Targets of the parties during the Berlin operation. The last battle of the war

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

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

Preparation of the operation

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

City defense

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

Berlin in 1945 was defended by the best troops of the Reich, including the SS. Also, the so-called Volkssturm was created - militia units recruited from civilians. They were actively armed with faust cartridges. It is a single-shot anti-tank gun that fires commutative rounds. Machine-gun crews were in buildings and just on city streets.

Offensive

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

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

Liberation of Berlin (1945)

Marshal Zhukov ordered to use the experience of the Stalingrad battles. In a similar situation, Soviet troops successfully used small mobile groups. Several armored vehicles, a group of sappers, mortars and artillerymen were attached to the infantry. Also, sometimes such a unit included flamethrowers. They were needed to destroy the enemy hiding in underground communications.
The rapid advance of Soviet troops led to the encirclement of the Reichstag area within 3 days after the start of active fighting. 5 thousand Nazis were concentrated in a small area in the center of the city. A moat was dug around the building, making a tank breakthrough impossible. All available artillery fired at the building. On April 30, shells broke through the Reichstag. At 14:25, a red flag was raised over the buildings.

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

The fall of Berlin (1945)

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

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

On April 20, long-range artillery fire of the 1st Belorussian Front in Berlin began its assault. By the evening of April 21, its shock units reached the northeastern outskirts of the city.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a swift maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 21, having advanced 95 kilometers, the tank units of the front broke into the southern outskirts of the city. Taking advantage of the success of tank formations, the combined arms armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front's strike grouping rapidly advanced westward.

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

The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Oder and, having broken through the enemy's defenses, by April 25 advanced to a depth of 20 kilometers. They firmly fettered the 3rd German Panzer Army, preventing its use on the approaches to Berlin.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By 15:00 on May 2, enemy resistance had completely ceased, the remnants of the Berlin garrison surrendered to a total of more than 134 thousand people.

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

Fighting with individual groups breaking through from the outskirts of Berlin to the west ended on 5 May. On the night of May 9, the Act of surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany was signed.

During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops surrounded and eliminated the largest grouping of enemy troops in the history of war. They defeated 70 infantry, 23 tank and mechanized divisions of the enemy, took 480 thousand prisoners.

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

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

(Additional

In 1945, Soviet troops entered the territory of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria and, finally, Germany. In April 1945, the Red Army joined the Allied forces on the Elbe River.

The last major battle of the Great Patriotic War was the Battle of Berlin. The Soviet troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian fronts (commanders G.K. Zhukov and K.K. Rokossovsky) and the 1st Ukrainian front (commander I.S. Konev) were opposed by the main forces of the fascist armies.

At the first stage of the Berlin operation, the defense of the Nazis was broken through on the border of the Oder-Neisse rivers, the enemy groups in the most important directions were dismembered and destroyed. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front united west of Berlin and surrounded the enemy troops. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide. Earlier in Italy, Mussolini was captured and executed by partisans. On May 2, 1945 Berlin was taken. In early May 1945, the Red Army defeated a grouping of German fascist troops near Prague.

On May 8, 1945, in the suburbs of Berlin, representatives of the German command signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender.

War of the USSR with Japan.

The defeat of Germany meant the end of the war in Europe. But Japan continued the war against the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Holland, China and threatened the security of the USSR. On July 26, 1945, the USA, Great Britain and China presented Japan with an ultimatum demanding unconditional surrender, but Japan rejected it. One of the secret decisions of the Yalta Conference was the consent of the Soviet Union to enter the war with Japan two or three months after the victory over Germany.

Since August 9, 1945, the USSR was at war with Japan. Three fronts were created: Transbaikal (commanded by R. Ya. Malinovsky), 1st Far Eastern (commanded by K.A. Meretskov), 2nd Far Eastern (commanded by M.A.Purkaev). The Soviet troops numbered over 1.5 million people, 5,250 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 3.7 thousand aircraft. The Mongolian People's Republic also took part in the war. Northeast China, southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, North Korea were liberated.

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the Act of Surrender. One of the reasons for this was the atomic bombing by the Americans of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, the main goal of these actions by the United States was to demonstrate its military superiority to the whole world, primarily the USSR.

Results, consequences and lessons of the war.

The Second World War was the most difficult and bloody war in the history of mankind. She devastated entire countries. The loss of life in the Second World War was at least 5 times greater than in the First World War, and the damage to property was 12 times greater.

The Second World War became one of the turning points in the history of modern times. The countries of the fascist bloc - Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies - suffered military and political defeat.

The decisive role in the victory over fascism was played by the Soviet Union. It was he who took upon himself the main blow of Germany and her allies, repulsed it, and then crushed Germany itself.

The Soviet Union achieved its political goals in this war. He not only retained his freedom and independence, but also secured the right to participate in defining the post-war world order, in the creation of the UN, expanded its borders, received the right to reparations, and became one of the two superpowers.

The victory of the USSR in World War II allowed it to expand its influence over a number of countries in Europe and Asia. The balance of power in Western countries has changed. The economies of Germany and France were destroyed. Great Britain has ceased to claim leadership. Only the United States came out of the war with practically no losses, significantly increasing its influence in Europe and Asia.

The victory went to the USSR at a high price. The total losses of the population of the USSR are estimated at 27 million people, of which losses in the active army amounted to approximately 8 million 668.5 thousand people. The economy of the USSR was undermined, much had to be restored.

Berlin operation in 1945

After the end of the Vistula-Oder operation, the Soviet Union and Germany began preparations for the Battle of Berlin as the decisive battle on the Oder, as the culmination of the war.

By mid-April, the Germans concentrated 1 million people, 10.5 thousand guns, 1.5 thousand tanks and 3.3 thousand aircraft on the 300-kilometer front along the Oder and Neisse.

On the Soviet side, huge forces were accumulated: 2.5 million people, over 40 thousand guns, more than 6 thousand tanks, 7.5 thousand aircraft.

Three Soviet fronts operated in the Berlin direction: 1st Belorussian (commanded by Marshal G.K. Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (commanded by Marshal K.K.Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (commanded by Marshal I.S. Konev).

The offensive on Berlin began on April 16, 1945. The hottest battles took place in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, on which the Seelow Heights were located, covering the central direction. (The Seelow Heights are a ridge of heights on the North German Plain, 50-60 km east of Berlin. It runs along the left bank of the old Oder River channel up to 20 km long. A well-equipped 2nd defense zone was created at these heights Germans, which was occupied by the 9th Army.)

To capture Berlin, the Soviet High Command used not only the frontal blow of the 1st Belorussian Front, but also the flanking maneuver of the 1st Ukrainian Front's formations, which had broken through to the German capital from the south.

The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front advanced towards the Baltic coast of Germany, covering the right flank of the forces advancing on Berlin.

In addition, it was supposed to use part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet (Admiral V.F. Tributs), the Dnieper military flotilla (Rear Admiral V.V. Grigoriev), the 18th Air Army, and three air defense corps.

Hoping to defend Berlin and avoid unconditional surrender, the German leadership mobilized all the country's resources. As before, the German command directed the main forces of the ground forces and aviation against the Red Army. By April 15, 214 German divisions fought on the Soviet-German front, including 34 tank and 14 motorized and 14 brigades. 60 German divisions, including 5 tank divisions, acted against the Anglo-American troops. The Germans created a powerful defense in the east of the country.

