Battle for Berlin front commanders. Book of Memory and Glory - Berlin Offensive Operation

It was April of the last year of the war. It was nearing completion. Nazi Germany was in its death throes, but Hitler and his associates were not going to stop fighting, hoping until the last minutes for a split in the Anti-Hitler coalition. They accepted the loss of the western regions of Germany and sent the main forces of the Wehrmacht against the Red Army, trying to prevent the capture of the central regions of the Reich, especially Berlin, by the Red Army. Hitler's leadership put forward the slogan: “It is better to surrender Berlin to the Anglo-Saxons than to let the Russians into it.”

By the beginning of the Berlin operation, 214 enemy divisions were operating on the Soviet-German front, including 34 tank and 15 motorized and 14 brigades. There were 60 divisions left against the Anglo-American forces, including 5 tank divisions. At that time, the Nazis still had certain reserves of weapons and ammunition, which made it possible for the fascist command to put up stubborn resistance on the Soviet-German front in the last month of the war.

Stalin well understood the complexity of the military-political situation on the eve of the end of the war and knew about the intention of the fascist elite to surrender Berlin to the Anglo-American troops, therefore, as soon as preparations for the decisive blow were completed, he ordered the Berlin operation to begin.

Large forces were allocated for the attack on Berlin. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (Marshal G.K. Zhukov) numbered 2,500,000 people, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled guns, 41,600 guns and mortars, 7,500 combat aircraft.

They are at a front length of 385 km. opposed by the troops of Army Group Center (Field Marshal F. Scherner). It consisted of 48 infantry divisions, 9 tank divisions, 6 motorized divisions, 37 separate infantry regiments, 98 separate infantry battalions, as well as a large number of artillery and special units and formations, numbering 1,000,000 people, 1,519 tanks and self-propelled guns, 10,400 guns and mortars, 3,300 combat aircraft, including 120 Me.262 jet fighters. Of these, 2,000 are in the Berlin area.

The Vistula Army Group, which defended Berlin from the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front occupying the Küstrinsky bridgehead, was commanded by Colonel General G. Heinciri. The Küstrin group, which consisted of 14 divisions, included: 11th SS Panzer Corps, 56th Panzer Corps, 101st Army Corps, 9th Parachute Division, 169th, 286th, 303rd Döberitz, 309th -I "Berlin", 712th Infantry Division, 606th Special Purpose Division, 391st Security Division, 5th Light Infantry Division, 18th, 20th Motorized Divisions, 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", 23rd SS Panzer-Grenadier Division "Netherland", 25th Panzer Division, 5th and 408th Artillery Corps of the RGK, 292nd and 770th Anti-Tank Artillery Divisions, 3rd, 405th, 732nd artillery brigade, 909th assault gun brigade, 303rd and 1170th assault gun divisions, 18th engineer brigade, 22 reserve artillery battalions (3117-3126th, 3134-33139th, 3177th, 3184- th, 3163-3166th), 3086th, 3087th artillery battalions and other units. At the front 44 km. 512 tanks and 236 assault guns were concentrated, a total of 748 tanks and self-propelled guns, 744 field guns, 600 anti-aircraft guns, a total of 2,640 (or 2,753) guns and mortars.

There were 8 divisions in reserve in the Berlin direction: tank-grenadier divisions “Müncheberg”, “Kurmark”, infantry divisions 2nd “Friedrich Ludwig Jahn”, “Theodor Kerner”, “Scharnhorst”, 1st training parachute division, 1st motorized division, tank destroyer brigade "Hitler Youth", 243rd and 404th assault gun brigades.

Nearby, on the right flank, in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the 21st Panzer Division, the Bohemia Panzer Division, the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg, the 13th Motorized Division, the 32nd SS Infantry Division occupied positions. January 30th", 35th SS Police Division, 8th, 245th, 275th Infantry Divisions, Infantry Division "Saxony", Infantry Brigade "Burg".

A deeply layered defense was prepared in the Berlin direction, the construction of which began in January 1945. It was based on the Oder-Neissen defensive line and the Berlin defensive region. The Oder-Neissen defensive line consisted of three stripes, between which there were intermediate and cut-off positions in the most important directions. The total depth of this boundary reached 20-40 km. The front edge of the main defense line ran along the left bank of the Oder and Neisse rivers, with the exception of the bridgeheads at Frankfurt, Guben, Forst and Muskau.

Settlements were turned into powerful strongholds. The Nazis prepared to open the floodgates on the Oder in order to flood a number of areas if necessary. A second defense line was created 10-20 km from the front line. The most equipped in engineering terms was on the Seelow Heights - in front of the Küstrin bridgehead. The third stripe was located 20-40 km from the front edge of the main stripe. Like the second, it consisted of powerful resistance nodes connected by communication passages.

During the construction of defensive lines, the fascist command paid special attention to the organization of anti-tank defense, which was based on a combination of artillery fire, assault guns and tanks with engineering barriers, dense mining of tank-accessible areas and the mandatory use of rivers, canals and lakes. In addition, Berlin's anti-aircraft artillery was targeted to combat the tanks. In front of the first trench, and deep in the defense at the intersection of roads and along their sides, there were tank destroyers armed with faust cartridges.

In Berlin itself, 200 Volkssturm battalions were formed, and the total number of the garrison exceeded 200,000 people. The garrison included: 1st, 10th, 17th, 23rd anti-aircraft artillery divisions, 81st, 149th, 151st, 154th, 404th reserve infantry divisions, 458th I am a reserve grenadier brigade, 687th engineer brigade, SS motorized brigade "Führerbegleit", security regiment "Grossdeutschland", 62nd fortress regiment, 503rd separate heavy tank battalion, 123rd, 513th anti-aircraft artillery divisions, 116th fortress machine gun battalion, 301st, 303rd, 305th, 306th, 307th, 308th marine battalions, 539th security battalion, 630th, 968th engineer battalions, 103rd, 107th, 109th, 203rd, 205th, 207th, 301st, 308th, 313th, 318th, 320th, 509th, 617th th, 705th, 707th, 713th, 803rd, 811th "Rolland", 911th Volkssturm battalions, 185th construction battalion, 4th Air Force training battalion, 74th Air Force marching battalion , 614th tank destroyer company, 76th communications training company, 778th assault company, 101st, 102nd companies of the Spanish Legion, 253rd, 255th police stations and other units. (In defense of the homeland, p. 148 (TsAMO, f. 1185, op. 1, d. 3, l. 221), 266th Artyomovsko-Berlinskaya. 131, 139 (TsAMO, f. 1556, op. 1, d .8, l.160) (TsAMO, f.1556, op.1, d.33, l.219))

The Berlin defensive area included three ring contours. The external circuit ran along rivers, canals and lakes 25-40 km from the center of the capital. The internal defensive contour ran along the outskirts of the suburbs. All strong points and positions were interconnected by fire. Numerous anti-tank obstacles and barbed wire barriers are installed on the streets. Its total depth was 6 km. The third - the city bypass ran along the circular railway. All streets leading to the center of Berlin were blocked with barricades, bridges were prepared to be blown up.

The city was divided into 9 defensive sectors, the central sector being the most fortified. The streets and squares were opened up for artillery and tanks. Pillboxes have been built. All defensive positions were connected to each other by a network of communication passages. For covert maneuver by forces, the metro was widely used, the length of which reached 80 km. The fascist leadership ordered: “to hold Berlin until the last bullet.”

Two days before the start of the operation, reconnaissance in force was carried out in the zones of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. On April 14, after a 15-20 minute fire raid, reinforced rifle battalions began operating in the direction of the main attack of the 1st Belorussian Front. Then, in a number of areas, regiments of the first echelons were brought into battle. During the two-day battles, they managed to penetrate the enemy’s defenses and capture separate sections of the first and second trenches, and in some directions advance up to 5 km. The integrity of the enemy defense was broken.

Reconnaissance in force in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front was carried out on the night of April 16 by reinforced rifle companies.

The Berlin offensive began on April 16, 1945. The attack by tanks and infantry began at night. At 05:00, the most powerful Soviet artillery fire of the entire war opened. 22,000 guns and mortars took part in the artillery preparation. The density of artillery reached 300 barrels per 1 km of front. Immediately after this, the German positions were unexpectedly illuminated by 143 anti-aircraft searchlights. At the same time, hundreds of tanks with lit headlights and infantry from the 3rd, 5th Shock, 8th Guards, 69th Armies moved towards the blinded Nazis. The enemy's forward positions were soon broken through. The enemy suffered great damage, and therefore his resistance for the first two hours was disorganized. By midday, the advancing troops had penetrated 5 km into the enemy defenses. The greatest success in the center was achieved by the 32nd Rifle Corps of General D.S. Foal of the 3rd Shock Army. He advanced 8 km and reached the second line of defense. On the left flank of the army, the 301st Infantry Division took an important stronghold - the Verbig railway station. The 1054th Infantry Regiment distinguished itself in battles for it. The 16th Air Army provided great assistance to the advancing troops. During the day, its aircraft made 5,342 sorties and shot down 165 German aircraft.

However, at the second line of defense, the key to which was the Seelow Heights, the enemy was able to delay the advance of our troops. The troops of the 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Army introduced into the battle suffered significant losses. The Germans, repelling unprepared attacks, destroyed 150 tanks and 132 aircraft. The Seelow Heights dominated the area. They had a view of many kilometers to the east. The slopes of the heights were very steep. The tanks could not climb up them and were forced to move along the only road, which was shot from all sides. The Spreewald forest prevented us from getting around the Seelow Heights.

The battles for the Seelow Heights were extremely stubborn. The 172nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 57th Guards Rifle Division was able to occupy the outskirts of the city of Seelow after fierce fighting, but the troops could not advance further.

The enemy hastily transferred reserves to the heights area and launched strong counterattacks several times during the second day. The advance of the troops was insignificant. By the end of April 17, the troops reached the second line of defense; units of the 4th Rifle and 11th Tank Guards Corps took Seelow in bloody battles, but failed to capture the heights.

Marshal Zhukov ordered the attacks to stop. The troops were regrouped. Front artillery was brought up and began processing enemy positions. On the third day, heavy fighting continued in the depths of the enemy’s defenses. The Nazis brought almost all of their operational reserves into battle. Soviet troops slowly moved forward in bloody battles. By the end of April 18, they had covered 3-6 km. and reached the approaches to the third defensive line. Progress continued to be slow. In the zone of the 8th Guards Army along the highway going west, the Nazis installed 200 anti-aircraft guns. Here their resistance was most fierce.

Ultimately, the tightened artillery and aviation crushed the enemy forces and on April 19, the troops of the strike group broke through the third defensive line and in four days advanced to a depth of 30 km, gaining the opportunity to develop an offensive towards Berlin and bypassing it from the north. The battles for the Seelow Heights were bloody for both sides. The Germans lost up to 15,000 killed and 7,000 prisoners.

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully. On April 16, at 6:15, artillery preparation began, during which reinforced battalions of the first echelon divisions advanced to the Neisse and, after transferring artillery fire, under the cover of a smoke screen placed on a 390-kilometer front, began crossing the river. The first echelon of the attackers crossed the Neisse for an hour while artillery preparation was underway.

At 8:40 a.m., troops of the 3rd, 5th Guards and 13th Armies began breaking through the main defensive line. The fighting became fierce. The Nazis launched powerful counterattacks, but by the end of the first day of the offensive, the troops of the strike group had broken through the main line of defense on the 26 km front and advanced to a depth of 13 km.

The next day, the forces of both tank armies of the front were brought into battle. Soviet troops repelled all enemy counterattacks and completed the breakthrough of the second line of its defense. In two days, the troops of the front’s strike group advanced 15-20 km. The enemy began to retreat beyond the Spree.

In the Dresden direction, the troops of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army and the 52nd Army, after the entry of the 1st Polish and 7th Guards Mechanized Corps into the battle, also completed a breakthrough in the tactical defense zone and in two days of combat advanced in some areas up to 20 km.

On the morning of April 18, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies reached the Spree and crossed it on the move, broke through the third defensive line along a 10-kilometer section and captured a bridgehead north and south of Spremberg.

In three days, the armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced up to 30 km in the direction of the main attack. The 2nd Air Army provided significant assistance to the attackers, making 7,517 sorties during these days and shooting down 155 enemy aircraft. The front's troops bypassed Berlin deeply from the south. The tank armies of the front burst into operational space.

