerlitsky railway station, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front - Dahlem district

Konev turned to Zhukov with a proposal to change the line between their fronts in Berlin - to transfer the city center to the front

Zhukov asks Stalin to salute the capture of the center of Berlin to the troops of his front, replacing Konev's troops in the south of the city

The General Staff orders the troops of Konev, who have already reached the Tiergarten, to transfer their offensive zone to the troops of Zhukov

Order No. 1 of the military commandant of Berlin, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General Berzarin on the transfer of all power in Berlin into the hands of the Soviet military commandant's office. It was announced to the population of the city that the National Socialist Party of Germany and its organizations were being disbanded and their activities were prohibited. The order established the order of behavior of the population and determined the basic provisions necessary for the normalization of life in the city.

The battles for the Reichstag began, the mastery of which was entrusted to the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front

During the breakthrough of obstacles on the Berlin Kaiserlee, N. Shendrikov's tank received 2 holes, caught fire, the crew was out of order. The mortally wounded commander, having gathered his last strength, sat down at the control levers and threw a flaming tank at the enemy's cannon

Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun in a bunker under the Reich Chancellery. The witness is Goebbels. In his political testament, Hitler expelled Goering from the NSDAP and officially named Grand Admiral Dönitz as his successor.

Soviet units are fighting for the Berlin metro

The Soviet command rejected the attempts of the German command to start negotiations about the time. ceasefire. There is only one demand - surrender!

The storming of the Reichstag building itself began, which was defended by more than 1000 Germans and SS men from different countries

In different places of the Reichstag, several red banners were fixed - from regimental and divisional to homemade

The scouts of the 150th division, Yegorov and Kantaria, were ordered to hoist the Red Banner over the Reichstag at about midnight

Lieutenant Berest from the Neustroev battalion led the combat mission to install the Banner over the Reichstag. Installed at about 3.00, May 1

Hitler committed suicide in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery by taking poison and firing a pistol in the temple. Hitler's corpse is burned in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery

As Reich Chancellor, Hitler leaves Goebbels, who will commit suicide the next day. Before his death, Hitler appointed Bormann Reich Minister for Party Affairs (previously such a post did not exist)

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front captured Bandenburg, in Berlin they cleared the areas of Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and 100 quarters

In Berlin, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide after having killed their 6 children

At the headquarters of Chuikov's army in Berlin arrived early. German General Staff Krebs, reported Hitler's suicide, offered to conclude a truce. Stalin reaffirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender in Berlin. At 18 o'clock the Germans rejected it

At 18.30, in connection with the rejection of surrender, a fire strike was struck at the Berlin garrison. The mass surrender of the Germans began

At 01.00, the radio of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “Please cease fire. We send parliamentarians to the Potsdam Bridge "

A German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to end resistance

At 6.00 General Weidling surrendered and an hour later signed an order for the surrender of the Berlin garrison

Enemy resistance in Berlin has completely ceased. The remnants of the garrison surrender en masse

In Berlin, Goebbels' deputy for propaganda and press, Dr. Fritsche, was taken prisoner. Fritsche testified during interrogation that Hitler, Goebbels and Chief of the General Staff, General Krebs, committed suicide

Stalin's order on the contribution of the Zhukov and Konev fronts to the defeat of the Berlin group. By 21.00, 70 thousand Germans had already surrendered.

Irrecoverable losses of the Red Army in the Berlin operation - 78 thousand people. Enemy losses - 1 million, incl. 150 thousand killed

Soviet field kitchens are deployed throughout Berlin, where "wild barbarians" feed hungry Berliners

And the end of the bloodshed, because it was she who put an end to the end of the Great Patriotic War.

In the period from January to March 1945, Soviet troops fought active battles in Germany. Thanks to unprecedented heroism in the region and Neisse, Soviet troops captured strategic bridgeheads, including the Kustrin region.

The Berlin operation lasted only 23 days, began on April 16 and ended on May 8, 1945. Our troops made a throw across German territory to the west for a distance of almost 220 km, and the front of fierce hostilities stretched over a width of more than 300 km.

At the same time, without encountering particularly organized resistance, the Anglo-American allied forces approached Berlin.

The plan of the Soviet troops was, first of all, to deliver several powerful and unexpected strikes on a wide front. The second task was to separate the remnants of the fascist troops into parts, namely the Berlin group. The third, final part of the plan was to surround and finally destroy the remnants of the Nazi troops in parts and at this stage to capture - the city of Berlin.