Berlin to great depths was covered by numerous defensive structures erected along the western bank of the Oder and Neisse rivers. This line consisted of three bands 20–40 km deep. In engineering terms, the defense in front of the Kyustrinsky bridgehead and in the Kotbus direction, where the most powerful groups of Nazi troops were concentrated, was especially well prepared.

Berlin itself was turned into a powerful fortified area with three defensive rings (external, internal, urban). The central sector of the capital, in which the main state and administrative institutions were located, was especially carefully prepared in engineering terms. There were more than 400 long-term reinforced concrete structures in the city. The largest of them are six-story bunkers dug into the ground, each containing up to a thousand people. For covert maneuvering of troops, the subway was used.

The German troops, which were on the defensive in the Berlin direction, were combined into four armies. In addition to the regular troops, the Volkssturm battalions, which were formed from young people and the elderly, were involved in the defense. The total number of the Berlin garrison exceeded 200 thousand people.

On April 15, Hitler appealed to the soldiers of the Eastern Front with an appeal to repel the Soviet offensive at all costs.

The plan of the Soviet command provided for powerful blows of the troops of all three fronts to break through the enemy's defenses along the Oder and Neisse, encircle the main grouping of German troops in the Berlin direction, and reach the Elbe.

On April 21, the advance units of the 1st Belorussian Front broke into the northern and southeastern outskirts of Berlin.

On April 24, southeast of Berlin, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front met with the formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The next day, these fronts were connected to the west of the German capital - thus, the encirclement of the entire Berlin enemy grouping was completed.

On the same day, units of the 5th Guards Army of General A.S. Zhadov met on the banks of the Elbe in the Torgau area with reconnaissance groups of the 5th corps of the 1st American army, General O. Bradley. The German front was cut. The Americans are 80 km away from Berlin. Since the Germans willingly surrendered to the Western Allies, and fought to the death against the Red Army, Stalin feared that the Allies might seize the capital of the Reich before us. Knowing about these concerns of Stalin, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe, General D. Eisenhower, forbade the troops to move to Berlin or take Prague. Nevertheless, Stalin demanded from Zhukov and Konev to clear Berlin by May 1. On April 22, Stalin gave them orders for the decisive assault on the capital. Konev had to stop parts of his front on a line that ran through the railway station just a few hundred meters from the Reichstag.

Since April 25, there have been fierce street battles in Berlin. On May 1, the red banner was raised over the Reichstag building. On May 2, the city's garrison capitulated.

The fight for Berlin was a life-and-death struggle. From April 21 to May 2, 1.8 million artillery rounds (more than 36 thousand tons of metal) were fired in Berlin. The Germans defended their capital with great tenacity. According to the memoirs of Marshal Konev, "German soldiers still surrendered only when they had no way out."

As a result of the fighting in Berlin, out of 250 thousand buildings, about 30 thousand were completely destroyed, more than 20 thousand were in a dilapidated state, more than 150 thousand buildings were moderately damaged. Public transport did not work. More than a third of the metro stations were flooded. 225 bridges were blown up by the Nazis. The entire system of communal services ceased to function - power plants, water pumping stations, gas plants, sewerage.

On May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison in the amount of more than 134 thousand surrendered, the rest fled.

During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops defeated 70 infantry, 23 tank and motorized divisions of the Wehrmacht, captured about 480 thousand people, captured up to 11 thousand guns and mortars, over 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, 4500 aircraft. ("The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Encyclopedia", p. 96).

Soviet troops in this final operation suffered heavy losses - about 350 thousand people, including over 78 thousand - irrevocably. On the Seelow Heights alone, 33,000 Soviet soldiers died. The Polish army lost about 9 thousand soldiers and officers.

Soviet troops lost 2,156 tanks and self-propelled artillery installations, 1,220 guns and mortars, 527 aircraft. ("The classification has been removed. Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts". M., 1993. S. 220.)

According to Colonel General A.V. Gorbatov, “from a military point of view, Berlin did not need to be assaulted ... It was enough to take the city into a ring, and he himself would surrender in a week or two. Germany would inevitably surrender. And on the assault, at the very end of the victory, in street battles, we put at least one hundred thousand soldiers ... ". “This is what the British and the Americans did. They blocked the German fortresses and waited months for their surrender, sparing their soldiers. Stalin acted differently. " ("History of Russia XX century. 1939-2007". M., 2009. S. 159.)

The Berlin operation is one of the largest operations of the Second World War. The victory of the Soviet troops in it became a decisive factor in the completion of the military defeat of Germany. With the fall of Berlin and other vital areas, Germany lost its capacity for organized resistance and soon surrendered.

On May 5-11, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts advanced towards the capital of Czechoslovakia - Prague. The Germans were able to hold the defense in this city for 4 days. On May 11, Soviet troops liberated Prague.

On May 7, Alfred Jodl signed an unconditional surrender to the Western Allies in Reims. Stalin agreed with the allies to consider the signing of this act as a preliminary protocol of surrender.

The next day, May 8, 1945 (or rather, at 0 hours 43 minutes on May 9, 1945), the signing of the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender was completed. The act was signed by Field Marshal Keitel, Admiral von Friedeburg and Colonel General Stumpf, who were authorized to do so by Grand Admiral Dönitz.

The first paragraph of the Act read:

"one. We, the undersigned, acting on behalf of the German High Command, agree to the unconditional surrender of all our armed forces on land, at sea and in the air, as well as all forces currently under German command, the High Command of the Red Army and at the same time the High Command of the Allies expeditionary forces ".

The meeting for the signing of the German Surrender Act was chaired by Marshal G.K. Zhukov. British Air Marshal Arthur W. Tedder, US Strategic Air Force Commander General Carl Spaats, and General Jean Delatre de Tassigny, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, were present as spokesman for the Allied High Command.

The price of victory is the undeserved losses of the Red Army from 1941 to 1945. (Information from the declassified repositories of the General Staff, published in Izvestia on June 25, 1998.)

Irrecoverable losses of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War amounted to 11,944,100 people. Of these, 6885 thousand people were killed and died from wounds, various diseases, died in disasters, committed suicide. Missing, captured or surrendered - 4559 thousand. Killed on the way to the front under bombing or for other reasons, 500 thousand people.

The total demographic losses of the Red Army, including losses from which 1936 thousand people who returned from captivity after the war are deducted, servicemen who were recruited into the army for the second time, who ended up in the occupied and then liberated territory (they were considered missing), 939 thousand people, is 9 168 400 people. Of these, the payroll (ie, those who fought with weapons in their hands) 8,668,400 people.

In total, the country has lost 26.6 million citizens. The civilian population suffered the most during the war - 17,400,000 killed and deceased.

By the beginning of the war, 4,826,900 people served in the Red Army and the navy (there were 5,543,000 servicemen in the state, taking into account 74,900 people who served in other formations).

Mobilized to the fronts (including those who had already served at the time of the German attack) 34,476,700 people.

After the end of the war, 12 839 800 people remained in the army lists, of which 11 390 thousand people were in the ranks. 1046 thousand people were being treated and 400 thousand people were in the formation of other departments.

During the war, 21,636,900 people left the army, of which 3,798,000 were fired due to injury and illness, of which 2,576,000 were permanently disabled.

3,614 thousand people were transferred to work in industry and local self-defense. Aimed at staffing the troops and organs of the NKVD, the Polish Army, the Czechoslovak and Romanian armies - 1,500 thousand people.