On April 18, units of the 65th, 70th, and 49th armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front began crossing the Ost-Oder. Having overcome enemy resistance, the troops captured bridgeheads on the opposite bank. On April 19, the units that crossed continued to destroy enemy units in the interfluve, focusing on the dams on the right bank of the river. Having overcome the swampy floodplain of the Oder, the front troops occupied an advantageous position on April 20 to cross the West Oder.

On April 19, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced 30-50 km in a northwestern direction, reached the Lübbenau, Luckau area and cut off the communications of the 9th Field Army. All attempts by the enemy 4th Tank Army to break through to the crossings from the Cottbus and Spremberg areas failed. The troops of the 3rd and 5th Guards armies, advancing to the west, reliably covered the communications of the tank armies, which allowed the tankers to advance another 45-60 km the next day. And reach the approaches to Berlin. The 13th Army advanced 30 km.

The rapid advance of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies and the 13th Armies led to the cutting off of Army Group Vistula from Army Group Center, and enemy troops in the Cottbus and Spremberg areas found themselves semi-encircled.

On the morning of April 22, the 3rd Guards Tank Army, deploying all three corps in the first echelon, began an attack on enemy fortifications. Army troops broke through the outer defensive perimeter of the Berlin region and by the end of the day they began fighting on the southern outskirts of the German capital. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front had broken into its northeastern outskirts the day before.

On April 22, General Lelyushenko’s 4th Guards Tank Army, operating to the left, broke through the outer perimeter of Berlin’s defenses and reached the Zarmund-Belits line.

While formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front rapidly bypassed the German capital from the south, the strike group of the 1st Belorussian Front attacked Berlin directly on Berlin from the east. After breaking through the Oder line, the front troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, moved forward. On April 20 at 13:50, long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps opened fire on Berlin. By the end of April 21, the 3rd and 5th Shock Armies and the 2nd Guards Tank Armies had overcome resistance on the outer perimeter of the Berlin defensive region and reached its northeastern outskirts. The first to rush into Berlin were the 26th Guards and 32nd Rifle Corps, the 60th, 89th, 94th Guards, 266th, 295th, 416th Rifle Divisions. By the morning of April 22, the 9th Guards Tank Corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army reached the Havel River, on the northwestern outskirts of the capital, and, together with units of the 47th Army, began crossing it.

The Nazis made desperate efforts to prevent the encirclement of Berlin. On April 22, at the last operational meeting, Hitler agreed with General A. Jodl’s proposal to remove all troops from the western front and throw them into the battle for Berlin. The 12th Field Army of General W. Wenck was ordered to leave its positions on the Elbe and break through to Berlin and to join the 9th Field Army. At the same time, the army group of SS General F. Steiner received an order to strike the flank of a group of Soviet troops that was bypassing Berlin from the north and northwest. The 9th Army was ordered to withdraw west to link up with the 12th Army.

The 12th Army, on April 24, turning its front to the east, attacked units of the 4th Guards Tank and 13th armies occupying the defense at the Belitz, Treyenbritzen line.

On April 23 and 24, fighting in all directions became especially fierce. The rate of advance of the Soviet troops slowed down, but the Germans failed to stop our troops. Already on April 24, troops of the 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front linked up with units of the 3rd Guards Tank and 28th Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front southeast of Berlin. As a result, the main forces of the 9th Field Army and part of the forces of the 4th Tank Army were cut off from the city and surrounded. The next day after the connection west of Berlin, in the Ketzin area, the 4th Guards Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front with units of the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front was surrounded by the enemy's Berlin group itself.

On April 25, Soviet and American troops met on the Elbe. In the Torgau area, units of the 58th Guards Rifle Division of the 5th Guards Army crossed the Elbe and established contact with the 69th Infantry Division of the 1st US Army. Germany found itself divided into two parts.

The counterattack of the Görlitz enemy group, launched on April 18, was finally thwarted by the stubborn defense of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army and the 52nd Army by April 25th.

The offensive of the main forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front began on the morning of April 20 with the crossing of the West Oder River. The 65th Army achieved the greatest success on the first day of the operation. By evening, she captured several small bridgeheads on the left bank of the river. By the end of April 25, the troops of the 65th and 70th armies completed the breakthrough of the main defense line, having advanced 20-22 km. Taking advantage of the success of its neighbors in crossing the 65th Army, the 49th Army crossed and began its offensive, followed by the 2nd Shock Army. As a result of the actions of the 2nd Belorussian Front, the 3rd German Tank Army was pinned down and was unable to take part in the battles in the Berlin direction.

On the morning of April 26, Soviet troops launched an offensive against the encircled Frankfurt-Guben group, trying to dissect and destroy it piece by piece. The enemy put up stubborn resistance and tried to break through to the west. Two enemy infantry, two motorized and tank divisions struck at the junction of the 28th and 3rd Guards Armies. The Nazis broke through the defenses in a narrow area and began to move west. During fierce battles, our troops closed the neck of the breakthrough, and the group that broke through was surrounded in the Barut area and almost completely destroyed.

In the following days, the encircled units of the 9th Army again tried to connect with the 12th Army, which was breaking through the defenses of the 4th Guards Tank and 13th Armies on the outer front of the encirclement. However, all enemy attacks were repelled on April 27-28.

At the same time, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front continued to push back the encircled group from the east. On the night of April 29, the Nazis again attempted a breakthrough. At the cost of heavy losses, they managed to break through the main defense line of the Soviet troops at the junction of two fronts in the Wendisch-Buchholz area. In the second half of April 29, they managed to break through the second line of defense in the sector of the 3rd Guards Rifle Corps of the 28th Army. A corridor 2 km wide was formed. Through it, those surrounded began to leave for Luckenwalde. By the end of April 29, Soviet troops stopped those breaking through at the Sperenberg and Kummersdorf line and divided them into three groups.

Particularly intense fighting broke out on April 30. The Germans rushed to the west regardless of losses, but were defeated. Only one group of 20,000 people managed to break through to the Belitsa area. It was separated from the 12th Army by 3-4 km. But during fierce battles, this group was defeated on the night of May 1. Individual small groups managed to penetrate to the west. By the end of the day on April 30, the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group was eliminated. 60,000 of its number were killed in battle, more than 120,000 people were captured. Among the prisoners were the deputy commander of the 9th Field Army, Lieutenant General Bernhardt, the commander of the 5th SS Corps, Lieutenant General Eckel, the commanders of the 21st SS Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Marx, the 169th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Radchiy, commandant Frankfurt-on-Oder fortress Major General Biel, chief of artillery of the 11th SS Panzer Corps Major General Strammer, Air Force General Zander. During the period from April 24 to May 2, 500 guns were destroyed. 304 tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 1,500 guns, 2,180 machine guns, 17,600 vehicles were captured as trophies. (Messages of the Sovinformburo T/8, p. 199).

Meanwhile, the fighting in Berlin reached its climax. The garrison, continuously increasing due to retreating units, already numbered more than 300,000 people. The 56th Panzer Corps, the 11th and 23rd SS Panzer-Grenadier Divisions, the Muncheberg and Kurmark Panzer-Grenadier Divisions, the 18th, 20th, 25th Motorized Divisions, and Infantry Divisions 303 withdrew to the city. -1st “Deberitz”, 2nd “Friedrich Ludwig Jahn” and many other parts. It was armed with 250 tanks and assault guns, 3,000 guns and mortars. By the end of April 25, the enemy occupied the territory of the capital with an area of ​​325 square meters. km.

By April 26, troops of the 8th Guards, 3rd, 5th Shock and 47th Combined Arms Armies, the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 3rd and 4th - Guards Tank Armies and part of the forces of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front. They consisted of 464,000 people, 1,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, 12,700 guns and mortars, 2,100 rocket launchers.

The troops carried out the assault as part of battalion-level assault detachments, which, in addition to infantry, had tanks, self-propelled guns, guns, sappers, and often flamethrowers. Each detachment was intended to operate in its own direction. Usually it was one or two streets. To capture individual objects, a group consisting of a platoon or squad, reinforced by 1-2 tanks, sappers and flamethrowers, was allocated from the detachment.

During the assault, Berlin was shrouded in smoke, so the use of attack aircraft and bombers was difficult; they acted mainly against the 9th Army encircled in the Guben area, and fighters carried out an air blockade. The 16th and 18th Air Armies carried out the three most powerful airstrikes on the night of April 25-26. 2,049 aircraft took part in them.

The fighting in the city did not stop day or night. By the end of April 26, Soviet troops had cut off the Potsdam enemy group from Berlin. The next day, formations of both fronts penetrated deeply into the enemy’s defenses and began fighting in the central sector of the capital. As a result of the concentric offensive of the Soviet troops, by the end of April 27, the enemy group found itself squeezed into a narrow, completely shot-through zone. From east to west it was 16 km, and its width did not exceed 2-3 km. The Nazis fiercely resisted, but by the end of April 28, the encircled group was divided into three parts. By that time, all attempts by the Wehrmacht command to provide assistance to the Berlin group had failed. After April 28, the struggle continued unabated. Now it has flared up in the Reichstag area.

The task of capturing the Reichstag was assigned to the 79th Rifle Corps of Major General S.N. Perevertkin of the 3rd Shock Army of General Gorbatov. Having captured the Moltke Bridge on the night of April 29, units of the corps on April 30, by 4 o'clock, captured a large resistance center - the house where the German Ministry of Internal Affairs was located, and went directly to the Reichstag.

On this day, Hitler, who remained in an underground bunker near the Reich Chancellery, committed suicide. Following him, on May 1, his closest assistant J. Goebbels committed suicide. M. Bormann, who was trying to escape from Berlin with a detachment of tanks, was killed on the night of May 2 on one of the streets of the city.

On April 30, the 171st and 150th rifle divisions of Colonel A.I. Negoda and Major General V.M. Shatilova and the 23rd Tank Brigade began the assault on the Reichstag. To support the attackers, 135 guns were allocated for direct fire. Its garrison, numbering 5,000 SS soldiers and officers, put up desperate resistance, but by the evening of April 30, battalions of the 756th, 674th, 380th rifle regiments, commanded by captains S.A., broke into the Reichstag. Neustroev, V.I. Davydov and senior lieutenant K.Ya. Samsonov. In the fiercest battle, which constantly turned into hand-to-hand combat, Soviet soldiers captured room after room. Early in the morning of May 1, 1945, the 171st and 150th rifle divisions broke his resistance and captured the Reichstag. A little earlier, on the night of May 1, scouts of the 756th Infantry Regiment, Sergeant M.A. Egorov, junior sergeant M.V. The Victory Banner was hoisted on the dome of the Reichstag. Their group was headed by the battalion political officer, Lieutenant A.P. Berest, supported by a company of machine gunners of Lieutenant I.Ya. Syanova.

Separate groups of SS men, hiding in the basements, laid down their arms only on the night of May 2. In a fierce battle that lasted two days, 2,396 SS men were destroyed and 2,604 were captured. 28 guns destroyed. 15 tanks, 59 guns, 1,800 rifles and machine guns were captured.

On the evening of May 1, the 248th and 301st rifle divisions of the 5th Shock Army took the imperial chancellery after a long fierce battle. This was the last major battle in Berlin. On the night of May 2, a group of 20 tanks broke through from the city. On the morning of May 2, it was intercepted 15 km northwest of Berlin and completely destroyed. It was assumed that one of the Nazi leaders was fleeing from the capital of the Reich, but none of the Reich bosses were among those killed.

At 15:00 on May 1, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, Colonel General Krebs, crossed the front line. He was received by the commander of the 8th Guards Army, General Chuikov, and reported on Hitler’s suicide, the formation of the government of Admiral Dönitz, and also handed over a list of the new government and a proposal for a temporary cessation of hostilities. The Soviet command demanded unconditional surrender. By 18:00 it became known that the proposal had been rejected. The fighting in the city continued all this time. When the garrison was cut into isolated groups, the Nazis began to surrender. On the morning of May 2 at 6 o'clock, the commander of the defense of Berlin, commander of the 56th Tank Corps, General G. Weidling, surrendered and signed the order of surrender.