But, before starting the main, decisive battle in the war, a huge preparatory work was done. Soviet aircraft conducted 6 reconnaissance missions. Their goal was aerial photography of Berlin. The scouts were interested in the fascist defensive zones of the city and fortifications. Almost 15 thousand aerial photographs were taken by the pilots. Based on the results of these surveys and interviews with prisoners, special maps of the city's fortified areas were drawn up. It was they who were successfully used in organizing the offensive of the Soviet troops.

A detailed terrain plan and enemy defensive fortifications, which were studied in detail, ensured a successful assault on Berlin and hostilities in the center of the capital.

In order to deliver weapons and ammunition on time, as well as fuel, Soviet engineers converted the German railway track to the familiar Russian track all the way to the Oder.

The storming of Berlin was carefully prepared, for this, together with the maps, an accurate model of the city was made. It showed the layout of streets and squares. The slightest features of attacks and assaults on the streets of the capital were practiced.

In addition, the scouts carried out misinformation of the enemy, the date of the strategic offensive was kept in strict secrecy. Only two hours before the attack did the junior commanders have the right to tell their subordinate Red Army men about the offensive.

The Berlin operation of 1945 began on April 16 with the main attack by Soviet troops from the bridgehead in the Kustrin region on the Oder River. First, the Soviet artillery struck a powerful blow, and then aviation.

The Berlin operation was a fierce battle, the remnants of the fascist army did not want to give up the capital, because it would be a complete fall. The battles were very fierce, the enemy had an order not to surrender Berlin.

As noted earlier, the Berlin operation lasted only 23 days. Considering that the battle was on the territory of the Reich, and it was the agony of fascism, the battle was special.

The first to act was the heroic 1st Belorussian Front, it was he who dealt the strongest blow to the enemy, and the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front began an active offensive at the same time on the Neisse River.

It should be borne in mind that the Nazis were well prepared for the defense. On the banks of the Neisse and Oder rivers, they created powerful defensive fortifications, which stretched up to 40 kilometers in depth.

The city of Berlin at that time consisted of three built in the form of rings. The Nazis skillfully used obstacles: every lake, river, canal and numerous ravines, and the surviving large buildings played the role of strongholds ready for a circular defense. The streets and squares of Berlin have turned into real barricades.

Beginning on April 21, as soon as the Soviet army entered Berlin, endless battles took place on the streets of the capital. Streets and houses were taken by storm, battles were even fought in subway tunnels, in sewer pipes, in dungeons.

The Berlin offensive ended in victory for the Soviet troops. The last efforts of the Hitlerite command to keep Berlin in their hands ended in complete collapse.

In this operation, April 20 became a special day. It was a turning point in the battle for Berlin, since Berlin fell on April 21, but even before May 2 there were death and death battles. On April 25, a very important event also took place, as Ukrainian troops in the area of ​​the cities of Torgau and Riza met with soldiers of the 1st American Army.

On April 30, Red was already developing over the Reichstag, and on the same April 30, Hitler, the mastermind of the bloodiest war of the century, took poison.

On May 8, 1945, the main document of the war was signed, the act of complete surrender of Nazi Germany.

During the operation, our troops lost about 350 thousand people. The loss of manpower of the Red Army was 15 thousand people a day.

Undoubtedly, this war, inhuman in its cruelty, was won by a simple Soviet soldier, because he knew that he was dying for his Motherland!

The war was over. Everyone understood this - both the generals of the Wehrmacht and their opponents. Only one person - Adolf Hitler - in spite of everything, continued to hope for the strength of the German spirit, for the "miracle", and most importantly - for a split between his enemies. There were grounds for this - despite the agreements reached in Yalta, Britain 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 to the center of Germany, depriving the Wehrmacht of its "forge" - the Ruhr Basin - and getting 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 line of defense on the Oder. The 2nd Belorussian Front of Rokossovsky finished off the remnants of the enemy troops in Pomerania, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts advanced towards Vienna.