More than 994 thousand people were convicted (422 thousand of them were sent to penal units, 436 thousand people were sent to places of detention). 212 thousand deserters and those who lagged behind the echelons on their way to the front were not found.

These figures are striking. At the end of the war, Stalin announced that the army had lost 7 million people. In the 60s, Khrushchev called "more than 20 million people."

In March 1990, an interview with the then Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, General of the Army M. Moiseyev, was published in the "Military-Historical Journal": gratuitous losses among servicemen amounted to 8,668,400 people.

During the first period of the fighting (June - November 1941), our daily losses at the fronts were estimated at 24 thousand (17 thousand killed and 7 thousand wounded). At the end of the war (from January 1944 to May 1945 - 20 thousand people a day: 5.2 thousand killed and 14.8 thousand wounded).

During the war, our army lost 11,944,100 people.

In 1991, the work of the General Staff was completed to clarify the losses in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Direct losses.

Direct losses of the Soviet Union in the Second World War are understood as losses of servicemen and civilians who died as a result of hostilities and their consequences, due to an increase in the mortality rate compared to peacetime, as well as those people from the USSR population on June 22, 1941 who left the territory of the USSR during the war and did not return. The human losses of the Soviet Union do not include indirect demographic losses due to a decrease in the birth rate during the war and an increase in mortality in the post-war years.

A full estimate of all human losses can be obtained by the demographic balance method, by comparing the size and structure of the population at the beginning and end of the war.

The estimation of the human losses of the USSR was made during the period from June 22, 1941 to December 31, 1945 in order to take into account the deaths of the wounded in hospitals, the repatriation of prisoners of war and displaced civilians to the USSR, and the repatriation of citizens of other countries from the USSR. For the calculation, the borders of the USSR were taken on June 21, 1941.

According to the 1939 census, the population on January 17, 1939 was determined at 168.9 million people. Another 20.1 million people lived in the territories that became part of the USSR in the pre-war years. The natural increase in 2.5 years by June 1941 amounted to about 7.91 million people.

Thus, by mid-1941, the population of the USSR was approximately 196.7 million people. The population of the USSR as of December 31, 1945 is estimated at 170.5 million people, of which 159.6 million were born before 06/22/1941. The total number of those who died and ended up outside the country during the war years was 37.1 million (196.7-159.6). If the mortality rate of the population of the USSR in 1941-1945 had remained the same as in the pre-war 1940, the number of deaths during this period would have amounted to 11.9 million people. Subtracting this value (37.1-11.9 million), the human losses of the generations born before the start of the war amounted to 25.2 million people. To this figure it is necessary to add the loss of children born during the war years, but who died due to an increased in comparison with the "normal" level of child mortality. Of those born in 1941-1945, approximately 4.6 million did not survive until early 1946, or 1.3 million more than would have died at the 1940 death rate. These 1.3 million should also be attributed to losses as a result of the war.

As a result, direct human losses of the population of the USSR as a result of the war, estimated by the demographic balance method, amount to approximately 26.6 million people.

According to experts, 9-10 million deaths during the war can be attributed to the net increase in mortality as a result of worsening living conditions.

Direct losses of the population of the USSR during the war years amounted to 13.5% of its population by mid-1941.

Irrecoverable losses of the Red Army.

By the beginning of the war, the army and the navy consisted of 4,826,907 servicemen according to the list. In addition, 74,945 military personnel and military builders served in the formations of civilian departments. For 4 years of the war, minus the re-conscripts, another 29,574 thousand were mobilized. In total, together with the personnel, 34,476,700 people were involved in the army, navy and paramilitary formations. Of these, about one third were in the ranks annually (10.5-11.5 million people). Half of this composition (5.0-6.5 million people) served in the army.

In total, according to the General Staff commission, during the war years, 6,885,100 servicemen were killed, died of wounds and diseases, died as a result of accidents, which amounted to 19.9% of those recruited. Missing, captured 4559 thousand people, or 13% of those recruited.

In total, the total losses of the personnel of the Soviet armed forces, including the border and internal troops, during the Second World War amounted to 11 444 100 people.

In 1942-1945 on the liberated territory, 939,700 servicemen from among those previously held captive, surrounded and in the occupied territory were recruited into the army for the second time.

About 1,836,600 former military personnel returned from captivity at the end of the war. These servicemen (2 775 thousand people) were rightfully excluded from the irrecoverable losses of the armed forces by the commission.

Thus, the irrecoverable losses of the personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR, taking into account the Far Eastern campaign (killed, died of wounds, disappeared and did not return from captivity, as well as non-combat losses) amounted to 8,668,400 people.

Sanitary losses.

The commission established them in the amount of 18 334 thousand people, including: 15 205 600 people were wounded, shell-shocked, 3 047 700 people got sick, 90 900 people were frostbitten.

In total, 3 798 200 people were demobilized from the army and navy during the war due to injury or illness.

Every day on the Soviet-German front, an average of 20,869 people were out of action, of which about 8,000 were irretrievably disabled. More than half - 56.7% of all irrecoverable losses - fell on 1941-1942. The largest average daily losses were noted in the summer-autumn campaigns of 1941 - 24 thousand people and in 1942 - 27.3 thousand per day.

The losses of Soviet troops in the Far Eastern campaign were relatively small - for 25 days of hostilities, losses amounted to 36,400 people, including 12,000 killed, died and went missing.

Behind enemy lines, there were about 6 thousand partisan detachments - more than 1 million people.

Major General A.V. Kirilin in an interview with the weekly "Argumenty i Fakty" (2011, No. 24) gave the following data on the losses of the Red Army and Germany during the war of 1941-1945:

From June 22 to December 31, 1941, the losses of the Red Army exceeded 3 million people. Of these, 465 thousand were killed, 101 thousand died in hospitals, 235 thousand people died from illness and accidents (military statistics included those shot by their own in this category).

The catastrophe of 1941 was determined by the number of missing and prisoners - 2,355,482 people. Most of these people died in German camps on the territory of the USSR.

The number of Soviet military losses in the Great Patriotic War is 8,664,400 people. This is a figure that is confirmed by documents. But not all of the people we consider as casualties perished. For example, in 1946, 480 thousand “displaced persons” left for the West - those who did not want to return to their homeland. There are 3.5 million missing people in total.

Approximately 500 thousand people drafted into the army (mainly in 1941) did not get to the front. They are now classified as civilian casualties (26 million) (disappeared during the bombing of trains, remained in the occupied territory, served in the police) - 939.5 thousand people who were re-called into the Red Army during the liberation of Soviet lands.

Germany, without taking into account the allies, lost 5.3 million on the Soviet-German front in killed, dead from wounds, missing, and captured 3.57 million. For one German killed, there were 1.3 Soviet soldiers. 442 thousand German prisoners died in Soviet captivity.

Of the 4,559,000 Soviet soldiers who were captured by Germany, 2.7 million people died.