By 15:00 on May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison capitulated. During the assault, the garrison lost 150,000 soldiers and officers killed. On May 2, 134,700 people surrendered, including 33,000 officers and 12,000 wounded.

(IVMV, T.10, p.310-344; G.K. Zhukov Memories and Reflections / M, 1971, p. 610-635)

In total, during the Berlin operation, 218,691 soldiers and officers were killed in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front alone and 250,534 soldiers and officers were captured, and a total of 480,000 people were captured. 1132 aircraft shot down. Captured as trophies: 4,510 aircraft, 1,550 tanks and self-propelled guns, 565 armored personnel carriers and armored cars, 8,613 guns, 2,304 mortars, 876 tractors and tractors (35,797 cars), 9,340 motorcycles, 25,289 bicycles, 19,393 pools guns, 179,071 rifles and carbines, 8,261 carts , 363 locomotives, 22,659 wagons, 34,886 faustpatrons, 3,400,000 shells, 360,000,000 cartridges (TsAMO USSR f.67, op.23686, d.27, l.28).

According to the chief of logistics of the 1st Belorussian Front, Major General N.A. Antipenko captured even more trophies. The 1st Ukrainian, 1st and 2nd Belorussian fronts captured 5,995 aircraft, 4,183 tanks and assault guns, 1,856 armored personnel carriers, 15,069 guns, 5,607 mortars, 36,386 machine guns, 216,604 rifles and machine guns, 84,738 cars, 2.19 9 warehouses.

(On the main direction, p.261)

The losses of the Soviet troops and the Polish Army amounted to 81,116 people killed and missing, 280,251 wounded (of which 2,825 Poles were killed and missing, 6,067 were wounded). 1,997 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,108 guns and mortars, 917 combat aircraft, 215,900 small arms were lost (classified as classified, p. 219, 220, 372).

By the beginning of April 1945, Soviet troops reached the central regions of Germany in a wide area and were located 60-70 km from its capital, Berlin. Attaching exceptional importance to the Berlin direction, the Wehrmacht High Command deployed there the 3rd Panzer and 9th Armies of the Vistula Army Group, the 4th Panzer and 17th Armies of the Center Army Group, aviation of the 6th Air Fleet and Air Force fleet "Reich". This grouping included 48 infantry, four tank and ten motorized divisions, 37 separate regiments and 98 separate battalions, two separate tank regiments, other formations and units of the armed forces and branches of the armed forces - a total of about 1 million people, 8 thousand guns and mortars, over 1,200 tanks and assault guns, 3,330 aircraft.

The area of ​​the upcoming hostilities was replete with a large number of rivers, lakes, canals and large forests, which were widely used by the enemy to create a system of defensive zones and lines. The Oder-Neissen defensive line, 20-40 km deep, included three stripes. The first strip, running along the western banks of the Oder and Neisse rivers, consisted of two to three positions and had a depth of 5-10 km. It was especially strongly fortified in front of the Kustrin bridgehead. The front line was covered with minefields, barbed wire and subtle obstacles. The average mining density in the most important directions reached 2 thousand mines per 1 km.

At a distance of 10-20 km from the front edge there was a second strip, equipped along the western banks of numerous rivers. Within its boundaries were also the Zelovsky Heights, which towered above the river valley. Oder at 40-60 m. The basis of the third zone were settlements, turned into strong centers of resistance. Further inland was the Berlin defensive region, which consisted of three rings and the city itself, prepared for long-term resistance. The external defensive contour was located at a distance of 25-40 km from the center, and the internal one ran along the outskirts of the Berlin suburbs.

The purpose of the operation was to defeat German troops in the Berlin direction, capture the capital of Germany and, with access to the river. Elbe will come into contact with the Allied armies. Its plan was to deliver several strikes in a wide area, encircle and at the same time cut the enemy group into pieces and destroy them individually. To carry out the operation, the Supreme High Command Headquarters attracted the 2nd and 1st Belorussian, 1st Ukrainian fronts, part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet, the 18th Air Army, the Dnieper military flotilla - in total up to 2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6300 tanks and self-propelled guns, 8400 aircraft.

The task of the 1st Belorussian Front was to deliver the main blow from the Küstrin bridgehead on the Oder with the forces of seven armies, of which two tank armies, to capture Berlin and reach the river no later than 12-15 days of the operation. Elbe. The 1st Ukrainian Front had to break through the enemy’s defenses on the river. Neisse, with part of the forces to assist the 1st Belorussian Front in capturing the capital of Germany, and with the main forces, developing an offensive in the northern and northwestern directions, to capture the line along the river no later than 10-12 days. Elbe to Dresden. The encirclement of Berlin was achieved by bypassing it from the north and north-west by the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, and from the south and south-west by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The 2nd Belorussian Front received the task of crossing the river. Oder in the lower reaches, defeat the Stettin enemy group and continue the offensive in the direction of Rostock.

The transition to the offensive by the 1st Belorussian Front was preceded by reconnaissance in force, carried out on April 14 and 15 by the forward battalions. Using their success in individual sectors, regiments of the first echelons of divisions were brought into battle, which overcame the most dense minefields. But the measures taken did not allow the German command to be misled. Having determined that the Soviet troops planned to deliver the main blow from the Küstrin bridgehead, the commander of the Vistula Army Group, Colonel General G. Heinrici, on the evening of April 15, ordered the withdrawal of the infantry units and artillery of the 9th Army from the front line into the depths of the defense.

At 5 a.m. on April 16, even before dawn, artillery preparation began, during which the heaviest fire was directed at the first position abandoned by the enemy. After its completion, 143 powerful spotlights were turned on. Without encountering organized resistance, the rifle formations, with the support of aviation, covered 1.5-2 km. However, as they reached third position, the fighting became fierce. To increase the force of the strike, the Marshal of the Soviet Union introduced the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies, Colonel General M.E., into the battle. Katukova and S.I. Bogdanov. Unlike the plan, this entry was carried out even before the capture of the Zelovsky Heights. But only by the end of the next day the divisions of the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies, Colonel General N.E. Berzarin and V.I. Chuikov, together with tank corps, with the support of bomber and attack aircraft, were able to break through the enemy’s defenses on the second line and advance to a depth of 11-13 km.

During April 18 and 19, the main strike group of the 1st Belorussian Front, successively overcoming echeloned positions, stripes and lines, increased its penetration to 30 km and cut the German 9th Army into three parts. It attracted a significant part of the enemy's operational reserves. In four days, he transferred an additional seven divisions, two brigades of tank destroyers, and over 30 separate battalions to its zone. Soviet troops inflicted significant damage on the enemy: nine of its divisions lost up to 80% of people and almost all military equipment. Another seven divisions lost more than half of their strength. But their own losses were also significant. In tanks and self-propelled guns alone they amounted to 727 units (23% of those available at the beginning of the operation).

In the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, reconnaissance in force was carried out on the night of April 16. In the morning, after artillery and aviation preparation, the reinforced battalions began crossing the river under the cover of a smoke screen. Neisse. Having captured the bridgeheads, they ensured the construction of pontoon bridges, along which formations of the first echelon of armies, as well as the advanced units of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, the 25th and 4th Guards Tank Corps, crossed to the opposite bank. During the day, the strike group broke through the main defense line of German troops in a 26 km wide area and advanced 13 km in depth, however, as on the 1st Belorussian Front, it did not complete the task of the day.

On April 17, the Marshal of the Soviet Union brought into battle the main forces of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, Colonel Generals and, who broke through the second line of enemy defense and advanced 18 km in two days. Attempts by the German command to delay their advance with numerous counterattacks from their reserves were unsuccessful, and they were forced to begin retreating to the third line of defense, which ran along the river. Spree. In order to forestall the enemy from occupying an advantageous defensive line, the commander of the front forces ordered the pace of advance to be increased as much as possible. Fulfilling the assigned task, the rifle divisions of the 13th Army (Colonel General N.P. Pukhov), tank corps of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies by the end of April 18 reached the Spree, crossed it on the move and captured a bridgehead.

In general, in three days the front’s strike group completed the breakthrough of the Neissen defensive line in the direction of the main attack to a depth of 30 km. At the same time, the 2nd Army of the Polish Army (Lieutenant General K. Sverchevsky), the 52nd Army (Colonel General K.A. Koroteev) and the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General V.K. Baranov) operating in the Dresden direction ) moved west 25-30 km.

After breaking through the Oder-Neissen line, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts began to develop an offensive with the aim of encircling Berlin. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov decided to bypass the German capital from the northeast by the 47th (Lieutenant General F.I. Perkhorovich) and 3rd Shock (Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov) armies in cooperation with the corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army. The 5th Shock, 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies were supposed to continue the attack on the city from the east and isolate the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group from it.

According to the plan of Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S. Konev, the 3rd Guards and 13th Armies, as well as the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, were intended to cover Berlin from the south. At the same time, the 4th Guards Tank Army was to unite west of the city with the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front and encircle the enemy’s Berlin grouping itself.

During April 20-22, the nature of the fighting in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front did not change. His armies were forced, as before, to overcome fierce resistance from German troops in numerous strongholds, each time carrying out artillery and air preparation. The tank corps were never able to break away from the rifle units and operated on the same line with them. However, they consistently broke through the outer and inner defensive contours of the city and started fighting on its northeastern and northern outskirts.

The 1st Ukrainian Front operated under more favorable conditions. During the breakthrough of defensive lines on the Neisse and Spree rivers, he defeated the enemy's operational reserves, which allowed mobile formations to develop an offensive in individual directions at a high pace. On April 20, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies reached the approaches to Berlin. Having destroyed the enemy in the areas of Zossen, Luckenwalde and Jüterbog over the next two days, they overcame the outer Berlin defensive contour, broke into the southern outskirts of the city and cut off the retreat of the German 9th Army to the west. To carry out the same task, the 28th Army of Lieutenant General A.A. was also introduced into the battle from the second echelon. Luchinsky.

In the course of further actions, units of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front and the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front established cooperation in the Bonsdorf area on April 24, thereby completing the encirclement of the enemy's Frakfurt-Guben group. The next day, when the 2nd and 4th Guards Tank Armies united west of Potsdam, the same fate befell his Berlin group. At the same time, units of the 5th Guards Army under Colonel General A.S. Zhadov met on the Elbe in the Torgau region with soldiers of the American 1st Army.

Starting from April 20, the 2nd Belorussian Front of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. also began to implement the general plan of the operation. Rokossovsky. On that day, the formation of the 65th, 70th and 49th armies of Colonel General P.I. Batova, V.S. Popov and I.T. Grishin crossed the river. West Oder and captured bridgeheads on its western bank. Overcoming enemy fire resistance and repelling counterattacks from its reserves, formations of the 65th and 70th armies combined the captured bridgeheads into one up to 30 km wide and up to 6 km deep. Developing an offensive from there, by the end of April 25 they had completed the breakthrough of the main defense line of the German 3rd Tank Army.

The final stage of the Berlin offensive operation began on April 26. Its content was to destroy the surrounded enemy groups and capture the capital of Germany. Having decided to hold Berlin until the last possible opportunity, Hitler on April 22 ordered the 12th Army, which until then had been operating against American troops, to break through to the southern suburbs of the city. The encircled 9th Army was supposed to make a breakthrough in the same direction. After connecting, they had to strike at the Soviet troops that had bypassed Berlin from the south. It was planned to launch an offensive against them from the north by Steiner's army group.

Anticipating the possibility of a breakthrough of the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group to the west, Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S. Konev ordered four rifle divisions of the 28th and 13th armies, reinforced with tanks, self-propelled guns and anti-tank artillery, to go on the defensive and thwart the plans of the Wehrmacht high command. At the same time, the destruction of the encircled troops began. By that time, up to 15 divisions of the German 9th and 4th tank armies were blocked in the forests southeast of Berlin. They numbered 200 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 2 thousand guns and mortars, over 300 tanks and assault guns. To defeat the enemy, six armies were brought in from two fronts, part of the forces of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, the main forces of the 2nd Air Army, Colonel General S.A. Krasovsky.

By delivering simultaneous frontal strikes and strikes in converging directions, Soviet troops constantly reduced the area of ​​the encirclement area, cut the enemy group into pieces, disrupted interaction between them and destroyed them individually. At the same time, they stopped the ongoing attempts of the German command to make a breakthrough to connect with the 12th Army. To do this, it was necessary to constantly increase forces and means in the threatened directions, to increase the depth of the combat formations of troops in them to 15-20 km.