On April 1, Stalin called a meeting of the State Defense Committee in the Kremlin. The audience was asked one question: "Who will take Berlin - we or the Anglo-Americans?" “Berlin will be taken by the Soviet Army,” Konev was the first to respond. His constant rival Zhukov was not taken by surprise by the question of the Supreme Commander either - 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 passed 10 km from the city, the second - along its outskirts, the third - in the center. Berlin was defended by selected units of the Wehrmacht and SS troops, to whose help 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, 10,400 guns and mortars, and 1,500 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. Zhukov was supposed to storm the defense line on the Zelow Heights, which towered over the Oder, blocking the road to Berlin, from the Kustrinsky bridgehead. Konev's front was 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 join up with the Anglo-American troops. The Allies were informed of the Soviet plans and they agreed to stop their armies on the Elbe. The Yalta agreements had to be carried out, moreover, this made it possible to avoid unnecessary losses.

The offensive was scheduled for April 16th. To make it unexpected for the enemy, Zhukov ordered an advance 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 a signal to attack, and a second later thousands of guns and Katyushas opened a hurricane of such force that the 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, on the eve of a captured Soviet soldier revealed to the Germans the date of the future offensive, and they managed to withdraw their troops to the Zelovsky heights. From there, aimed shooting began at Soviet tanks, which wave after wave went to the breakthrough and perished in a field that was shot through and through. While the enemy's attention was riveted on them, the soldiers of Chuikov's 8th Guards Army were able to move forward and occupy the lines at the outskirts of the village of Zelov. By the evening it became clear: the planned pace of the offensive was thwarted.

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 very few people believed in this. People listened with fear to the sounds of cannon fire, which were added to the already familiar explosions of bombs. The remaining residents - there were at least 2.5 million - were banned from leaving the city. The Fuhrer, losing his sense of reality, decided: if the Third Reich dies, all Germans should share his fate. Goebbels' propaganda intimidated the inhabitants of Berlin with the atrocities of the "Bolshevik hordes", convincing them to fight to the end. The headquarters for the defense of Berlin was created, which ordered the population to prepare for fierce battles in the streets, in houses and underground communications. Each house was planned to be turned into a fortress, for which all the remaining residents were forced to dig trenches and equip firing positions.

At the end of the day on April 16, the Supreme Commander phoned Zhukov. He said dryly that Konev's overcoming of Neisse "happened without difficulties." Two tank armies broke through the front at Cottbus and rushed forward, not stopping the offensive even at night. Zhukov had to promise that during April 17 he would take the unfortunate heights. In the morning, General Katukov's 1st Panzer Army again moved forward. And again "thirty-fours", which passed from Kursk to Berlin, burned like candles from the fire of "faustpatrones". By the evening, Zhukov's units had advanced only a couple of kilometers. Meanwhile, Konev reported to Stalin about new successes, reporting his readiness to take part in the storming of Berlin. Silence in the receiver - and the deaf voice of the Supreme: “I agree. Turn your tank armies to Berlin. " On the morning of April 18, Rybalko and Lelyushenko's armies rushed north to Teltow and Potsdam. Zhukov, whose pride was suffering severely, threw his units into a last desperate attack. In the morning, the 9th German army, which was hit by 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 storming of Berlin is purely personal, not a military strategist. In 1945 I was 10 years old, and as 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 firmly told me that if this happens again, he will go to fight again. And on January 9, 1945, my birthday, I received a letter from the front from my father, who also wrote with determination that it was necessary 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 - "a liberator from the Bolshevik yoke." But very little time passed, and my uncle, the same German officer, told me many times: “We were deceived. Make sure that this does not happen to you again. " The soldiers realized that this was not the war. Of course, not all of us were “cheated”. Back in the 1930s, one of his father's best friends warned him: Hitler is terrible. You know, any political ideology of superiority of some over others, absorbed by society, is akin to drugs ...

The meaning of the assault, and of the end of the war in general, became clear to me later. The storming of Berlin was necessary - it saved me from the fate of being a German conqueror. If Hitler had won, I probably would 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 it was really happiness. After the war, I worked in a military commission dealing with the issues of German prisoners of war, and I 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 practically 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 that day, General Batov's 65th Army crossed the wide channel of the Western Oder and moved towards Prenzlau, cutting apart the German Army Group Vistula. At this time, Konev's tanks easily, like on a parade, moved north, almost without encountering resistance and leaving the main forces far behind. The Marshal deliberately took a risk, hurrying to approach Berlin before Zhukov. But the troops of the 1st Byelorussian were already approaching the city. His formidable commander issued an order: "No later than 4 o'clock in the morning on April 21, at any cost, break into the suburbs of Berlin and immediately convey a message about this to Stalin and the press."