From the book World War II by Beevor Anthony

Chapter 48 The Berlin Operation April – May 1945 On the night of April 14, German troops entrenched in the Seelow Heights, west of the Oder, heard the roar of tank engines. Music and ominous statements of Soviet propaganda, which sounded at full volume from the loudspeakers, could not

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	Berlin, Germany
	The Red Army defeated the Berlin grouping of German troops and occupied the capital of Germany, Berlin. The victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in Europe.
Opponents
	Germany

Commanders
I. V. Stalin	A. Hitler †
G.K. Zhukov	G. Heinrici
I. S. Konev
K. K. Rokossovsky	G. Weidling
Forces of the parties
Soviet troops: 1.9 million people, 6,250 tanks, more than 7,500 aircraft. Polish troops: 155 900 people	1 million people, 1,500 tanks, more than 3,300 aircraft

Soviet troops: 78 291 killed, 274 184 wounded, 215.9 thousand units. small arms, 1997 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2108 guns and mortars, 917 aircraft. Polish troops: 2,825 killed, 6,067 wounded	The whole grouping. Soviet data: OK. 400 thousand killed, approx. 380 thousand captured. The losses of folksturm, the police, the Todt organization, the Hitler Youth, the Imperial Railways Service, the Labor Service (total of 500-1,000 people) are unknown.

One of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European theater of military operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany, victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and World War II in Europe. The operation lasted 23 days - from April 16 to May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced westward at a distance of 100 to 220 km. The width of the front of hostilities is 300 km. As part of the operation, the Stettin-Rostock, Zelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Shtremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Rathen front offensive operations were carried out.

The military-political situation in Europe in the spring of 1945

In January-March 1945, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, during the Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian, Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian operations, reached the line of the Oder and Neisse rivers. The shortest distance from the Küstrin bridgehead to Berlin remained 60 km. Anglo-American troops completed the liquidation of the Ruhr grouping of German troops and by mid-April advanced units reached the Elbe. The loss of the most important raw material regions led to a decline in industrial production in Germany. Difficulties in replenishing the casualties incurred in the winter of 1944/45 increased. Nevertheless, the German armed forces were still an impressive force. According to the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Red Army, by mid-April, there were 223 divisions and brigades in their composition.

According to the agreements reached by the heads of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain in the fall of 1944, the border of the Soviet zone of occupation was to be 150 km west of Berlin. Despite this, Churchill put forward the idea to get ahead of the Red Army and capture Berlin.

Objectives of the parties

Germany

The Nazi leadership tried to drag out the war in order to achieve a separate peace with Britain and the United States and split the anti-Hitler coalition. At the same time, holding the front against the Soviet Union acquired decisive importance.

the USSR

The military-political situation that had developed by April 1945 required the Soviet command to prepare and carry out an operation to defeat the group of German troops in the Berlin direction, capture Berlin and reach the Elbe River to join the Allied forces in the shortest possible time. The successful fulfillment of this strategic task made it possible to thwart the plans of the Hitlerite leadership to drag out the war.

For the operation, the forces of three fronts were involved: the 1st Belorussian, the 2nd Belorussian and the 1st Ukrainian, as well as the 18th Air Force of Long-Range Aviation, the Dnieper Flotilla and part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet.

1st Belorussian Front

Capture the German capital city of Berlin
After 12-15 days of the operation, go to the Elbe River

1st Ukrainian Front

Deliver a cleaving strike south of Berlin, isolate the main forces of Army Group Center from the Berlin grouping and thereby ensure the main attack of the 1st Belorussian Front from the south
Destroy the enemy grouping south of Berlin and operational reserves in the Cottbus area
In 10-12 days, no later, go to the Belitz - Wittenberg line and further along the Elbe River to Dresden

2nd Belorussian Front

Deliver a cleaving strike north of Berlin, securing the right flank of the 1st Belorussian Front from possible enemy counterattacks from the north
Push to the sea and destroy the German troops north of Berlin

Dnieper military flotilla

Two brigades of river ships to assist the troops of the 5th shock and 8th guards armies in the crossing of the Oder and breaking through the enemy defense of the Nakustrin bridgehead
Third Brigade to assist the troops of the 33rd Army in the Fürstenberg area
Provide mine defense of water transport routes.

Red Banner Baltic Fleet

Support the coastal flank of the 2nd Belorussian Front, continuing the blockade of the Kurlandia army group in Latvia, which is pressed to the sea (Kurland cauldron)

Operation plan

The operation plan provided for the simultaneous transition to the offensive of the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts on the morning of April 16, 1945. The 2nd Belorussian Front, in connection with the upcoming large regrouping of its forces, was supposed to launch an offensive on April 20, that is, 4 days later.

The 1st Belorussian Front was to deliver the main blow with the forces of five combined arms (47th, 3rd shock, 5th shock, 8th Guards and 3rd armies) and two tank armies from the Küstrin bridgehead in the direction of Berlin. It was planned to enter tank armies into battle after the combined-arms armies broke through the second line of defense on the Seelow Heights. In the area of the main attack, an artillery density of up to 270 guns (with a caliber of 76 mm and above) was created per one kilometer of the breakthrough front. In addition, the front commander, GK Zhukov, decided to deliver two auxiliary strikes: on the right, with the forces of the 61st Soviet and 1st Army of the Polish Army, bypassing Berlin from the north in the direction of Eberswalde, Sandau; and on the left - the forces of the 69th and 33rd armies to Bonsdorf with the main task of preventing the enemy's 9th army from retreating to Berlin.

The 1st Ukrainian Front was to deliver the main blow with the forces of five armies: three combined-arms (13th, 5th Guards and 3rd Guards) and two tank from the area of the city of Trimbel in the direction of Spremberg. An auxiliary blow was to be delivered in the general direction of Dresden by the forces of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army and part of the forces of the 52nd Army.

The dividing line between the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts broke off 50 km southeast of Berlin near the city of Lubben, which allowed, if necessary, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front to strike at Berlin from the south.

The commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front K. K. Rokossovsky decided to deliver the main blow with the forces of 65, 70 and 49 armies in the direction of Nyustrelitz. Separate tank, mechanized and cavalry corps of front-line subordination were supposed to develop success after breaking through the German defense.

Preparing for surgery

the USSR

Intelligence support

Reconnaissance aircraft 6 times made aerial photography of Berlin, all approaches to it and defensive zones. In total, about 15 thousand aerial photographs were received. Based on the results of filming, trophy documents and interviews with prisoners, detailed diagrams, plans, maps were drawn up, with which all command and staff instances were supplied. The military topographic service of the 1st Belorussian Front produced an exact model of the city with the suburbs, which was used in studying issues related to the organization of the offensive, the general assault on Berlin and the battles in the city center.

Two days before the start of the operation, reconnaissance in force was carried out in the entire zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 32 reconnaissance detachments up to a reinforced rifle battalion each, for two days on April 14 and 15, in action, refined the placement of enemy fire weapons, the deployment of his groupings, and determined the strong and most vulnerable spots of the defensive zone.

Engineering support

During the preparation for the offensive, the engineering troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Lieutenant General Antipenko performed a large amount of engineering work. By the beginning of the operation, often under enemy fire, 25 road bridges with a total length of 15,017 running meters were built across the Oder and 40 ferry crossings were prepared. In order to organize a continuous and full supply of the advancing units with ammunition and fuel, the railway track in the occupied territory was changed to the Russian track almost to the Oder itself. In addition, the military engineers of the front made heroic efforts to strengthen the railway bridges across the Vistula, which were under the threat of demolition by the spring ice drift.

On the 1st Ukrainian Front, 2,440 sapper wooden boats, 750 linear meters of assault bridges and over 1,000 linear meters of wooden bridges for loads of 16 and 60 tons were prepared for the crossing of the Neisse River.

At the beginning of the offensive, the 2nd Belorussian Front was to cross the Oder, the width of which in some places reached six kilometers, therefore, special attention was also paid to the engineering preparation of the operation. Front engineering troops under the leadership of Lieutenant General Blagoslavov in the shortest possible time pulled up and safely sheltered dozens of pontoons, hundreds of boats in the coastal zone, brought up timber for the construction of berths and bridges, made rafts, laid gates through swampy areas of the coast.