Despite heavy losses, the enemy persistently rushed to the west. Its maximum advance was more than 30 km, and the minimum distance between the formations of the 9th and 12th armies delivering counter attacks was only 3-4 km. However, by the beginning of May the Frankfurt-Guben group ceased to exist. During heavy fighting, up to 60 thousand people were killed, 120 thousand soldiers and officers were captured, over 300 tanks and assault guns, 1,500 field and anti-aircraft artillery guns, 17,600 vehicles, and a large amount of other equipment were captured.

The destruction of the Berlin group, which numbered over 200 thousand people, more than 3 thousand guns and mortars, 250 tanks, was carried out from April 26 to May 2. At the same time, the main way to overcome enemy resistance was the widespread use of assault detachments as part of rifle units, reinforced with artillery, tanks, self-propelled guns and sappers. They carried out the offensive with the support of aviation from the 16th (Colonel General of Aviation K.A. Vershinin) and 18th (Chief Marshal of Aviation A.E. Golovanov) air armies in narrow areas and cut the German units into many isolated groups.

On April 26, formations of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front and the 3rd Guards Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front separated the enemy groups located in Potsdam and directly in Berlin. The next day, Soviet troops captured Potsdam and at the same time began fighting in the central (ninth) defensive sector of Berlin, where the highest state and military authorities in Germany were located.

On April 29, the rifle corps of the 3rd Shock Army reached the Reichstag area. The approaches to it were covered by the river. Spree and a number of fortified large buildings. At 13:30 on April 30, artillery preparation for the assault began, in which, in addition to artillery operating from closed positions, 152- and 203-mm howitzers took part as direct fire weapons. After its completion, units of the 79th Rifle Corps attacked the enemy and broke into the Reichstag.

As a result of the fighting on April 30, the position of the Berlin group became hopeless. It was divided into isolated groups, and troop control at all levels was disrupted. Despite this, individual enemy units and units continued futile resistance for several days. Only by the end of May 5 was it finally broken. 134 thousand German soldiers and officers surrendered.

In the period from May 3 to May 8, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front advanced in a wide zone to the river. Elbe. The 2nd Belorussian Front, operating to the north, had by that time completed the defeat of the German 3rd Tank Army and reached the coast of the Baltic Sea and the Elbe line. On May 4, in the Wismar-Grabov sector, his formations established contact with units of the British 2nd Army.

During the Berlin operation, the 2nd and 1st Belorussian, 1st Ukrainian fronts defeated 70 infantry, 12 tank and 11 motorized divisions, 3 battle groups, 10 separate brigades, 31 separate regiments, 12 separate battalions and 2 military schools. They captured about 480 thousand enemy soldiers and officers, captured 1,550 tanks, 8,600 guns, 4,150 aircraft. At the same time, the losses of Soviet troops amounted to 274,184 people, of which 78,291 were irrecoverable, 2,108 guns and mortars, 1,997 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 917 combat aircraft.

A distinctive feature of the operation compared to the largest offensive operations carried out in 1944-1945 was its shallow depth, which amounted to 160-200 km. This was due to the meeting line of Soviet and allied troops along the river line. Elbe. Nevertheless, the Berlin operation is an instructive example of an offensive aimed at encircling a large enemy group while simultaneously cutting it into pieces and destroying each of them separately. It also fully reflected the issues of consistent breakthrough of echeloned defensive zones and lines, timely increase in strike force, the use of tank armies and corps as mobile groups of fronts and armies, and the conduct of combat operations in a large city.

For courage, heroism and high military skill shown during the operation, 187 formations and units were awarded the honorary name “Berlin”. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 9, 1945, the medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was established, which was awarded to about 1,082 thousand Soviet soldiers.

Sergey Aptreikin,
Leading Researcher at the Scientific Research Institute
Institute (military history) of the Military Academy
General Staff of the RF Armed Forces

Charity wall newspaper for schoolchildren, parents and teachers of St. Petersburg “Briefly and clearly about the most interesting things.” Issue No. 77, March 2015. Battle for Berlin.

Battle of Berlin

Wall newspapers of the charitable educational project “Briefly and clearly about the most interesting things” (site site) are intended for schoolchildren, parents and teachers of St. Petersburg. They are delivered free of charge to most educational institutions, as well as to a number of hospitals, orphanages and other institutions in the city. The project's publications do not contain any advertising (only founders' logos), are politically and religiously neutral, written in easy language, and well illustrated. They are intended as informational “inhibition” of students, awakening cognitive activity and the desire to read. Authors and publishers, without pretending to provide academic completeness of the material, publish interesting facts, illustrations, interviews with famous figures of science and culture and thereby hope to increase the interest of schoolchildren in the educational process. Send feedback and suggestions to: pangea@mail.. We thank the Education Department of the Kirovsky District Administration of St. Petersburg and everyone who selflessly helps in distributing our wall newspapers. Our special thanks go to the team of the “Battle for Berlin” project. The Feat of the Standard Bearers" (website panoramaberlin.ru), who kindly allowed us to use the site materials for her invaluable assistance in creating this issue.

Fragment of the painting “Victory” by P.A. Krivonosov, 1948 (hrono.ru).

Diorama “Storm of Berlin” by artist V.M. Sibirsky. Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War (poklonnayagora.ru).

Berlin operation (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Berlin operation

Scheme of the Berlin operation (panoramaberlin.ru).


"Fire on Berlin!" Photo by A.B. Kapustyansky (topwar.ru).

The Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation is one of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and World War II in Europe. The operation lasted from April 16 to May 8, 1945, the width of the combat front was 300 km. By April 1945, the main offensive operations of the Red Army in Hungary, East Pomerania, Austria and East Prussia were completed. This deprived Berlin of support from industrial areas and the ability to replenish reserves and resources. Soviet troops reached the border of the Oder and Neisse rivers, only a few tens of kilometers remained to Berlin. The offensive was carried out by the forces of three fronts: the 1st Belorussian under the command of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, the 2nd Belorussian under the command of Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky and the 1st Ukrainian under the command of Marshal I.S. Konev, with the support of the 18th Air Army, Dnieper Military Flotilla and Red Banner Baltic Fleet. The Red Army was opposed by a large group consisting of Army Group Vistula (generals G. Heinrici, then K. Tippelskirch) and Center (Field Marshal F. Schörner). On April 16, 1945, at 5 a.m. Moscow time (2 hours before dawn), artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9,000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1,500 BM-13 and BM-31 installations (modifications of the famous Katyushas) crushed the first line of German defense in the 27-kilometer breakthrough area for 25 minutes. With the start of the attack, artillery fire was transferred deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their blinding light stunned the enemy, neutralized night vision devices and at the same time illuminated the way for the advancing units.

The offensive unfolded in three directions: through the Seelow Heights directly to Berlin (1st Belorussian Front), south of the city, along the left flank (1st Ukrainian Front) and north, along the right flank (2nd Belorussian Front). The largest number of enemy forces were concentrated in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, and the most intense battles broke out in the Seelow Heights area. Despite fierce resistance, on April 21 the first Soviet assault troops reached the outskirts of Berlin, and street fighting broke out. On the afternoon of March 25, units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts united, closing a ring around the city. However, the assault was still ahead, and the defense of Berlin was carefully prepared and well thought out. It was a whole system of strongholds and resistance centers, the streets were blocked with powerful barricades, many buildings were turned into firing points, underground structures and the metro were actively used. Faust cartridges became a formidable weapon in the conditions of street battles and limited space for maneuver; they caused especially heavy damage to tanks. The situation was also complicated by the fact that all German units and individual groups of soldiers who retreated during the battles on the outskirts of the city were concentrated in Berlin, replenishing the garrison of the city’s defenders.

The fighting in the city did not stop day or night; almost every house had to be stormed. However, thanks to superiority in strength, as well as the experience accumulated in past offensive operations in urban combat, the Soviet troops moved forward. By the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Reichstag. On April 30, the first assault groups broke into the building, unit flags appeared on the building, and on the night of May 1, the Banner of the Military Council, located in the 150th Infantry Division, was hoisted. And by the morning of May 2, the Reichstag garrison capitulated.

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior agreement, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army. He informed the army commander, General V.I. Chuikov, about Hitler’s suicide and the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. But the categorical demand for unconditional surrender received in response by this government was rejected. Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor. The remnants of the German troops were no longer able to continue resistance, and in the early morning of May 2, a German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, wrote an order for surrender, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, communicated to the German units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was communicated to the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Individual units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

During the Berlin operation, from April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which 78,291 were irretrievable. In terms of daily losses of personnel and equipment, the Battle of Berlin surpassed all other operations of the Red Army. The losses of German troops, according to reports from the Soviet command, were: about 400 thousand people killed, about 380 thousand people captured. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.
The Berlin operation dealt the final crushing blow to the armed forces of the Third Reich, which, with the loss of Berlin, lost the ability to organize resistance. Six days after the fall of Berlin, on the night of May 8-9, the German leadership signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

Storming of the Reichstag (wall newspaper 77 – “Battle for Berlin”)

Storming of the Reichstag

Map of the storming of the Reichstag (commons.wikimedia.org, Ivengo)



The famous photograph “Prisoned German soldier at the Reichstag”, or “Ende” - in German “The End” (panoramaberlin.ru).

The storming of the Reichstag is the final stage of the Berlin offensive operation, the task of which was to capture the building of the German parliament and hoist the Victory Banner. The Berlin offensive began on April 16, 1945. And the operation to storm the Reichstag lasted from April 28 to May 2, 1945. The assault was carried out by the forces of the 150th and 171st Rifle Divisions of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. In addition, two regiments of the 207th Infantry Division were advancing in the direction of the Krol Opera. By the evening of April 28, units of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army occupied the Moabit area and from the north-west approached the area where, in addition to the Reichstag, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Krol-Opera theater, the Swiss embassy and a number of other buildings were located. Well fortified and adapted for long-term defense, together they represented a powerful unit of resistance. On April 28, the corps commander, Major General S.N. Perevertkin, was assigned the task of capturing the Reichstag. It was assumed that the 150th SD should occupy the western part of the building, and the 171st SD should occupy the eastern part.

The main obstacle before the advancing troops was the Spree River. The only possible way to overcome it was the Moltke Bridge, which the Nazis blew up when the Soviet units approached, but the bridge did not collapse. The first attempt to take it on the move ended in failure, because... Heavy fire was fired at him. Only after artillery preparation and the destruction of firing points on the embankments was it possible to capture the bridge. By the morning of April 29, the advanced battalions of the 150th and 171st rifle divisions under the command of Captain S.A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K.Ya. Samsonov crossed to the opposite bank of the Spree. After the crossing, that same morning the Swiss embassy building, which faced the square in front of the Reichstag, was cleared of the enemy. The next goal on the way to the Reichstag was the building of the Ministry of the Interior, nicknamed “Himmler’s House” by Soviet soldiers. The huge, strong six-story building was additionally adapted for defense. To capture Himmler's house at 7 o'clock in the morning, a powerful artillery preparation was carried out. Over the next 24 hours, units of the 150th Infantry Division fought for the building and captured it by dawn on April 30. The path to the Reichstag was then open.

Before dawn on April 30, the following situation developed in the combat area. The 525th and 380th regiments of the 171st Infantry Division fought in the neighborhoods north of Königplatz. The 674th Regiment and part of the forces of the 756th Regiment were engaged in clearing the Ministry of Internal Affairs building from the remnants of the garrison. The 2nd battalion of the 756th regiment went to the ditch and took up defense in front of it. The 207th Infantry Division was crossing the Moltke Bridge and preparing to attack the Krol Opera building.

The Reichstag garrison numbered about 1,000 people, had 5 units of armored vehicles, 7 anti-aircraft guns, 2 howitzers (equipment, the location of which has been accurately described and photographed). The situation was complicated by the fact that Königplatz between “Himmler’s house” and the Reichstag was an open space, moreover, crossed from north to south by a deep ditch left over from an unfinished metro line.

Early in the morning of April 30, an attempt was made to immediately break into the Reichstag, but the attack was repulsed. The second assault began at 13:00 with a powerful half-hour artillery barrage. Units of the 207th Infantry Division with their fire suppressed the firing points located in the Krol Opera building, blocked its garrison and thereby facilitated the assault. Under the cover of artillery barrage, the battalions of the 756th and 674th rifle regiments went on the attack and, immediately overcoming a ditch filled with water, broke through to the Reichstag.