On April 20, Hitler celebrated his last birthday. In a bunker submerged 15 meters into the ground under the imperial chancellery, selected guests gathered: Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann, the top of the army and, of course, Eva Braun, who was listed as the "secretary" of the Fuhrer. The companions offered their leader to leave the doomed Berlin and move to the Alps, where a secret refuge has already been prepared. Hitler refused: "I am destined to win or die with the Reich." However, he agreed to withdraw the command of the troops from the capital, dividing it into two parts. The North was under the control of Grand Admiral Dönitz, to whom Himmler and his staff went to help. The south of Germany was to be defended by Goering. At the same time, a plan arose to defeat the Soviet offensive with the forces of the armies of Steiner from the north and Wenck from the west. However, this plan was doomed from the start. Both Wenck's 12th Army and the remnants of SS General Steiner's units were exhausted in battles and unable to take 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 long-range shells 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 advanced from the east. The streets of the gloomy Berlin suburbs were blocked by barricades, from gateways and windows of houses, "faustics" fired at the advancing ones.

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 the last military conference with Hitler was held on April 22 at 15:00. Only then did they decide to tell the Fuehrer that no one was able to save the besieged capital. The reaction was stormy: the leader burst into threats against the "traitors", then collapsed into a chair and groaned: "It's all over ... the war is lost ..."

And yet the Nazi leadership was not going to give up. It was decided to completely end 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 Führer continued to pin his hopes on Wenck's 12th Army, which was to join 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, in addition to Hitler himself, of the leaders of the Reich, only General Krebs, Bormann and Goebbels, who were appointed head of the defense, remained.

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 the forces of three fronts from April 16 to 30, 1945 - from the raising of the flag over the Reichstag and the end of the resistance - on the evening of May 2. Pros and cons of this operation. Plus - the operation was completed quickly enough. 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.

Disadvantages - almost everyone who participated recalls that there were too many sacrifices and, perhaps, unnecessarily. The first reproaches to Zhukov - he stood at the shortest distance from Berlin. His attempt to enter from the east by a frontal blow is regarded by many participants in the war as a wrong decision. It was necessary to encircle Berlin from the north and south in a ring and force the enemy to surrender. But the marshal went directly. Regarding the artillery operation on April 16, we can say the following: 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 argue that the searchlights had no effect. As a result of their application, a mash of fire and dust turned out. This frontal attack was unsuccessful and ill-conceived: when our soldiers passed through the trenches, there were few German corpses in them. So the advancing units shot more than 1,000 wagons of ammunition in vain. 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 - smashed the German capital with all kinds of weapons. Meanwhile, Rybalko's tanks approached the city limits, occupying a foothold in the Teltov area. Zhukov gave his vanguard - the armies of Chuikov and Katukov - the order to force the Spree, no later than the 24th to be in Tempelhof and Marienfeld - the central districts of the city. For street battles, assault detachments were hastily formed from fighters from different units. In the north, General Perkhorovich's 47th Army crossed the Havel River over an accidentally surviving bridge and headed west, preparing to link up with Konev's units there and close the encirclement ring. Having occupied the northern districts of the city, Zhukov finally excluded Rokossovsky from the number of participants in the operation. From that moment until the end of the war, the 2nd Belorussian Front was engaged in the defeat of the Germans in the north, drawing on itself a significant part of the Berlin group.

The glory of the winner of Berlin has passed Rokossovsky, it has also passed Konev. 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 to occupy the center of the enemy capital, thus noting his invaluable contribution to the victory. But Anhalter still had to be reached. Rybalko with his tanks froze on the bank of the deep Teltov 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 fought their way west through the Schönefeld airfield and met Rybalko's tankers there. This meeting divided 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 the shock forces of Zhukov continued to rush to the center of the city. Many fighters and commanders had no experience of fighting in a big city, which led to huge losses. The tanks were moving in columns, and as soon as the front was knocked out, the whole column became an easy prey for the German "Faustists". They had to resort to merciless, but effective tactics of hostilities: first, the artillery fired hurricanely at the target of the future offensive, then the Katyusha volleys drove all the living into shelters. After that, tanks went forward, destroying barricades and smashing houses, from where shots were fired. Only then did the infantry take over. During the battle, almost two million cannon shots fell on the city - 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 did not always cope with the thick walls of buildings built in the 18th century. Chuikov recalled: "Our cannons sometimes fired up to a thousand shots at one square, at a group of houses, even at a small garden." It is clear that at the same time 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 turned into a sea of ​​fire. After the victory, it was calculated that 20% of the houses in Berlin were completely destroyed, and another 30% were partially destroyed. On April 22, the city telegraph closed for the first time, having received the last message from the Japanese allies - "good luck." The water and gas were cut off, the transport stopped going, the distribution of food stopped. The starving Berliners, ignoring the continuous shelling, robbed freight trains and shops. They were more afraid not of Russian shells, but of SS patrols, which grabbed the men and hung them in the trees as deserters.