Disguise and disinformation

In preparing the operation, special attention was paid to the issues of camouflage and the achievement of operational and tactical surprise. The front headquarters developed detailed plans of measures to misinform and mislead the enemy, according to which the preparation for the offensive by the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian fronts was simulated in the area of the cities of Stettin and Guben. At the same time, intensified defensive work continued in the central sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, where the main attack was actually planned. They were carried out especially intensively in areas well visible by the enemy. It was explained to all army personnel that the main task was stubborn defense. In addition, documents describing the activities of troops in various sectors of the front were planted at the enemy's location.

The arrival of reserves and reinforcement units was carefully camouflaged. Military echelons with artillery, mortar, tank units on the territory of Poland were disguised as trains carrying timber and hay on platforms.

During reconnaissance, tank commanders, from battalion commander to army commander, changed into infantry uniforms and, under the guise of signalmen, examined crossings and areas where their units would be concentrated.

The circle of informed persons was extremely limited. In addition to the army commanders, only the chiefs of staff of the armies, the chiefs of operational departments of the headquarters of the armies and the commanders of artillery were allowed to familiarize themselves with the directive of the Headquarters. The regimental commanders received their missions orally three days before the offensive. Junior commanders and Red Army men were allowed to announce the offensive mission two hours before the attack.

Regrouping troops

In preparation for the Berlin operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, which had just completed the East Pomeranian operation, in the period from 4 to 15 April 1945 had to transfer 4 combined arms armies to a distance of up to 350 km from the area of the cities of Danzig and Gdynia to the border of the Oder River and to replace the armies of the 1st Belorussian Front there. The poor condition of the railways and the acute shortage of rolling stock did not allow full use of the possibilities of railway transport, therefore, the main burden of transportation fell on road transport. 1900 vehicles were allocated to the front. The troops had to cover part of the way on foot.

Germany

The German command foresaw the Soviet offensive and carefully prepared to repel it. A defense in depth was built from the Oder to Berlin, and the city itself was turned into a powerful defensive citadel. The divisions of the first line were replenished with personnel and equipment, and strong reserves were created in the operational depth. A huge number of Volkssturm battalions were formed in and near Berlin.

Defense nature

The basis of the defense was the Oder-Neissen defensive line and the Berlin defensive area. The Oder-Neissen line consisted of three defensive zones, and its total depth reached 20-40 km. The main defensive zone had up to five continuous lines of trenches, and its leading edge ran along the left bank of the Oder and Neisse rivers. A second line of defense was created 10-20 km from it. The most equipped in engineering terms, it was at the Seelow Heights - in front of the Küstrinsky bridgehead. The third strip was located at a distance of 20-40 km from the forward edge. When organizing and equipping the defense, the German command skillfully used natural obstacles: lakes, rivers, canals, ravines. All settlements were turned into strong strongholds and were adapted for a perimeter defense. During the construction of the Oder-Neissen line, special attention was paid to the organization of anti-tank defense.

The saturation of the defensive positions with enemy troops was uneven. The greatest density of troops was observed in front of the 1st Belorussian Front in a strip 175 km wide, where 23 divisions occupied the defense, a significant number of separate brigades, regiments and battalions, with 14 divisions defending against the Küstrin bridgehead. 7 infantry divisions and 13 separate regiments defended themselves in the 120 km wide offensive zone of the 2nd Belorussian Front. In the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, 390 km wide, there were 25 enemy divisions.

In an effort to increase the resilience of their troops on the defensive, the Nazi leadership stepped up repressive measures. So, on April 15, in his address to the soldiers of the eastern front, A. Hitler demanded that everyone who gave an order to retreat or retreat without an order be shot on the spot.

Composition and strengths of the parties

the USSR

1st Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal G.K. Zhukov, chief of staff Colonel-General M.S.Malinin) consisting of:

1st Ukrainian Front (commander Marshal I.S.Konev, Chief of Staff General of the Army I.E.Petrov) consisting of:

3rd Guards Army (Colonel General Gordov V.N.)
5th Guards Army (Colonel General Zhadov A.S.)
13th Army (Colonel General Pukhov N.P.)
28th Army (Lieutenant General Luchinsky A.A.)
52nd Army (Colonel General Koroteev K.A.)
3rd Guards Tank Army (Colonel General Rybalko P.S.)
4th Guards Tank Army (Colonel General Lelyushenko D. D.)
2nd Air Army (Aviation Colonel-General Krasovsky S.A.)
2nd Army of the Polish Army (Lieutenant General Sverchevsky K.K.)
25th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces E.I. Fominykh)
4th Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Poluboyarov P.P.)
7th Guards Mechanized Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Korchagin I.P.)
1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General Baranov V.K.)

2nd Belorussian Front (commander Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky, chief of staff Colonel-General A. N. Bogolyubov) consisting of:

2nd Shock Army (Colonel General Fedyuninsky I.I.)
65th Army (Colonel General Batov P.I.)
70th Army (Colonel-General Popov V.S.)
49th Army (Colonel General Grishin I.T.)
4th Air Army (Aviation Colonel General Vershinin K.A.)
1st Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces M.F. Panov)
8th Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces A.F. Popov)
3rd Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces A.P. Panfilov)
8th Mechanized Corps (Major General of Tank Forces A.N. Firsovich)
3rd Guards Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General Oslikovsky N.S.)

18th Air Army (Air Chief Marshal A.E. Golovanov)

Dnieper military flotilla (Rear Admiral V.V. Grigoriev)

Red Banner Baltic Fleet (Admiral Tributs V.F.)

Total: Soviet troops - 1.9 million people, Polish troops - 155,900 people, 6,250 tanks, 41,600 guns and mortars, more than 7,500 aircraft

In addition, as part of the 1st Belorussian Front, there were German formations consisting of former prisoners of war of Wehrmacht soldiers and officers who agreed to take part in the fight against the Nazi regime (Seydlitz's troops)

Germany

Army Group "Vistula" under the command of Colonel-General G. Heinrici, from April 28, General K. Student, consisting of:

3rd Panzer Army (General of Panzer Forces H. Manteuffel)

32nd Army Corps (General of the Infantry F. Shaq)
army corps "Oder"
3rd SS Panzer Corps (SS Brigadeführer J. Ziegler)
46th Panzer Corps (infantry general M. Garais)
101st Army Corps (General of Artillery V. Berlin, from April 18, 1945 Lieutenant General F. Zikst)

9th Army (Infantry General T. Busse)

56th Panzer Corps (General of Artillery G. Weidling)
11th SS Corps (SS Obergruppenfuehrer M. Kleinheisterkamp)
5th SS Mountain Corps (SS Obergruppenführer F. Eckeln)
5th Army Corps (General of Artillery K. Weger)

Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal F. Scherner, consisting of:

4th Panzer Army (General of Panzer Forces F. Greser)

Panzer Corps "Great Germany" (General of Panzer Forces G. Jauer)
57th Panzer Corps (General of Panzer Forces F. Kirchner)

Part of the forces of the 17th armies (General of the infantry V. Hasse)

Air support for the ground forces was carried out by the 4th Air Fleet, the 6th Air Fleet, and the Reich Air Fleet.

In total: 48 infantry, 6 tank and 9 motorized divisions; 37 separate infantry regiments, 98 separate infantry battalions, as well as a large number of separate artillery and special units and formations (1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and assault guns, and 3,300 combat aircraft).