All the time, while preparations and assault on the Reichstag were underway, fierce battles were fought on the right flank of the 150th Infantry Division, in the zone of the 469th Infantry Regiment. Having taken up defensive positions on the right bank of the Spree, the regiment fought off numerous German attacks for several days, aimed at reaching the flank and rear of the troops advancing on the Reichstag. Artillerymen played an important role in repelling German attacks.

The scouts from S.E. Sorokin’s group were among the first to break into the Reichstag. At 14:25 they installed a homemade red banner, first on the stairs of the main entrance, and then on the roof, on one of the sculptural groups. The banner was noticed by soldiers on Königplatz. Inspired by the banner, more and more new groups broke into the Reichstag. During the day on April 30, the upper floors were cleared of the enemy, the remaining defenders of the building took refuge in the basements and continued fierce resistance.

On the evening of April 30, the assault group of Captain V.N. Makov made its way into the Reichstag, and at 22:40 they installed their banner on the sculpture above the front pediment. On the night of April 30 to May 1, M.A. Egorov, M.V. Kantaria, A.P. Berest, with the support of machine gunners from I.A. Syanov’s company, climbed onto the roof and hoisted the official Banner of the Military Council, issued by the 150th, over the Reichstag rifle division. It was this that later became the Banner of Victory.

At 10 a.m. on May 1, German forces launched a concerted counterattack from outside and inside the Reichstag. In addition, a fire broke out in several parts of the building; Soviet soldiers had to fight it or move to non-burning rooms. Heavy smoke formed. However, the Soviet soldiers did not leave the building and continued to fight. The fierce battle continued until late in the evening; the remnants of the Reichstag garrison were again driven into the basements.

Realizing the pointlessness of further resistance, the command of the Reichstag garrison proposed to begin negotiations, but with the condition that an officer with the rank of no lower than colonel should take part in them from the Soviet side. Among the officers present in the Reichstag at that time, there was no one older than the major, and communication with the regiment did not work. After a short preparation, A.P. Berest as a colonel (the tallest and most representative), S.A. Neustroyev as his adjutant and Private I. Prygunov as a translator went to the negotiations. The negotiations took a long time. Not accepting the conditions set by the Nazis, the Soviet delegation left the basement. However, in the early morning of May 2, the German garrison capitulated.

On the opposite side of Königplatz, the battle for the Krol Opera building continued all day on May 1. Only by midnight, after two unsuccessful assault attempts, the 597th and 598th regiments of the 207th Infantry Division captured the theater building. According to a report from the chief of staff of the 150th Infantry Division, during the defense of the Reichstag the German side suffered the following losses: 2,500 people were killed, 1,650 people were captured. There is no exact data on the losses of Soviet troops. On the afternoon of May 2, the Victory Banner of the Military Council, hoisted by Egorov, Kantaria and Berest, was transferred to the dome of the Reichstag.
After the Victory, under an agreement with the allies, the Reichstag moved to the territory of the British occupation zone.

History of the Reichstag (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

History of the Reichstag

Reichstag, photo of the late 19th century (from the “Illustrated Review of the Past Century,” 1901).



Reichstag. Modern look (Jürgen Matern).

The Reichstag building (Reichstagsgebäude - “state assembly building”) is a famous historical building in Berlin. The building was designed by Frankfurt architect Paul Wallot in the Italian High Renaissance style. The first stone for the foundation of the German parliament building was laid on June 9, 1884 by Kaiser Wilhelm I. Construction lasted ten years and was completed under Kaiser Wilhelm II. On January 30, 1933, Hitler became head of the coalition government and chancellor. However, the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party) had only 32% of the seats in the Reichstag and three ministers in the government (Hitler, Frick and Goering). As chancellor, Hitler asked President Paul von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections, hoping to secure a majority for the NSDAP. New elections were scheduled for March 5, 1933.

On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building burned down as a result of arson. The fire became for the National Socialists, who had just come to power, led by Chancellor Adolf Hitler, a reason to quickly dismantle democratic institutions and discredit their main political opponent, the Communist Party. Six months after the fire in the Reichstag, the trial of accused communists begins in Leipzig, among whom were Ernst Torgler, chairman of the communist faction in the parliament of the Weimar Republic, and the Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov. During the trial, Dimitrov and Goering had a fierce argument that went down in history. It was not possible to prove guilt in the arson of the Reichstag building, but this incident allowed the Nazis to establish absolute power.

After this, rare meetings of the Reichstag took place in the Krol Opera (which was destroyed in 1943), and ceased in 1942. The building was used for propaganda meetings and, after 1939, for military purposes.

During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops stormed the Reichstag. On April 30, 1945, the first homemade Victory Banner was hoisted at the Reichstag. Soviet soldiers left many inscriptions on the walls of the Reichstag, some of which were preserved and left during the restoration of the building. In 1947, by order of the Soviet commandant's office, the inscriptions were “censored.” In 2002, the Bundestag raised the question of removing these inscriptions, but the proposal was rejected by a majority vote. Most of the surviving inscriptions of Soviet soldiers are located in the interior of the Reichstag, now accessible only with a guide by appointment. There are also bullet marks on the inside of the left pediment.

On September 9, 1948, during the blockade of Berlin, a rally was held in front of the Reichstag building, attracting over 350 thousand Berliners. Against the backdrop of the destroyed Reichstag building with the now famous call to the world community “Peoples of the world... Look at this city!” Mayor Ernst Reiter addressed.

After the surrender of Germany and the collapse of the Third Reich, the Reichstag remained in ruins for a long time. The authorities could not decide whether it was worth restoring it or whether it would be much more expedient to demolish it. Since the dome was damaged during the fire and was practically destroyed by aerial bombing, in 1954 what was left of it was blown up. And only in 1956 it was decided to restore it.

The Berlin Wall, erected on August 13, 1961, was located in close proximity to the Reichstag building. It ended up in West Berlin. Subsequently, the building was restored and, since 1973, has been used for the exhibition of a historical exhibition and as a meeting room for the bodies and factions of the Bundestag.

On June 20, 1991 (after the reunification of Germany on October 4, 1990), the Bundestag in Bonn (the former capital of Germany) decided to move to Berlin to the Reichstag building. After a competition, the reconstruction of the Reichstag was entrusted to the English architect Lord Norman Foster. He managed to preserve the historical appearance of the Reichstag building and at the same time create premises for a modern parliament. The huge vault of the 6-story building of the German parliament is supported by 12 concrete columns, each weighing 23 tons. The Reichstag dome has a diameter of 40 m, weight 1200 tons, of which 700 tons are steel structures. The observation deck, equipped on the dome, is located at an altitude of 40.7 m. Being on it, you can see both the all-round panorama of Berlin and everything that happens in the meeting room.

Why was the Reichstag chosen to hoist the Victory Banner? (wall newspaper 77 – “Battle for Berlin”)

Why was the Reichstag chosen to hoist the Victory Banner?

Soviet artillerymen writing on shells, 1945. Photo by O.B. Knorring (topwar.ru).

The storming of the Reichstag and the hoisting of the Victory Banner over it for every Soviet citizen meant the end of the most terrible war in the entire history of mankind. Many soldiers gave their lives for this purpose. However, why was the Reichstag building chosen, and not the Reich Chancellery, as a symbol of victory over fascism? There are various theories on this matter, and we will look at them.

The Reichstag fire in 1933 became a symbol of the collapse of the old and “helpless” Germany, and marked the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. A year later, a dictatorship was established in Germany and a ban was introduced on the existence and founding of new parties: all power is now concentrated in the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party). The power of the new powerful and “strongest in the world” country was henceforth to be located in the new Reichstag. The design of the building, 290 meters high, was developed by Industry Minister Albert Speer. True, very soon Hitler’s ambitions will lead to the Second World War, and the construction of the new Reichstag, which was assigned the role of a symbol of the superiority of the “great Aryan race,” will be postponed indefinitely. During the Second World War, the Reichstag was not the center of political life; only occasionally were speeches made about the “inferiority” of the Jews and the issue of their complete extermination was decided. Since 1941, the Reichstag only played the role of a base for the air force of Nazi Germany, led by Hermann Goering.

Back on October 6, 1944, at a solemn meeting of the Moscow Soviet in honor of the 27th anniversary of the October Revolution, Stalin said: “From now on and forever, our land is free from Hitler’s evil spirits, and now the Red Army faces its last, final mission: to complete the job together with the armies of our allies. defeat the fascist German army, finish off the fascist beast in its own lair and hoist the Victory Banner over Berlin.” However, over which building should the Victory Banner be hoisted? On April 16, 1945, the day the Berlin offensive operation began, at a meeting of the heads of political departments of all armies from the 1st Belorussian Front, Zhukov was asked where to place the flag. Zhukov forwarded the question to the Main Political Directorate of the Army and the answer was “Reichstag”. For many Soviet citizens, the Reichstag was the “center of German imperialism,” the center of German aggression and, ultimately, the cause of terrible suffering for millions of people. Every Soviet soldier considered it his goal to destroy and destroy the Reichstag, which was comparable to victory over fascism. Many shells and armored vehicles had the following inscriptions written in white paint: “According to the Reichstag!” and “To the Reichstag!”

The question of the reasons for choosing the Reichstag to hoist the Victory Banner still remains open. We cannot say for sure whether any of the theories are true. But the most important thing is that for every citizen of our country, the Victory Banner on the captured Reichstag is a reason for great pride in their history and their ancestors.

Standard Bearers of Victory (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Victory Standard Bearers

If you stop a random passer-by on the street and ask him who hoisted the Banner on the Reichstag in the victorious spring of 1945, the most likely answer will be: Egorov and Kantaria. Maybe they will also remember Berest, who accompanied them. The feat of M.A. Egorov, M.V. Kantaria and A.P. Berest is known today throughout the world and is beyond doubt. It was they who erected the Victory Banner, Banner No. 5, one of 9 specially prepared banners of the Military Council, distributed among the divisions advancing in the direction of the Reichstag. This happened on the night of April 30 to May 1, 1945. However, the topic of hoisting the Victory Banner during the storming of the Reichstag is much more complex; it is impossible to limit it to the history of a single banner group.
The red flag raised over the Reichstag was seen by Soviet soldiers as a symbol of Victory, a long-awaited point in a terrible war. Therefore, in addition to the official Banner, dozens of assault groups and individual fighters carried banners, flags and flags of their units (or even homemade ones) to the Reichstag, often without even knowing anything about the Banner of the Military Council. Pyotr Pyatnitsky, Pyotr Shcherbina, the reconnaissance group of Lieutenant Sorokin, the assault groups of Captain Makov and Major Bondar... And how many more could there be that remained unknown, unmentioned in the reports and combat documents of the units?

Today, it is perhaps difficult to establish exactly who was the first to hoist the red flag on the Reichstag, and even more so to create a chronological sequence of the appearance of various flags in different parts of the building. But we also cannot limit ourselves to the history of only one, official, Banner, highlight some and leave others in the shadow. It is important to preserve the memory of all the heroic standard-bearers who stormed the Reichstag in 1945, who risked themselves in the last days and hours of the war, precisely when everyone especially wanted to survive - after all, Victory was very close.

Banner of the Sorokin group (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Banner of the Sorokin group

Reconnaissance group S.E. Sorokina at the Reichstag. Photo by I. Shagin (panoramaberlin.ru).

Newsreel footage of Roman Karmen, as well as photographs of I. Shagin and Y. Ryumkin, taken on May 2, 1945, are known all over the world. They show a group of fighters with a red banner, first on the square in front of the main entrance to the Reichstag, then on the roof.
These historical footage depicts soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon of the 674th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant S.E. Sorokin. At the request of correspondents, they repeated for the chronicle their path to the Reichstag, fought through on April 30. It so happened that the first to approach the Reichstag were units of the 674th Infantry Regiment under the command of A.D. Plekhodanov and the 756th Infantry Regiment under the command of F.M. Zinchenko. Both regiments were part of the 150th Infantry Division. However, by the end of the day on April 29, after crossing the Spree on the Moltke Bridge and fierce battles to capture “Himmler’s House,” units of the 756th Regiment suffered heavy losses. Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Plekhodanov recalls that late in the evening of April 29, the division commander, Major General V.M. Shatilov, called him to his OP and explained that in connection with this situation, the main task of storming the Reichstag fell on the 674th regiment. It was at that moment, having returned from the division commander, Plekhodanov ordered S.E. Sorokin, the commander of the regimental reconnaissance platoon, to select a group of fighters who would go in the forward chain of the attackers. Since the Military Council Banner remained at the headquarters of the 756th Regiment, it was decided to make a homemade banner. The red banner was found in the basements of “Himmler’s house.”