Police and Nazi officials began to scatter. Many tried to make their way west to surrender to the Anglo-Americans. But the Soviet units were already there. On April 25, at 13.30, they reached the Elbe and met at the town of Torgau with tankmen from the 1st American Army.

On this day, Hitler entrusted the defense of Berlin to tank general Weidling. Under his command 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 only 7-8 kilometers from the city center. On April 26, the Germans made a last desperate attempt to stop the attackers. Fulfilling the order of the Fuehrer, Wenck's 12th Army, which numbered up to 200 thousand people, struck from the west on Konev's 3rd and 28th armies. Unprecedentedly fierce even for this fierce battle, the battles continued for two days, and by the evening of the 27th Wenck had to withdraw to his former positions.

The day before, Chuikov's soldiers occupied the Gatov and Tempelhof airfields, following 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 to slip away or surrender to the Allies. Corresponding orders were issued for other Nazi leaders. There was one more category of Germans whom they were actively looking for - specialists in nuclear research. Stalin knew about the work of the Americans on the atomic bomb and was going to create "his own" as soon as possible. It was already necessary to think about the world after the war, where the Soviet Union was to take a worthy, blood-paid place.

Meanwhile, Berlin continued to choke on the smoke of the fires. Volkssturmist Edmund Heckscher recalled: “There were so many fires that night turned into day. It was possible to read the newspaper, but the newspapers in Berlin were no longer published. " The roar of guns, shooting, explosions of bombs and shells did not stop for a minute. Clouds of smoke and brick dust clouded the center of the city, where, deep under the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery, Hitler again and again tormented his subordinates with the question: "Where is Wenk?"

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, the path was blocked by the elite units of the SS, who fought with special fanaticism. Bogdanov's 2nd Panzer Army was stuck in the Tiergarten area, whose parks were dotted with German trenches. Each step here was taken with difficulty and a lot of blood. Once again, Rybalko's tankers had chances, who made an unprecedented rush from the west to the center of Berlin through Wilmersdorf that day.

By nightfall, the Germans had left a strip 2-3 kilometers wide and up to 16 kilometers long. The first parties of prisoners, still small ones, emerging with raised hands from the basements and entrances of houses, stretched to the rear. Many were deafened by the incessant roar, others, who had gone mad, laughed wildly. The civilian population continued to hide, fearing revenge from the victors. There were, of course, avengers - 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 old men and children out of the fire, who shared their soldier rations with them. The feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who rescued 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 kept 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 on the dissolution of the National Socialist Party and all its organizations and the transfer of all power to the military commandant's office. In the areas cleared of the enemy, soldiers were already beginning to extinguish 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 the German prisoners and the civilian population. 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 in my soul cats are scratching. 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 was convinced that many have forgotten who started the war and who won it. No, this persistent phrase “to win the war” is completely inappropriate: you can win and lose in a game - in a war you either win or suffer defeat. For many Germans, the war is only the horrors of those few weeks when it went on in their territory, as if our soldiers came there of their own free will, and not fought their way to the west for 4 long years along their native scorched and trampled land. This means that Konstantin Simonov was not so right, who believed that there is no other person's grief. It happens, it still happens. And if you forget who put an end to one of the most terrible wars, defeated German fascism, where can you remember who took the capital of the German Reich - Berlin. Our Soviet Army, our Soviet soldiers and officers took it. All, as a whole, fighting for every district, quarter, house, from the windows and doors of which until the last moment shots rang out.

It was only later, after a whole bloody week after the capture of Berlin, on May 2, 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, into two completely different parts, broke Berlin. For the three sectors soon joined together, 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 for us, the Americans "generously" dumped the Thuringia they had occupied. The land is good, but the disappointed residents for a long time hid their grudge not against the apostate Americans, but against us, the new invaders. Such an aberration ...

As for the looting, our soldiers did not come there by themselves. And now 60 years later, all sorts of myths are spreading, growing to antique proportions ...