On April 24, the 12th Army entered the battle under the command of General of the Infantry V. Wenk, which had previously occupied the defenses on the Western Front.

General course of hostilities

1st Belorussian Front (April 16-25)

At 5 a.m. Moscow time (2 hours before dawn) on April 16, artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1500 units of the RS BM-13 and BM-31, for 25 minutes grind the first line of the German defense on the 27-kilometer section of the breakthrough. With the beginning of the attack, the artillery fire was moved deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their blinding light stunned the enemy and at the same time illuminated the way for the advancing units. (The German Infrarot-Scheinwerfer night vision systems detected targets at a distance of up to one kilometer and posed a serious threat during the assault on the Seelow Heights, and the searchlights disabled them with powerful illumination.) The first one and a half to two hours, the Soviet offensive developed successfully, individual formations reached the second line of defense. However, soon the Nazis, relying on a strong and well-prepared second line of defense, began to offer fierce resistance. Intense fighting broke out along the entire front. Although in some sectors of the front the troops succeeded in capturing individual strong points, they did not succeed in achieving decisive success. A powerful center of resistance, equipped at the Zelovsky Heights, turned out to be insurmountable for the rifle formations. This jeopardized the success of the entire operation. In such a situation, the front commander, Marshal Zhukov, decided to send the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies into battle. This was not provided for by the offensive plan, however, the stubborn resistance of the German troops required to strengthen the penetrating ability of the attackers by bringing tank armies into battle. The course of the battle on the first day showed that the German command attached decisive importance to the retention of the Seelow Heights. To strengthen the defense in this sector, by the end of April 16, the operational reserves of Army Group Vistula were abandoned. All day and all night on April 17, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought fierce battles with the enemy. By the morning of April 18, tank and rifle formations, with the support of aviation from the 16th and 18th air armies, took the Zelovsky heights. Overcoming the stubborn defense of the German troops and repelling fierce counterattacks, by the end of April 19, the front troops broke through the third defensive zone and were able to develop an offensive on Berlin.

The real threat of encirclement forced the commander of the 9th German army T. Busse to come up with a proposal to withdraw the army to the suburbs of Berlin and to take a solid defense there. This plan was supported by the commander of Army Group Vistula, Colonel General Heinrici, but Hitler rejected this proposal and ordered to hold the occupied lines at any cost.

April 20 was marked by an artillery strike on Berlin by the long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army. It was a kind of birthday present for Hitler. On April 21, units of the 3rd Shock, 2nd Guards Tank, 47th and 5th Shock Armies, having overcome the third line of defense, broke into the outskirts of Berlin and started fighting there. The first to break into Berlin from the east were the troops that were part of the 26th Guards Corps of General P.A.Firsov and the 32nd Corps of General D.S. Zherebin of the 5th Shock Army. On the same day, Corporal A. I. Muravyov set up the first Soviet banner in Berlin. On the evening of April 21, the advance units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army of PS Rybalko approached the city from the south. On April 23 and 24, hostilities in all directions took on a particularly fierce character. On April 23, the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly achieved the greatest success in the storming of Berlin. The soldiers of this corps took a decisive assault on Karlshorst, part of Kopenik and, reaching the Spree, crossed it on the move. Great help in crossing the Spree was provided by the ships of the Dnieper military flotilla, transferring rifle units under enemy fire to the opposite bank. Although by April 24 the rate of advance of the Soviet troops had slowed down, the Nazis failed to stop them. On April 24, the 5th Shock Army, waging fierce battles, continued to successfully advance towards the center of Berlin.

Operating in the auxiliary direction, the 61st Army and the 1st Army of the Polish Army, having launched an offensive on April 17, overcame the German defenses with stubborn battles, bypassed Berlin from the north and moved towards the Elbe.

1st Ukrainian Front (April 16-25)

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully. On April 16, early in the morning, a smoke screen was set up along the entire 390-kilometer front, which blinded the enemy's forward observation posts. At 0655 hours, after a 40-minute artillery strike on the front edge of the German defense, reinforced battalions of the first echelon divisions began to force the Neisse. Quickly seizing bridgeheads on the left bank of the river, they provided the conditions for building bridges and crossing the main forces. During the first hours of the operation, the front's engineering forces equipped 133 crossings in the main direction of the strike. With each passing hour, the number of forces and assets transported to the bridgehead increased. In the middle of the day, the attackers reached the second line of the German defense. Sensing the threat of a major breakthrough, the German command, on the very first day of the operation, threw into battle not only its tactical, but also operational reserves, setting them the task of dropping the advancing Soviet troops into the river. Nevertheless, by the end of the day, the troops of the front broke through the main defense zone on the front 26 km and advanced to a depth of 13 km.

By the morning of April 17, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank armies crossed the Neisse in full force. All day, the front troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, continued to widen and deepen the gap in the German defense. Air support for the advancing troops was provided by the pilots of the 2nd Air Army. Assault aviation, acting at the request of ground commanders, destroyed enemy fire weapons and manpower on the front line. Bomber aircraft smashed suitable reserves. By the middle of April 17, the following situation had developed in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front: Rybalko and Lelyushenko's tank armies marched westward along a narrow corridor pierced by the troops of the 13th, 3rd and 5th Guards armies. By the end of the day, they approached the Spree and began to cross it. Meanwhile, in the secondary, Dresden, direction of the troops of the 52nd Army of General K.A. Koroteev and the 2nd Army The troops of the Polish General K. K. Sverchevsky broke through the tactical defenses of the enemy and in two days of hostilities advanced to a depth of 20 km.

Considering the slow advance of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, as well as the success achieved in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, on the night of April 18, the Stavka decided to turn the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front to Berlin. In his order to the commanders Rybalko and Lelyushenko on the offensive, the front commander wrote:

Carrying out the orders of the commander, on April 18 and 19, the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front marched uncontrollably towards Berlin. The rate of their advance reached 35-50 km per day. At the same time, the combined arms armies were preparing to eliminate large enemy groupings in the area of Cottbus and Spremberg.

By the end of the day on April 20, the main strike group of the 1st Ukrainian Front had deeply wedged into the enemy's position, and completely cut off the German Army Group Vistula from Army Group Center. Sensing the threat caused by the swift actions of the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the German command took a number of measures to strengthen the approaches to Berlin. To strengthen the defense in the area of the cities of Zossen, Luckenwalde, Jutterbog, infantry and tank units were urgently sent. Overcoming their stubborn resistance, Rybalko's tankers reached the outer Berlin defensive bypass on the night of April 21. By the morning of April 22, Sukhov's 9th Mechanized Corps and Mitrofanov's 6th Guards Tank Corps of the 3rd Guards Tank Army crossed the Notte Canal, broke through the outer defensive loop of Berlin and reached the southern bank of the Teltovkanal at the end of the day. There, having met strong and well-organized enemy resistance, they were stopped.

In the afternoon of April 22, a meeting of the highest military leadership was held at Hitler's headquarters, at which a decision was made to withdraw V. Wenck's 12th army from the western front and send it to join the half-encircled 9th army of T. Busse. To organize the offensive of the 12th Army, Field Marshal Keitel was sent to its headquarters. This was the last serious attempt to influence the course of the battle, since by the end of the day on April 22, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts had formed and almost closed two encirclement rings. One - around the 9th enemy army east and southeast of Berlin; the other - west of Berlin, around the units directly defended in the city.