To complete the task, S.E. Sorokin selected 9 people. These are senior sergeant V.N. Pravotorov (platoon party organizer), senior sergeant I.N. Lysenko, privates G.P. Bulatov, S.G. Oreshko, P.D. Bryukhovetsky, M.A. Pachkovsky, M.S. Gabidullin, N. Sankin and P. Dolgikh. The first assault attempt, made in the early morning of April 30, was unsuccessful. After the artillery barrage a second attack was launched. The “House of Himmler” was separated from the Reichstag by only 300-400 meters, but it was an open space in the square, and the Germans fired multi-layered fire at it. While crossing the square, N. Sankin was seriously wounded and P. Dolgikh was killed. The remaining 8 scouts were among the first to break into the Reichstag building. Clearing the way with grenades and machine gun fire, G.P. Bulatov, who carried the banner, and V.N. Pravotorov climbed to the second floor along the central staircase. There, in the window overlooking Königplatz, Bulatov secured the banner. The flag was noticed by the soldiers who fortified themselves in the square, which gave new strength to the offensive. Soldiers from Grechenkov's company entered the building and blocked the exits from the basements, where the remaining defenders of the building settled. Taking advantage of this, the scouts moved the banner to the roof and secured it on one of the sculptural groups. It was at 14:25. This time of hoisting the flag on the roof of the building appears in combat reports along with the names of Lieutenant Sorokin’s intelligence officers, and in the memoirs of participants in the events.

Immediately after the assault, the fighters of Sorokin’s group were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, they were awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the capture of the Reichstag. Only I.N. Lysenko a year later, in May 1946, was awarded the gold star of the Hero.

Banner of the Makov group (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Makov Group Banner

Soldiers of the group of captain V.N. Makov. From left to right: Sergeants M.P. Minin, G.K. Zagitov, A.P. Bobrov, A.F. Lisimenko (panoramaberlin.ru).

On April 27, two assault groups of 25 people each were formed as part of the 79th Rifle Corps. The first group was led by Captain Vladimir Makov from artillerymen of the 136th and 86th artillery brigades, the second group was led by Major Bondar from other artillery units. Captain Makov's group operated in the battle formations of Captain Neustroyev's battalion, which on the morning of April 30 began to storm the Reichstag in the direction of the main entrance. Fierce fighting continued all day with varying success. The Reichstag was not taken. But some fighters still entered the first floor and hung several red kumacs near the broken windows. It was they who became the reason that individual leaders rushed to report the capture of the Reichstag and the hoisting of the “flag of the Soviet Union” over it at 14:25. A couple of hours later, the whole country was notified about the long-awaited event by radio, and the message was transmitted abroad. In fact, by order of the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, artillery preparation for the decisive assault began only at 21:30, and the assault itself began at 22:00 local time. After Neustroev’s battalion moved towards the main entrance, four from Captain Makov’s group rushed forward along the steep stairs to the roof of the Reichstag building. Paving the way with grenades and machine gun fire, she reached her goal - against the background of the fiery glow, the sculptural composition of the “Goddess of Victory” stood out, over which Sergeant Minin hoisted the Red Banner. He wrote the names of his comrades on the cloth. Then Captain Makov, accompanied by Bobrov, went down and immediately reported by radio to the corps commander, General Perevertkin, that at 22:40 his group was the first to hoist the Red Banner over the Reichstag.

On May 1, 1945, the command of the 136th Artillery Brigade presented Captain V.N. for the highest government award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Makov, senior sergeants G.K. Zagitov, A.F. Lisimenko, A.P. Bobrov, sergeant M.P. Minin. Successively on May 2, 3 and 6, the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, the artillery commander of the 3rd Shock Army and the commander of the 3rd Shock Army confirmed the application for the award. However, the conferment of hero titles did not take place.

At one time, the Institute of Military History of the Russian Defense Ministry conducted a study of archival documents related to the hoisting of the Victory Banner. As a result of studying this issue, the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation supported the petition to award the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to the group of the above-mentioned soldiers. In 1997, the entire five Makovs received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union from the Permanent Presidium of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. However, this award could not have full legal force, since the Soviet Union no longer existed at that time.

M.V. Kantaria and M.A. Egorov with the Victory Banner (panoramaberlin.ru).



Victory Banner - 150th Rifle Order of Kutuzov, II degree, Idritsa Division, 79th Rifle Corps, 3rd Shock Army, 1st Belorussian Front.

The banner installed on the Reichstag dome by Egorov, Kantaria and Berest on May 1, 1945 was not the very first. But it was this banner that was destined to become the official symbol of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The issue of the Victory Banner was decided in advance, even before the storming of the Reichstag. The Reichstag found itself in the offensive zone of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. It consisted of nine divisions, and therefore nine special banners were made for transmission to the assault groups in each of the divisions. The banners were handed over to political departments on the night of April 20-21. The 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division received banner No. 5. Sergeant M.A. Egorov and Junior Sergeant M.V. Kantaria were also chosen to carry out the task of hoisting the Banner in advance, as experienced intelligence officers who had often acted in pairs, friends in battle. Senior Lieutenant A.P. Berest was sent by battalion commander S.A. Neustroyev to accompany the scouts with the banner.

During the day of April 30, Banner No. 5 was at the headquarters of the 756th regiment. Late in the evening, when several homemade flags had already been installed on the Reichstag, by order of F.M. Zinchenko (commander of the 756th regiment), Egorov, Kantaria and Berest climbed to the roof and secured the Banner on the equestrian sculpture of Wilhelm. After the surrender of the remaining defenders of the Reichstag, on the afternoon of May 2, the Banner was moved to the dome.

Immediately after the end of the assault, many direct participants in the assault on the Reichstag were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, the order to award this high rank came only a year later, in May 1946. Among the recipients were M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria, A.P. Berest was awarded only the Order of the Red Banner.

After the Victory, according to an agreement with the allies, the Reichstag remained on the territory of the British occupation zone. The 3rd Shock Army was being redeployed. In this regard, the Banner, hoisted by Egorov, Kantaria and Berest, was removed from the dome on May 8. Today it is kept in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.

Banner of Pyatnitsky and Shcherbina (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Banner of Pyatnitsky and Shcherbina

A group of soldiers of the 756th Infantry Regiment, in the foreground with a bandaged head - Pyotr Shcherbina (panoramaberlin.ru).

Among the many attempts to hoist the red flag on the Reichstag, not all, unfortunately, were successful. Many fighters died or were wounded at the moment of their decisive throw, without achieving their cherished goal. In most cases, even their names were not preserved; they were lost in the cycle of events of April 30 and the first days of May 1945. One of these desperate heroes is Pyotr Pyatnitsky, a private in the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division.

Pyotr Nikolaevich Pyatnitsky was born in 1913 in the village of Muzhinovo, Oryol province (now Bryansk region). He went to the front in July 1941. Many difficulties befell Pyatnitsky: in July 1942 he was seriously wounded and captured, only in 1944 the advancing Red Army freed him from the concentration camp. Pyatnitsky returned to duty; by the time of the storming of the Reichstag he was the liaison officer of the battalion commander, S.A. Neustroev. On April 30, 1945, soldiers of Neustroev’s battalion were among the first to approach the Reichstag. Only the Königplatz square separated the building, but the enemy fired constantly and intensely at it. Pyotr Pyatnitsky rushed through this square in the advanced chain of attackers with a banner. He reached the main entrance to the Reichstag, had already climbed the steps of the stairs, but here he was overtaken by an enemy bullet and died. It is still unknown exactly where the hero-standard-bearer is buried - in the cycle of events of that day, his comrades in arms missed the moment when Pyatnitsky’s body was taken from the steps of the porch. The alleged location is a common mass grave of Soviet soldiers in Tiergarten.

And the flag carried by Pyotr Pyatnitsky was picked up by junior sergeant Shcherbina, also Pyotr, and secured on one of the central columns when the next wave of attackers reached the porch of the Reichstag. Pyotr Dorofeevich Shcherbina was the commander of a rifle squad in I.Ya. Syanov’s company; late in the evening of April 30, it was he and his squad who accompanied Berest, Egorov and Kantaria to the roof of the Reichstag to hoist the Victory Banner.

The correspondent of the division newspaper V.E. Subbotin, a witness to the events of the storming of the Reichstag, in those May days made a note about Pyatnitsky’s feat, but the story did not go further than the “division”. Even Pyotr Nikolaevich’s family considered him missing for a long time. They remembered him in the 60s. Subbotin’s story was published, then even a note appeared in “The History of the Great Patriotic War” (1963. Military Publishing House, vol. 5, p. 283): “...Here the flag of the soldier of the 1st battalion of the 756th rifle regiment, junior sergeant Peter Pyatnitsky, flew up , struck by an enemy bullet on the steps of the building...” In the fighter’s homeland, in the village of Kletnya, a monument was erected in 1981 with the inscription “Brave participant in the storming of the Reichstag”; one of the streets of the village was named after him.

Famous photo of Evgeniy Khaldey (wall newspaper 77 - “Battle for Berlin”)

Famous photo of Evgeniy Khaldei

Evgeny Ananyevich Khaldei (March 23, 1917 - October 6, 1997) - Soviet photographer, military photojournalist. Evgeny Khaldey was born in Yuzovka (now Donetsk). During the Jewish pogrom on March 13, 1918, his mother and grandfather were killed, and Zhenya, a one-year-old child, was shot in the chest. He studied at cheder, began working at a factory at the age of 13, and then took his first photograph with a homemade camera. At the age of 16 he began working as a photojournalist. Since 1939 he has been a correspondent for TASS Photo Chronicle. Filmed Dneprostroy, reports about Alexei Stakhanov. Represented the TASS editorial office in the Navy during the Great Patriotic War. He spent all 1418 days of the war with a Leica camera from Murmansk to Berlin.

The talented Soviet photojournalist is sometimes called the “author of one photograph.” This, of course, is not entirely fair - during his long career as a photographer and photojournalist, he took thousands of photographs, dozens of which became “photo icons.” But it was the photograph “Victory Banner over the Reichstag” that went around the whole world and became one of the main symbols of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. The photograph of Yevgeny Khaldei “Victory Banner over the Reichstag” in the Soviet Union became a symbol of victory over Nazi Germany. However, few people remember that in fact the photograph was staged - the author took the picture only the next day after the real hoisting of the flag. Largely thanks to this work, in 1995 in France, Chaldea was awarded one of the most honorable awards in the world of art - “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.”

When the war correspondent approached the shooting location, the fighting had long since died down, and many banners were flying at the Reichstag. But pictures had to be taken. Yevgeny Khaldei asked the first soldiers he met to help him: climb the Reichstag, set up a banner with a hammer and sickle and pose for a bit. They agreed, the photographer found a winning angle and shot two tapes. Its characters were soldiers of the 8th Guards Army: Alexey Kovalev (installing the banner), as well as Abdulkhakim Ismailov and Leonid Gorichev (assistants). Afterwards, the photojournalist took down his banner - he took it with him - and showed the pictures to the editorial office. According to the daughter of Evgeniy Khaldei, TASS “received the photo as an icon - with sacred awe.” Evgeny Khaldey continued his career as a photojournalist, photographing the Nuremberg trials. In 1996, Boris Yeltsin ordered that all participants in the commemorative photograph be presented with the title of Hero of Russia, however, by that time Leonid Gorichev had already passed away - he died from his wounds shortly after the end of the war. To date, not a single one of the three fighters immortalized in the photograph “Victory Banner over the Reichstag” has survived.

Autographs of the Winners (wall newspaper 77 – “Battle for Berlin”)

Autographs of the Winners

Soldiers sign on the walls of the Reichstag. Photographer unknown (colonelcassad.livejournal.com).