Reich convulsions

The fascist empire was disintegrating before our eyes. On April 28, Italian partisans caught the dictator Mussolini, who was trying to escape, and shot him. The next day, General von Wittinghof 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 one: his closest associates Himmler and Goering entered into separate negotiations with the Western allies, bargaining for their lives. The Fuhrer was beside himself with rage: he demanded the immediate arrest and execution of the traitors, but this was no longer in his power. It was possible to recoup 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. In the evening of the same day, Commandant Weidling reported that there was only two days of ammunition left in the city, 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 and Wilhelmstrasse station became a barrier to the soldiers. The sappers managed to save him from the explosion, but the tanks that entered the bridge were hit by well-aimed shots from the faust cartridges. Then the tankers tied one of the tanks with sandbags, doused it with diesel fuel and let it go forward. From the first shots, the fuel flared up, but the tank continued to move forward. A few minutes of enemy confusion was enough for the rest to follow the first tank. By the evening of the 28th, Chuikov approached the Tiergarten from the southeast, while Rybalko's tanks entered the area from the south. In the north of the Tiergarten, Perepelkin's 3rd Army liberated the Moabit prison, from where 7,000 prisoners were released.

The city center has become a real hell. From the heat, there was nothing to breathe, the stones of buildings were cracking, the water in ponds and canals was boiling. There was no front line - a desperate battle was going on for every street, every house. In the dark rooms and on the stairs - the electricity in Berlin had long gone out - hand-to-hand fighting broke out. Early in the morning of April 29, soldiers of the 79th Rifle Corps of General Perevertkin approached the huge building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - "Himmler's house". Having fired at the barricades at the entrance from the cannons, they managed to break into the building and capture it, which made it possible to approach the Reichstag very closely.

Meanwhile, nearby, in his bunker, Hitler was dictating a political will. He expelled the "traitors" Goering and Himmler from the Nazi party and accused the entire German army of failing to maintain a "commitment to duty until death." Power over Germany was transferred to "President" Dönitz and "Chancellor" Goebbels, and the command of the army to Field Marshal Scherner. Towards evening, the Wagner official, brought from the city by the SS, performed the civil marriage ceremony of the Fuhrer and Eva Braun. The witnesses were Goebbels and Bormann, who stayed for breakfast. While eating, Hitler was depressed, muttering something about the death of Germany and the triumph of the "Jewish Bolsheviks." During breakfast, he gave two secretaries ampoules with poison and ordered to poison his beloved shepherd Blondie. Outside the walls of his office, the wedding quickly turned into a binge. 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 reported the situation to Hitler for the last time. The old soldier was frank - tomorrow the Russians will be at the entrance to the office. The ammunition is running out, there is nowhere to wait for reinforcements. Wenck's army is driven back to the Elbe, and nothing is known about most of the other units. You have to capitulate. This opinion was also confirmed by SS Colonel Monke, who had previously fanatically carried out all the orders of the Fuehrer. Hitler forbade surrender, but allowed the soldiers "in small groups" to get out of the encirclement and make their way to the west.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops occupied one building after another in the city center. The commanders found it difficult to navigate the maps - there was no sign of the pile of stones and twisted metal that was formerly called Berlin. After the capture of "Himmler's house" and the town hall, the attackers were left with 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 in the German capital, where the banner of Victory 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 the zoo in the Tiergarten to her. In the destroyed park, soldiers rescued several animals, including a mountain goat, which was hanged around its neck by the German Iron Cross for bravery. Only in the evening was the center of defense taken - a seven-story reinforced concrete bunker.

Near the zoo, Soviet assault squads were attacked by SS men from torn up metro tunnels. Pursuing them, the soldiers penetrated the ground and found passages leading towards the office. On the move, a plan arose "to finish off the fascist beast in his lair." The scouts went deep into the tunnels, but after a couple of hours water gushed towards them. According to one of the versions, upon learning about the approach of the Russians to the chancellery, Hitler ordered to open the locks and let the waters of the Spree 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 the order to urgently leave the metro, but because of the crush that arose, few were able to get out. Another version refutes the existence of the order: water could break through the subway due to continuous bombing that destroyed the walls of the tunnels.