The Telt Canal was a rather serious obstacle: a moat filled with water with high concrete banks, forty to fifty meters wide. In addition, its northern coast was very well prepared for defense: trenches, reinforced concrete pillboxes, tanks dug into the ground and self-propelled guns. Above the canal there is an almost solid wall of houses bristling with fire, with walls a meter or more thick. After assessing the situation, the Soviet command decided to conduct thorough preparations for the crossing of the Telt Canal. All day on April 23rd, the 3rd Guards Tank Army was preparing for the assault. By the morning of April 24, a powerful artillery group was concentrated on the southern bank of the Teltov Canal, with a density of up to 650 barrels per kilometer of front, designed to destroy the German fortifications on the opposite bank. Having suppressed the enemy defenses with a powerful artillery strike, the troops of Major General Mitrofanov's 6th Guards Tank Corps successfully crossed the Telt Canal and captured a bridgehead on its northern coast. On the afternoon of April 24, Wenck's 12th Army launched the first tank attacks on the positions of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps of General Ermakov (4th Guards Tank Army) and units of the 13th Army. All attacks were successfully repulsed with the support of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps, Lieutenant General Ryazanov.

At 12 noon on April 25, west of Berlin, the advanced units of the 4th Guards Tank Army met with units of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. Another significant event took place on the same day. An hour and a half later, on the Elbe, General Baklanov's 34th Guards Corps of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.

From April 25 to May 2, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles in three directions: units of the 28th Army, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies participated in the storming of Berlin; part of the forces of the 4th Guards Tank Army, together with the 13th Army, repulsed the counterattack of the 12th German army; The 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army blocked and destroyed the encircled 9th Army.

All the time since the beginning of the operation, the command of Army Group Center tried to thwart the offensive of the Soviet troops. On April 20, German troops launched the first counterattack on the left flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front and pushed the troops of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army. On April 23, a powerful new counterattack followed, as a result of which the defense at the junction of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army was broken through and German troops advanced 20 km in the general direction of Spremberg, threatening to reach the rear of the front.

2nd Belorussian Front (April 20-May 8)

From 17 to 19 April, the troops of the 65th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, under the command of Colonel-General PI Batov, conducted reconnaissance in force and advanced detachments captured the Oder interfluve, thereby facilitating the subsequent crossing of the river. On the morning of April 20, the main forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front, the 65th, 70th and 49th armies, went on the offensive. The crossing of the Oder took place under the cover of artillery fire and smoke screens. The offensive developed most successfully in the sector of the 65th Army, which was largely due to the army's engineering troops. Having established two 16-ton pontoon crossings by 13 o'clock, the troops of this army by the evening of April 20 captured a bridgehead 6 kilometers wide and 1.5 kilometers deep.

A more modest success was achieved in the central sector of the front in the zone of the 70th Army. The left-flank 49th Army met stubborn resistance and was unsuccessful. All day and all night on April 21, front troops, repelling numerous attacks by German troops, stubbornly expanded their bridgeheads on the western bank of the Oder. In the current situation, the front commander K. K. Rokossovsky decided to send the 49th army across the crossings of the 70th army's right neighbor, and then return to his own offensive zone. By April 25, as a result of fierce fighting, the front troops expanded the captured bridgehead to 35 km along the front and up to 15 km in depth. To build up striking power, the 2nd Shock Army, as well as the 1st and 3rd Guards Tank Corps, were transferred to the western bank of the Oder. At the first stage of the operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front with its actions fettered the main forces of the 3rd German Panzer Army, depriving it of the opportunity to help those fighting near Berlin. On April 26, the formations of the 65th Army seized Stettin by storm. Subsequently, the armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front, breaking enemy resistance and crushing suitable reserves, stubbornly advanced westward. On May 3, Panfilov's 3rd Guards Tank Corps southwest of Wismar established contact with the advance units of the British 2nd Army.

Liquidation of the Frankfurt-Guben group

By the end of April 24, the formations of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered into contact with units of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, thereby encircling General Busse's 9th Army southeast of Berlin and cutting it off from the city. The encircled grouping of German troops became known as Frankfurt-Guben. Now the Soviet command was faced with the task of eliminating the 200,000-strong enemy grouping and preventing its breakthrough into Berlin or the west. To fulfill the last task, the 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front took up active defenses on the path of a possible breakthrough by German troops. On April 26, the 3rd, 69th, and 33rd armies of the 1st Belorussian Front began the final liquidation of the encircled units. However, the enemy not only put up stubborn resistance, but also made repeated attempts to break out of the encirclement. Skillfully maneuvering and skillfully creating superiority in forces in narrow sectors of the front, the German troops twice managed to break through the encirclement. However, each time the Soviet command took decisive measures to eliminate the breakthrough. Until May 2, the encircled units of the 9th German army made desperate attempts to break through the battle formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front to the west, to join the 12th army of General Wenck. Only a few small groups managed to penetrate through the forests and go west.

Storming Berlin (April 25 - May 2)

At 12 noon on April 25, a ring was closed around Berlin, when the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army crossed the Havel River and joined forces with the 328th Division of General Perkhorovich's 47th Army. By that time, according to the estimates of the Soviet command, the Berlin garrison numbered at least 200 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and 250 tanks. The city's defenses were well thought out and well prepared. It was based on a system of strong fire, strongholds and nodes of resistance. The closer to the city center, the denser the defense became. Massive stone buildings with thick walls gave it special strength. Windows and doors of many buildings were sealed up and turned into embrasures for firing. The streets were blocked by powerful barricades up to four meters thick. The defenders had a large number of faust cartridges, which, in the context of street fighting, turned out to be a formidable anti-tank weapon. Of no small importance in the enemy's defense system were underground structures, which were widely used by the enemy for maneuvering troops, as well as for sheltering them from artillery and bomb strikes.

By April 26, six armies of the 1st Belorussian Front (47th, 3rd and 5th shock, 8th Guards, 1st and 2nd Guards tank armies) and three armies of the 1st Belorussian Front took part in the storming of Berlin. 1st Ukrainian Front (28th, 3rd and 4th guards tank). Taking into account the experience of capturing large cities, assault detachments were created for battles in the city as part of rifle battalions or companies, reinforced with tanks, artillery and sappers. The actions of the assault detachments, as a rule, were preceded by a short but powerful artillery preparation.

By April 27, as a result of the actions of the armies of two fronts deeply advancing towards the center of Berlin, the enemy grouping in Berlin stretched out in a narrow strip from east to west - sixteen kilometers long and two or three, in some places five kilometers wide. The fighting in the city did not stop day or night. Block after block, Soviet troops "gnawed" at the enemy's defenses. So, by the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army reached the Reichstag area. On the night of April 29, the actions of the forward battalions under the command of Captain S. A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K. J. Samsonov was captured by the Moltke Bridge. At dawn on April 30, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, adjacent to the parliament building, was taken by storm at the cost of considerable losses. The way to the Reichstag was open.

On April 30, 1945 at 21.30, units of the 150th Rifle Division under the command of Major General V.M. Shatilov and the 171st Rifle Division under the command of Colonel A.I. The remaining Nazi units offered stubborn resistance. I had to fight for every room. In the early morning of May 1, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was raised over the Reichstag, but the battle for the Reichstag continued all day, and only on the night of May 2, the Reichstag garrison surrendered.