On May 2, after fierce fighting, Soviet soldiers completely cleared the Reichstag building of the enemy. They went through the war, reached Berlin itself, they won. How to express your joy and jubilation? To mark your presence where the war began and where it ended, to say something about yourself? To indicate their involvement in the Great Victory, thousands of victorious fighters left their paintings on the walls of the captured Reichstag.

After the end of the war, it was decided to preserve a significant part of these inscriptions for posterity. Interestingly, during the reconstruction of the Reichstag in the 1990s, inscriptions were discovered that were hidden under a layer of plaster by the previous restoration in the 1960s. Some of them (including those in the meeting room) have also been preserved.

For 70 years now, the autographs of Soviet soldiers on the walls of the Reichstag have reminded us of the glorious exploits of our heroes. It is difficult to express the emotions that you feel while being there. I just want to silently examine each letter, mentally saying thousands of words of gratitude. For us, these inscriptions are one of the symbols of Victory, the courage of heroes, the end of the suffering of our people.

Autograph on the Reichstag “We defended Odessa, Stalingrad, came to Berlin!” (wall newspaper 77 – “Battle for Berlin”)

“We defended Odessa, Stalingrad, and came to Berlin!”

panoramaberlin.ru

People left autographs at the Reichstag not only for themselves personally, but also for entire units and units. A fairly well-known photograph of one of the columns of the central entrance shows just such an inscription. It was made immediately after the Victory by pilots of the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Odessa Red Banner Order of Suvorov Regiment. The regiment was based in one of the suburbs, but on one May day the personnel specially came to look at the defeated capital of the Third Reich.
D.Ya. Zilmanovich, who fought as part of this regiment, after the war wrote a book about the military path of the unit. There is also a fragment that tells about the inscription on the column: “The pilots, technicians and aviation specialists received permission from the regiment commander to go to Berlin. On the walls and columns of the Reichstag they read many names scratched with bayonets and knives, written with charcoal, chalk and paint: Russian, Uzbek, Ukrainian, Georgian... More often than others they saw the words: “We’ve arrived! Moscow–Berlin! Stalingrad-Berlin! The names of almost all cities in the country were found. And signatures, many inscriptions, names and surnames of soldiers of all branches of the military and specialties. They, these inscriptions, turned into the tablets of history, into the verdict of the victorious people, signed by hundreds of its valiant representatives.

This enthusiastic impulse - to sign the verdict of defeated fascism on the walls of the Reichstag - gripped the guards of the Odessa fighter. They immediately found a large ladder and placed it against the column. Pilot Makletsov took a piece of alabaster and, climbing the steps to a height of 4-5 meters, wrote the words: “We defended Odessa, Stalingrad, came to Berlin!” Everyone clapped. A worthy end to the difficult battle path of the glorious regiment, in which 28 Heroes of the Soviet Union fought during the Great Patriotic War, including four who were twice awarded this high title.

Autograph on the Reichstag “Stalingraders Shpakov, Matyash, Zolotarevsky” (wall newspaper 77 – “Battle for Berlin”)

“Stalingraders Shpakov, Matyash, Zolotarevsky”

panoramaberlin.ru

Boris Zolotarevsky was born on October 10, 1925 in Moscow. At the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was only 15. But age did not stop him from defending his Motherland. Zolotarevsky went to the front and reached Berlin. Returning from the war, he became an engineer. One day, while on an excursion in the Reichstag, the veteran’s nephew discovered his grandfather’s signature. And so on April 2, 2004, Zolotarevsky again found himself in Berlin to see his name, left here 59 years ago.

In his letter to Karin Felix, a researcher of preserved autographs of Soviet soldiers and the subsequent fate of their authors, he shared his experience: “A recent visit to the Bundestag made such a strong impression on me that I did not then find the right words to express my feelings and thoughts. I am very touched by the tact and aesthetic taste with which Germany preserved the autographs of Soviet soldiers on the walls of the Reichstag in memory of the war, which became a tragedy for many peoples. It was a very exciting surprise for me to be able to see my autograph and the autographs of my friends: Matyash, Shpakov, Fortel and Kvasha, lovingly preserved on the former smoky walls of the Reichstag. With deep gratitude and respect, B. Zolotarevsky.”

"I. Ryumkin filmed here"

panoramaberlin.ru

There was also such an inscription on the Reichstag - not only “arrived”, but “filmed here”. This inscription was left by Yakov Ryumkin, a photojournalist, the author of many famous photographs, including the one who, together with I. Shagin, photographed S.E. Sorokin’s group of scouts with a banner on May 2, 1945.

Yakov Ryumkin was born in 1913. At the age of 15, he came to work as a courier for one of the Kharkov newspapers. Then he graduated from the workers' department of Kharkov University and in 1936 became a photojournalist for the newspaper "Communist" - the printed organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (at that time the capital of the Ukrainian SSR was in Kharkov). Unfortunately, during the war the entire pre-war archive was lost.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Ryumkin already had considerable experience working in a newspaper. He went through the war from its very first days to the end as a photojournalist for Pravda. He filmed on different fronts, his reports from Stalingrad becoming the most famous. Writer Boris Polevoy recalls this period: “Even among the restless tribe of war photojournalists, during the war days it was difficult to find a more colorful and dynamic figure than Pravda correspondent Yakov Ryumkin. During the days of many offensives, I saw Ryumkin in the advanced attacking units, and his passion to deliver a unique photograph to the editorial office, without hesitation in labor or means, was also well known.” Yakov Ryumkin was wounded and concussed and was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the Red Star. After the Victory, he worked for Pravda, Soviet Russia, Ogonyok, and the Kolos publishing house. I filmed in the Arctic, on virgin lands, made reports on party congresses and a large number of very diverse reports. Yakov Ryumkin died in Moscow in 1986. The Reichstag was only a milestone in this large, intense and vibrant life, but a milestone, perhaps, one of the most significant.

panoramaberlin.ru

The photo was taken on May 10, 1945 by Front-line Illustration correspondent Anatoly Morozov. The plot is random, not staged - Morozov stopped by the Reichstag in search of new personnel after sending a photo report to Moscow about the signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany. The soldier captured by the photographer, Sergei Ivanovich Platov, has been at the front since 1942. He served in rifle and mortar regiments, then in reconnaissance. He began his military career near Kursk. That is why - “Kursk - Berlin”. And he himself is originally from Perm.

There, in Perm, he lived after the war, worked as a mechanic at a factory and did not even suspect that his painting on the Reichstag column, captured in the photograph, became one of the symbols of Victory. Then, in May 1945, the photograph did not catch the eye of Sergei Ivanovich. Only many years later, in 1970, Anatoly Morozov found Platov and, having specially arrived in Perm, showed him the photograph. After the war, Sergei Platov visited Berlin again - the GDR authorities invited him to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Victory. It is curious that on the anniversary coin Sergei Ivanovich has an honorary neighbor - on the other side, the meeting of the Potsdam Conference of 1945 is depicted. But the veteran did not live to see its release - Sergei Platov died in 1997.
panoramaberlin.ru

“Seversky Donets – Berlin. Artillerymen Doroshenko, Tarnovsky and Sumtsev” was the inscription on one of the columns of the defeated Reichstag. It would seem that this is just one of thousands and thousands of inscriptions left in the May days of 1945. But still, she is special. This inscription was made by Volodya Tarnovsky, a boy of 15 years old, and at the same time, a scout who had come a long way to Victory and experienced a lot.

Vladimir Tarnovsky was born in 1930 in Slavyansk, a small industrial town in the Donbass. At the start of the Great Patriotic War, Volodya was barely 11 years old. Many years later, he recalled that this news was not perceived by him as something terrible: “We, boys, are discussing this news and remembering the words from the song: “And on enemy soil we will defeat the enemy with little blood, with a mighty blow.” But everything turned out differently...”

My stepfather immediately, in the first days of the war, went to the front and never returned. And already in October the Germans entered Slavyansk. Volodya's mother, a communist and party member, was soon arrested and shot. Volodya lived with his stepfather’s sister, but did not consider it possible for himself to stay there for a long time - the time was difficult, hungry, besides him, his aunt had her own children...

In February 1943, Slavyansk was briefly liberated by advancing Soviet troops. However, then our units had to withdraw again, and Tarnovsky went with them - first to distant relatives in the village, but, as it turned out, conditions there were no better. In the end, one of the commanders involved in the evacuation of the population took pity on the boy and took him with him as the son of the regiment. So Tarnovsky ended up in the 370th artillery regiment of the 230th rifle division. “At first I was considered the son of the regiment. He was a messenger, delivering various orders and reports, and then he had to fight in full force, for which he received military awards.”

The division liberated Ukraine, Poland, crossed the Dnieper, Oder, took part in the battle for Berlin, from its very beginning with artillery preparation on April 16 until its completion, took the buildings of the Gestapo, post office, and imperial chancellery. Vladimir Tarnovsky also went through all these important events. He speaks simply and directly about his military past and his own sensations and feelings. Including how scary it was at times, how difficult some tasks were. But the fact that he, a 13-year-old teenager, was awarded the Order of Glory, 3rd degree (for his actions in rescuing a wounded division commander during the fighting on the Dnieper) can express how good a fighter Tarnovsky became.

There were some funny moments too. Once, during the defeat of the Yasso-Kishinev group of Germans, Tarnovsky was tasked with single-handedly delivering a prisoner - a tall, strong German. For the soldiers passing by, the situation looked comical - the prisoner and the guard looked so contrasting. However, not for Tarnovsky himself - he walked the whole way with a cocked machine gun at the ready. Successfully delivered the German to the division reconnaissance commander. Subsequently, Vladimir was awarded the medal “For Courage” for this prisoner.

The war ended for Tarnovsky on May 2, 1945: “By that time I was already a corporal, a reconnaissance observer of the 3rd division of the 370th Berlin artillery regiment of the 230th Infantry Stalin-Berlin Division of the 9th Red Banner Brandenburg Corps of the 5th Shock Army . At the front, I joined the Komsomol, had soldier’s awards: the medal “For Courage”, the Order of “Glory 3rd degree” and “Red Star” and the especially significant “For the Capture of Berlin”. Front-line training, soldier friendship, education received among elders - all this helped me a lot in later life.”

"Sapunov"

panoramaberlin.ru

Perhaps one of the most powerful impressions from visiting the Reichstag for every Russian person is the autographs of Soviet soldiers, the news of the victorious May 1945, that have survived to this day. But it’s difficult to even try to imagine what a person, a witness and direct participant in those great events, experiences, decades later, looking among many signatures at the only one - his own.

Boris Viktorovich Sapunov was the first to experience such a feeling in many years. Boris Viktorovich was born on July 6, 1922 in Kursk. In 1939 he entered the history department of Leningrad State University. But the Soviet-Finnish War began, Sapunov volunteered for the front and was a nurse. After the end of hostilities he returned to Leningrad State University, but in 1940 he was again drafted into the army. By the time the Great Patriotic War began, he served in the Baltic states. He spent the entire war as an artilleryman. As a sergeant in the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, he participated in the Battle of Berlin and the storming of the Reichstag. He completed his military journey by signing on the walls of the Reichstag.

It was this signature on the southern wall, facing the courtyard of the northern wing, at the level of the plenary hall, that Boris Viktorovich noticed - 56 years later, on October 11, 2001, during an excursion. Wolfgang Thierse, who was the President of the Bundestag at that moment, even ordered that this case be documented, since it was the first.

After demobilization in 1946, Sapunov came to Leningrad State University again, and the opportunity finally arose to graduate from the Faculty of History. Since 1950, a graduate student at the Hermitage, then a research fellow, and since 1986, a chief research fellow at the Department of Russian Culture. B.V. Sapunov became a prominent historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences (1974), and a specialist in ancient Russian art. He was an honorary doctor of Oxford University and a member of the Petrine Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Boris Viktorovich passed away on August 18, 2013.

Zhukov about the battle for Berlin

To conclude this issue, we present an excerpt from the memoirs of Marshal of the Soviet Union, four times Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of two Orders of Victory and many other awards, Minister of Defense of the USSR Georgy Zhukov.