If the Fuehrer ordered the flooding 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 at Potsdamerplatz, a block from the bunker. Shortly thereafter, Hitler and Eva Braun said goodbye to their comrades-in-arms 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 with a pistol in his hand was lying on the sofa with his face covered in blood. Eva Braun did not disfigure herself - she took poison. Their corpses were taken out 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 burned bodies of Hitler and his girlfriend were found 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. It was not until 1991 that Hitler's skull and ceremonial uniform were discovered in the archives and shown to everyone who wants to see this grim evidence of the past.

Zhukov Yuri Nikolaevich, historian, writer:

Winners are not judged. And that's all. In 1944, it turned out to be quite possible, without serious battles, through the efforts of diplomacy, first of all, to withdraw Finland, Romania, Bulgaria from the war. The situation was even more favorable for us on April 25, 1945. On that day, on the Elbe, near the city of Torgau, the troops of the USSR and the USA met, and the complete encirclement of Berlin was completed. From that moment on, the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed. Victory was inevitable. Only one thing remained unclear: exactly when the complete and unconditional surrender of the agonized Wehrmacht would follow. Zhukov, having removed Rokossovsky, took over the leadership of the storming of Berlin. He could simply squeeze the blockade ring hourly.

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

Molchanov Ivan Gavrilovich, participant in the storming of 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 all of Ukraine, the south of Belarus, and then reached Berlin through Poland, on the outskirts of which, as you know, a very difficult Kyustrinsky operation took place. I, a scout of an artillery unit, was then 18 years old. I still remember how the earth trembled and a barrage of shells plowed it up and down ... How, after a powerful artillery barrage at 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, the German veterans who participated in this operation told me that then they thought the Russians had used a new secret weapon.

After the Seelovsky heights, we moved directly to the German capital. Because of the flood, the roads were so soggy that both the equipment and the people moved with difficulty. It was impossible to dig trenches: at a depth, water protruded from the bayonet of a shovel. 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: residential buildings, metro stations, various institutions, they fortified 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 overwhelmed so that the equipment could hardly move along them. We moved with the map of the city - the streets and quarters marked on it were difficult to find. On the same map, in addition to objects - firing targets, museums, book depositories, and medical institutions were marked, at which it was forbidden to shoot.

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

The shooting ended on May 2. And suddenly there was such a silence in which it was impossible to believe. The inhabitants of the city began to leave the shelters, they looked at us from under their brows. And here, in establishing contacts with them, their own children helped. Omnipresent guys, 10-12 years old, came up 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, skirmishes were resumed, volleys of guns were heard, and there was a line in front of our kitchen for porridge ...

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 changed, prepared ...” This impression, as well as the visit to the destroyed Reichstag by G.K. Zhukov - he rode up in an unbuttoned greatcoat, smiling - engraved in my memory forever. There were, of course, other memorable moments as well. In the battles for the city, our battery had to be redeployed to another firing point. And then we came under a German artillery attack. Two of my comrades jumped into a hole that had been torn apart by a shell. And I, not knowing why, lay 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 a second time that day ...

last fight

The assault on the Reichstag was led by General Perevertkin's 79th Rifle Corps, reinforced by shock groups from other units. The first onslaught on the morning of the 30th was repulsed - up to 1,500 SS men were entrenched in a huge building. A new assault followed at 18.00. For five hours, the fighters moved forward and upward, meter by meter, onto the roof adorned with giant bronze horses. Sergeants Yegorov and Kantaria were instructed to hoist the flag - they decided that Stalin would be pleased to participate in this symbolic act of his fellow countryman. Only at 22.50 did two sergeants reach the roof and, risking their lives, inserted the flagpole into the hole from the shell at the very horses' hooves. This was immediately reported to the front headquarters, and Zhukov called the Supreme Commander in Moscow.

A little later, another piece of news came - Hitler's heirs decided to negotiate. This was announced by General Krebs, who appeared at Chuikov's headquarters at 3.50 am on May 1. He began with the words: "Today is May Day, a great holiday for both our nations." To which Chuikov replied without unnecessary diplomacy: “Today is our holiday. It’s hard to say how your business is. ” 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 stretch out in anticipation of a separate agreement between Dönitz's "government" and the Western powers. But they did not achieve their goals - Chuikov immediately reported to Zhukov, and he called Moscow, waking up Stalin on the eve of the May Day parade. The reaction to Hitler's death was predictable: “Got it, you scoundrel! It is a pity that we did not take him alive. " To the proposal for an armistice, the answer came: only complete surrender. This was conveyed to Krebs, who objected: "Then you will have to destroy all the Germans." The answering silence was more eloquent than words.