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in the hands of the Germans. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which was the bunker of Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior arrangement, General Krebs, the chief of the general staff of the German ground forces, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army. He informed the commander of the army, General V. I. Chuikov, about Hitler's suicide and about the proposal of the new German government to conclude an armistice. The message was immediately forwarded to G.K. Zhukov, who called Moscow himself. Stalin confirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender. At 18:00 on May 1, the new German government rejected the demand for unconditional surrender, and the Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor.

In the first hour of the night on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “We ask you to cease fire. We are sending parliamentarians to the Potsdam Bridge. " A German officer who arrived at the appointed place, on behalf of the commander of the Berlin defense, General Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to end resistance. At 6 a.m. on May 2, General of Artillery Weidling, accompanied by three German generals, crossed the front line and surrendered. An hour later, while at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army, he wrote an order for surrender, which was multiplied and, with the help of loud-speaking installations and radio, communicated to the enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was brought to the attention of the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Individual units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

Losses of the parties

the USSR

From April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which, irrevocably - 78,291 people. The losses of the Polish troops during the same period amounted to 8,892 people, of which 2,825 were irretrievably. The losses of military equipment amounted to 1997 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2108 guns and mortars, 917 combat aircraft, 215.9 thousand small arms.

Germany

According to the combat reports of the Soviet fronts:

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front from April 16 to May 13

killed 232 726 people, captured 250 675

Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front from 15 to 29 April

killed 114 349 people, captured 55 080 people

Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front from April 5 to May 8:

killed 49 770 people, took 84 234 prisoners

Thus, according to the reports of the Soviet command, the losses of the German troops were about 400 thousand killed, about 380 thousand captured. Part of the German troops were pushed back to the Elbe and surrendered to the allied forces.

Also, according to the estimates of the Soviet command, the total number of troops that escaped the encirclement in the Berlin area does not exceed 17,000 people with 80-90 armored vehicles.

German losses according to data from German sources

According to German data, 45 thousand German servicemen took part in the defense of Berlin directly, of which 22 thousand people died. The losses of Germany killed in the entire Berlin operation amounted to about one hundred thousand servicemen. It should be noted that the data on losses in 1945 in OKW were determined by calculation. Due to the violation of systematic documentary accounting and reporting, violation of command and control, the reliability of this information is very low. In addition, according to the rules adopted in the Wehrmacht, losses of personnel only took into account the losses of servicemen and did not take into account the losses of troops of the allied states and foreign formations that fought as part of the Wehrmacht, as well as paramilitary formations serving the troops.

Overstating German losses

According to combat reports from the fronts:

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in the period from April 16 to May 13: destroyed - 1184, captured - 629 tanks and self-propelled guns.
The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the period from 15 to 29 April destroyed - 1067, captured - 432 tanks and self-propelled guns;
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the period from April 5 to May 8 destroyed - 195, captured - 85 tanks and self-propelled guns.

In total, according to the data of the fronts, 3,592 tanks and self-propelled guns were destroyed and captured, which is more than 2 times more than the number of tanks available on the Soviet-German front before the start of the operation.

In April 1946, a military scientific conference was held on the Berlin offensive. In one of his speeches, Lieutenant General K.F. Telegin cited data according to which the total number of tanks allegedly destroyed during the operation by the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front is more than 2 times higher than the number of tanks that the Germans had against the 1st Belorussian Front. front before the start of the operation. Also, in the speech, it was said about some overestimation (by about 15%) of the human losses suffered by the German troops.

These data allow us to speak about the overestimation of German losses in equipment on the part of the Soviet command. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that the 1st Ukrainian Front, during the operation, had to fight the troops of the 12th German army, which before the start of the battle took up defensive positions against the American troops and whose tanks were not taken into account in the initial calculation. Partly, the excess of the number of destroyed German tanks over the number available at the beginning of the battle is also explained by the high "returnability" of German tanks to service after being hit, which was due to the efficient work of the evacuation services for equipment from the battlefield, the presence of a large number of well-equipped repair units and the good maintainability of German tanks. ...

Operation results

Destruction of the largest grouping of German troops, the capture of the capital of Germany, the capture of the highest military and political leadership of Germany.
The fall of Berlin and the loss of the German leadership's ability to manage led to an almost complete cessation of organized resistance from the German armed forces.
The Berlin operation demonstrated to the Allies the high combat capability of the Red Army and was one of the reasons for canceling Operation Unthinkable, a plan for the Allies' war against the Soviet Union. However, this decision in the future did not affect the development of the arms race and the beginning of the Cold War.
Hundreds of thousands of people were freed from German captivity, including at least 200 thousand foreign citizens. Only in the zone of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the period from April 5 to May 8, 197,523 people were released from captivity, of which 68,467 were citizens of the allied states.

Opponent recall

The last commander of the defense of Berlin, General of Artillery G. Weidling, while in Soviet captivity, gave the following description of the actions of the Red Army in the Berlin operation:

I believe that the main features of this Russian operation, as in other operations, are the following:

Skillful choice of directions of the main blow.
Concentration and deployment of large forces, and primarily tank and artillery masses, in the sectors where the greatest success has been outlined, swift and energetic actions to expand the created gaps in the German front.
The use of various tactics, the achievement of moments of surprise, even in cases when our command has information about the upcoming Russian offensive and expects this offensive.
The exceptionally maneuverable leadership of the troops, the operation of the Russian troops is characterized by clarity of intentions, purposefulness and perseverance in the implementation of these plans.

Historical facts

The Berlin operation is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest battle in history. On both sides, about 3.5 million people took part in the battle, 52 thousand guns and mortars, 7750 tanks and 11 thousand aircraft.
Initially, the command of the 1st Belorussian Front planned to carry out an operation to capture Berlin in February 1945.
Among the prisoners of the concentration camp near Babelsberg liberated by the guardsmen of the 63rd Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade M.G. Fomichev was the former Prime Minister of France Edouard Herriot.
On April 23, Hitler, on the basis of a false denunciation, ordered the execution of the commander of the 56th Panzer Corps, General of Artillery G. Weidling. Upon learning of this, Weidling arrived at headquarters and achieved an audience with Hitler, after which the order to shoot the general was canceled, and he himself was appointed commander of the defense of Berlin. In the German feature film Bunker, General Weidling, receiving an order from the office for this appointment, says: "I would prefer to be shot."
On April 22, tankmen of the 5th Guards Tank Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army freed the commander of the Norwegian army, General Otto Ruge, from captivity.
On the 1st Belorussian Front, in the direction of the main attack, 358 tons of ammunition fell on one kilometer of the front, and the weight of one front-line ammunition exceeded 43 thousand tons.
During the offensive, the soldiers of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps under the command of Lieutenant General V.K.Baranov managed to find and capture the largest breeding stud farm, which the Germans hijacked from the North Caucasus in 1942.
The food rations given out to the inhabitants of Berlin at the end of hostilities, in addition to basic food products, included natural coffee delivered by a special train from the USSR.
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front freed from captivity almost the entire top military leadership of Belgium, including the chief of the general staff of the Belgian army.
The Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces established a medal "For the capture of Berlin", which was awarded to more than 1 million soldiers. 187 units and formations, the most distinguished during the storming of the enemy capital, were given the honorary title of "Berlin". More than 600 participants in the Berlin operation were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 13 people were awarded the 2nd Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Episodes 4 and 5 of the epic "Liberation" are dedicated to the Berlin operation.
The Soviet army involved 464,000 people and 1,500 tanks and self-propelled guns in the assault on the city itself.