“The final attack of the war was carefully prepared. On the banks of the Oder River we concentrated a huge striking force; the number of shells alone was delivered to a million rounds on the first day of the assault. And then came this famous night of April 16th. Exactly at five o'clock it all started... The Katyushas hit, more than twenty thousand guns began to fire, the roar of hundreds of bombers was heard... One hundred and forty anti-aircraft searchlights flashed, located in a chain every two hundred meters. A sea of ​​light fell on the enemy, blinding him, snatching objects from the darkness for attack by our infantry and tanks. The picture of the battle was huge, impressive in strength. In my entire life I have never experienced an equal sensation... And there was also a moment when in Berlin, above the Reichstag in the smoke, I saw the red banner fluttering. I’m not a sentimental person, but I got a lump in my throat with excitement.”

In November 1944, the General Staff began planning military operations on the approaches to Berlin. It was necessary to defeat the German Army Group “A” and complete the liberation of Poland.

At the end of December 1944, German troops launched an offensive in the Ardennes and pushed back the Allied forces, putting them on the brink of complete defeat. The leadership of the USA and Great Britain turned to the USSR with a request to conduct offensive operations to divert enemy forces.

Fulfilling our allied duty, our units went on the offensive eight days ahead of schedule and pulled back part of the German divisions. The offensive launched ahead of time did not allow for full preparation, which led to unjustified losses.

As a result of the rapidly developing offensive, already in February, units of the Red Army crossed the Oder - the last major obstacle in front of the German capital - and approached Berlin to a distance of 70 km.

The fighting on the bridgeheads captured after crossing the Oder was unusually fierce. Soviet troops waged a continuous offensive and pressed back the enemy all the way from the Vistula to the Oder.

At the same time, the operation began in East Prussia. Its main goal was to capture the Konigsberg fortress. Perfectly defended and provided with everything necessary, with a selected garrison, the fortress seemed impregnable.

Before the assault, heavy artillery preparation was carried out. After the capture of the fortress, its commandant admitted that he did not expect such a rapid fall of Koenigsberg.

In April 1945, the Red Army began immediate preparations for the assault on Berlin. The USSR leadership believed that delaying the end of the war could lead to the Germans opening a front in the west and concluding a separate peace. The danger of Berlin's surrender to Anglo-American units was considered.

The Soviet attack on Berlin was carefully prepared. A huge amount of ammunition and military equipment was transferred to the city. Troops from three fronts took part in the Berlin operation. The command was entrusted to Marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky and I.S. Konev. 3.5 million people took part in the battle on both sides.

The assault began on April 16, 1945. At 3 a.m. Berlin time, under the light of 140 searchlights, tanks and infantry attacked German positions. After four days of fighting, the fronts commanded by Zhukov and Konev, with the support of two armies of the Polish Army, closed a ring around Berlin. 93 enemy divisions were defeated, about 490 thousand people and a huge amount of captured military equipment and weapons were captured. On this day, a meeting of Soviet and American troops took place on the Elbe.

Hitler's command declared: “Berlin will remain German.” And everything possible was done for this. refused to capitulate and threw old people and children into street battles. He hoped for discord between the allies. The prolongation of the war led to numerous casualties.

On April 21, the first assault troops reached the outskirts of the German capital and started street battles. German soldiers put up fierce resistance, surrendering only in hopeless situations.

On May 1 at 3 o'clock, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, was delivered to the command post of the 8th Guards Army. He stated that Hitler had committed suicide on April 30 and proposed to begin armistice negotiations.

The next day, the Berlin Defense Headquarters ordered an end to resistance. Berlin has fallen. When it was captured, Soviet troops lost 300 thousand killed and wounded.

On the night of May 9, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. in Europe ended, and with it.

BATTLE FOR BERLIN - the final strategic offensive operation carried out by Soviet troops on April 16 - May 8 with the aim of defeating the group of German troops defending in the Berlin direction, capturing Berlin and reaching the Elbe River to join the Allied forces.

Balance of power

In the spring of 1945, the armed forces of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France fought on German territory. The Soviet army was located 60 km from Berlin, and the advanced units of the American-British troops reached the Elbe 100-120 km from the German capital. made attempts to encourage the commander-in-chief of the armies of Western countries to take Berlin before the Red Army. But, fearing major losses, D. Eisenhower said in a telegram on March 28 that the Western allies were not going to take Berlin. The main forces of the Germans were still concentrated against the Soviet forces (214 divisions and 14 brigades), and only 60 divisions acted against the Allies. A total of 1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and assault guns, 3,300 combat aircraft. A strategic reserve of 8 divisions was formed in the rear of the German army groups. The defense of the German capital included the Oder-Neissen line 20-40 km deep, which had 3 lanes, and the Berlin defensive area, which included 3 ring lines. The city itself was divided into 9 sectors, the garrison numbered up to 200 thousand people. The metro was widely used for covert maneuver by forces and means. Every street, house, and canal represented a defensive line.

To carry out the Berlin operation, the Soviet army attracted troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, led by a marshal, led by a marshal, led by a marshal. A total of 2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled guns, 7,500 aircraft. The plan of the Soviet command was to break through the enemy’s defenses along the Oder and Neisse with powerful attacks on three fronts, encircle the main group of German troops, simultaneously dismember it into several parts and destroy it, and then reach the Elbe.

Main stages of the battle

Based on the nature of the tasks performed and the results, the Berlin operation is divided into three stages. On the first (April 16-19), troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts broke through the Oder-Neissen defensive line, and the 2nd Belorussian Front completed its regrouping and conducted reconnaissance in force. At the second stage (April 19-25), troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, at the direction of Headquarters, surrounded and dismembered the Berlin enemy group. At the third stage (April 26 - May 8), the enemy was destroyed. Soviet troops captured Berlin and united with the allies. Germany capitulated.

On April 16, at 3 a.m., aviation and artillery preparation began, after which 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on, and infantry, supported by tanks, attacked the enemy. The closer the Seelow Heights became, the stronger the German resistance was. The German command created on them the most powerful resistance center in the 2nd defense line, which had continuous trenches, a large number of bunkers, machine gun sites, trenches for artillery and anti-tank weapons, anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers. An anti-tank ditch up to 3 meters deep and 3.5 meters wide was dug in front of them, and the approaches to them were mined and shot through with multi-layered cross artillery and rifle-machine gun fire. The equipment could overcome the Zelovsky Heights only along highways that were mined.

The heights were defended by troops of the 9th Army, reinforced by artillery from the Berlin zone. To speed up the advance of the troops, the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, G. Zhukov, brought the 1st and 2nd Tank Army into the battle. However, they became involved in stubborn fighting and were unable to break away from the infantry. The front troops had to successively break through several lines of defense. In the main areas near the Zelovsky Heights, the troops of the 8th Guards Army (Colonel General V.I. Chuikov), in cooperation with the 1st Tank Army (Colonel General M.E. Katukov), managed to break through it only on April 17. By the end of April 19, they had completed the breakthrough of the 3rd line of the Oder line.

The offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully at this time. By the end of April 18, front troops completed the breakthrough of the Niessen defense line, crossed the Spree River and provided conditions for encircling Berlin from the South. The 2nd Belorussian Front, led by Rokossovsky, crossed the Ost-Oder on April 18-19, crossed the interfluve of the Ost-Oder and West Oder and took the starting position for crossing the West Oder. Further advance was difficult due to the flooding of the river, and difficulties arose with the transfer of artillery and tanks.

On April 20, long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front opened fire on Berlin. The next day, the first Soviet units broke into the outskirts of the city.

On April 22, the last operational meeting of the German High Command, led by Hitler, took place. It was decided to withdraw the 12th Army from its positions on the Elbe and send it east to meet the troops of the 9th Army, which was striking at the Soviet troops, from the area southeast of Berlin. In an effort to delay the advance of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the German command launched a counterattack from the Görlitz area to the rear of the strike group of Soviet troops. By April 23, German troops had penetrated their position 20 kilometers, but by the end of the next day the enemy’s advance had been stopped.

Storm of Berlin

On April 24, the armies of the 1st Belorussian Front united with units of the 1st Ukrainian Front to the west, encircling the city. The next day, in the Torgau area on the Elbe River, troops of the 5th Guards Army met with units of the 1st American Army approaching from the west. At this time, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front successfully crossed the West Oder, broke through the defenses on the western bank and pinned down the forces of the enemy's 3rd Tank Army. The assault on Berlin began, every house in which was turned into a real fortress. About 200 militia units (Volkssturm) under the overall command of Himmler, armed with carbines and Faustpatrons, consisted of men aged 16 to 60 and women conscripted from the age of 18, took part in the defense of the city.

Each army operated in its own zone, consistently breaking into the city's defenses from house to house. There were hand-to-hand fights in the subway and underground tunnels. The basis of the combat formations of rifle and tank units during the fighting in the city were assault detachments and groups. Direct fire artillery and aviation were also widely used. The civilian population suffered seriously. At the same time, the feat of Sergeant N.I. went down in history. Masalov, who carried a German girl out from under fire (his feat is immortalized in a monument in Treptower Park).

On April 29, fighting began for the Reichstag (the lower house of parliament in Germany), which the Germans had turned into a powerful defense center; deep ditches were dug around the building, barriers were erected, and firing points were created. Basically, the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery were defended by SS troops: units of the 11th SS Volunteer Division "Nordland", the SS French battalion Fene from the Charlemagne division and the Latvian battalion of the 15th SS Grenadier Division (Latvian SS Division), as well as the SS security units of the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler (in total there were about 1 thousand people). On the morning of April 30, having broken stubborn resistance, Soviet units broke into the building. On the same day, A. Hitler and his wife committed suicide.

By the end of the day, the Reichstag was taken, the remaining defenders defended themselves in the basement. On its pediment are scouts of the 756th Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria established the Red Banner, which became. With special military honors, on a special flight on a Li-2 plane, it was delivered from Berlin to Moscow, where on June 24, at the Victory Parade, it was solemnly transported in a special equipped vehicle along Red Square in front of the combined regiments of the front.

But the fighting inside the building ended only on the morning of May 1, and individual defenders who were fighting in the basement surrendered only on the night of May 2. On the walls of the Reichstag from the floor to almost the ceiling, Soviet soldiers left their inscriptions and sayings.

Surrender of fascist troops

On May 1, only the Tiergarten park area and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior arrangement, the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army of General V.I. Chuikov, the Chief of the Wehrmacht General Staff, General Krebs, arrived to report Hitler’s suicide and the proposal of the new German government to conclude an armistice. The message was immediately transmitted to G.K. Zhukov, who himself called Moscow. In the conversation, Stalin confirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender. On the evening of May 1, the new German government rejected the demand for unconditional surrender, and Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor, bringing down all their firepower on the city.

Early in the morning of May 2, the Berlin metro was flooded - a group of sappers from the SS Nordland division blew up the tunnel. Water rushed into the tunnels, where a large number of civilians and wounded were taking refuge. The number of victims is still unknown. At 6:30 a.m. on May 2, the chief of defense of Berlin, General G. Weidling, surrendered and wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, communicated to enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. German troops began to surrender. However, individual detachments continued to resist and fought their way towards the Western allies to surrender. A few managed to break through to the Elbe crossing area and move into the zone of occupation of the American army.

On May 8 at 22:43 (Central European time) in Berlin in Karlshort, in the building of the former military engineering school, it was signed. Present at the signing of the act were: Marshal of the USSR G.K. Zhukov, British Air Chief Marshal A. Tedder; as witnesses - the commander of the US strategic air forces, General K. Spaats, the commander-in-chief of the French army, General J.M. de Lattre de Tassigny. On behalf of Germany, the act was signed by those who had the appropriate authority to do so from (appointed by Hitler before his death as the President of the German Empire and the Minister of War) and brought to Berlin: the former head of the Wehrmacht High Command, Field Marshal W. Keitel, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet H. Friedeburg and Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf.

To commemorate the USSR's victory over Nazi Germany, May 9 became Victory Day. On this day, a salute of 30 artillery salvoes from a thousand guns was fired in Moscow.

During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops defeated 70 infantry, 23 tank and motorized divisions, captured about 480 thousand people, captured up to 11 thousand guns and mortars, over 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, and 4,500 aircraft. The Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces established the medal “For the Capture of Berlin,” which was awarded to about 1,082 thousand soldiers. The 187 units and formations that most distinguished themselves during the assault on the German capital were given the honorary name “Berlin.” More than 600 participants in the operation were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.