At 10.30 Krebs left headquarters, having had time to drink brandy with Chuikov and exchange memories - both commanded units near Stalingrad. Having received the final "no" of the Soviet side, the German general returned to his troops. In pursuit of him, Zhukov sent an ultimatum: if by 10 o'clock the consent of Goebbels and Bormann to unconditional surrender is not given, the Soviet troops will deliver such a blow from which in Berlin "there will be nothing but ruins." The Reich leadership did not give an answer, and at 10.40 Soviet artillery opened a hurricane of fire in the center of the capital.

The shooting did not stop all day - the Soviet units suppressed the centers of German resistance, which weakened a little, but was still fierce. Tens of thousands of soldiers and Volkssturmists were still fighting in different parts of the huge city. Others, throwing their weapons and tearing off insignia, tried to escape to the west. Among the latter was Martin Bormann. Upon learning of Chuikov's refusal to negotiate, he, together with a group of SS men, escaped 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 he was hit. The leader of the Hitler Youth, Axman, who turned out to be in the same place, shamefully abandoned his young pupils, said later 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 went to storm the last stronghold of Nazism - the imperial chancellery. Before that, they managed to storm the post office, several ministries and the heavily fortified building of the Gestapo. Two hours later, when the first groups of attackers had already approached the building, Goebbels and his wife Magda followed their idol, taking poison. Before that, they asked the doctor to give their six children a lethal injection - they were told that they would get an injection that they would never get sick from. The children were left in the room, and the corpses of Goebbels and his wife were carried 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 had fired a bullet in the forehead, remained. Another Nazi commander, General Weidling, took charge and radioed Chuikov with his consent to surrender unconditionally. At 1 am 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 an order to surrender addressed to all German troops, and he himself set an example for his subordinates. After that, the shooting in the city began to subside. From the cellars of the Reichstag, from under the ruins of houses and shelters, the Germans emerged, silently laying down their weapons on the ground and forming in columns. They were watched 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, light rain pouring down on the smoldering ruins. In the streets were hundreds of corpses crushed by tanks. There were also flags with swastikas and party cards - Hitler's followers were in a hurry to get rid of the evidence. In the Tiergarten, Grossman saw a German soldier with a nurse on a bench - they sat hugging each other and did not pay any attention to what was happening around.

In the afternoon, Soviet tanks began to drive through the streets, transmitting the surrender order through loudspeakers. At about 15.00, the fighting finally ceased, and only in the western regions were explosions thundering - there the SS men who tried to escape were pursued. An unusual, tense silence hung over Berlin. And then another flurry of shots tore through her. Soviet soldiers crowded on the steps of the Reichstag, on the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery, and fired again and again - this time in the air. Strangers threw themselves into each other's arms, and danced right on the pavement. They couldn't believe the war was over. Many of them had new wars ahead, hard work, difficult problems, but they had already done the main thing in their lives.

In the last battle of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army crushed 95 enemy divisions. Killed up to 150 thousand German soldiers and officers, 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 about 150 thousand peaceful Berliners, a significant part of the city was destroyed.

Chronicle of the operation
April 16, 5.00.
The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov), after a powerful artillery barrage, begin an offensive on the Zelovsky Heights near the Oder.
April 16, 8.00.
Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) are crossing the Neisse River and moving westward.
April 18, morning.
The tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko turn north towards Berlin.
April 18, evening.
The Germans' defense on the Seelow Heights has been broken through. Zhukov's units begin their 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 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 districts of the city.
April 24, day.
Meeting of the advancing troops of Zhukov and Konev in the south of Berlin. The Frankfurt-Gubenskaya grouping of the 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.
The German army of Wenck inflicts a counterattack on the advancing Soviet units.
April 27, evening.
After stubborn fighting, Wenck's army was thrown back.
April 28.
Soviet units surround the city center.
April 29, day.
The building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the town hall were taken by storm.
April 30, day.
Busy Tiergarten area with a zoo.
April 30, 15.30.
Hitler committed suicide in a bunker under the Imperial Chancellery.
April 30, 22.50.
The storming of 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 the negotiations, Soviet troops begin the assault on the buildings of the ministries and the imperial chancellery.
May 1, 22.00.
The Imperial Chancellery has been taken by storm.
May 2, 6.00.
General Weidling gives the order to surrender.
May 2, 15.00.
The fighting in the city finally stopped.