Berlin, Germany |
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The Red Army defeated the Berlin group of German troops and occupied the capital of Germany, Berlin. Victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in Europe. |
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Opponents |
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Germany |
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Commanders |
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I. V. Stalin |
A. Hitler † |
G. K. Zhukov |
G. Heinrici |
I. S. Konev |
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K. K. Rokossovsky |
G. Weidling |
Strengths of the parties |
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Soviet troops: 1.9 million people, 6,250 tanks, more than 7,500 aircraft. Polish troops: 155,900 people |
1 million people, 1500 tanks, more than 3300 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. |
The whole group. Soviet data: OK. 400 thousand killed, approx. 380 thousand were captured. The losses of the Volksturm, police, Todt organization, Hitler Youth, Imperial Railway Service, Labor Service (500-1,000 people in total) are unknown. |
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 the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted 23 days - from April 16 to May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced westward to a distance of 100 to 220 km. The width of the combat front is 300 km. As part of the operation, the following frontal offensive operations were carried out: Stettin-Rostok, Seelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Stremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Ratenow.
The military-political situation in Europe in the spring of 1945
In January-March 1945, troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, during the Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian, Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian operations, reached the border of the Oder and Neisse rivers. The shortest distance from the Küstrin bridgehead to Berlin was 60 km. Anglo-American troops completed the liquidation of the Ruhr group of German troops and by mid-April advanced units reached the Elbe. The loss of the most important raw material areas caused a decline in industrial production in Germany. Difficulties in making up for the casualties suffered in the winter of 1944/45 have increased. Nevertheless armed forces Germany still represented an impressive force. According to the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Red Army, by mid-April they included 223 divisions and brigades.
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 occupation zone was to pass 150 km west of Berlin. Despite this, Churchill put forward the idea of getting ahead of the Red Army and capturing Berlin.
Goals of the parties
Germany
The Nazi leadership tried to prolong the war in order to achieve a separate peace with England and the United States and split the anti-Hitler coalition. At the same time, holding the front against Soviet Union.
USSR
The military-political situation that had developed by April 1945 required the Soviet command to short time prepare and conduct an operation to defeat a group of German troops in the Berlin direction, capture Berlin and reach the Elbe River to join the Allied forces. The successful completion of this strategic task made it possible to thwart the plans of the Nazi leadership to prolong the war.
To carry out the operation, the forces of three fronts were involved: the 1st Belorussian, 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian, as well as the 18th Air Army of Long-Range Aviation, the Dnieper Military Flotilla and part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet.
1st Belorussian Front
- Capture the capital of Germany, Berlin
- After 12-15 days of the operation, reach the Elbe River
1st Ukrainian Front
- Deliver a cutting blow south of Berlin, isolate the main forces of Army Group Center from the Berlin group and thereby ensure the main attack of the 1st Belorussian Front from the south
- Defeat the enemy group south of Berlin and operational reserves in the Cottbus area
- In 10-12 days, no later, reach the Belitz - Wittenberg line and further along the Elbe River to Dresden
2nd Belorussian Front
- Deliver a cutting blow north of Berlin, protecting the right flank of the 1st Belorussian Front from possible enemy counterattacks from the north
- Press to the sea and destroy German troops north of Berlin
Dnieper military flotilla
- Two brigades of river ships will assist the troops of the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies in crossing the Oder and breaking through the enemy defenses of the Nakustrin bridgehead
- The third brigade will assist the troops of the 33rd Army in the Furstenberg area
- Ensure mine defense of water transport routes.
Red Banner Baltic Fleet
- Support the coastal flank of the 2nd Belorussian Front, continuing the blockade of Army Group Courland pressed to the sea in Latvia (Courland Pocket)
Operation plan
The operation plan provided for the simultaneous transition of troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts to the offensive on the morning of April 16, 1945. The 2nd Belorussian Front, in connection with the upcoming major regrouping of its forces, was supposed to launch an offensive on April 20, that is, 4 days later.
The 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow with the forces of five combined arms (47th, 3rd Shock, 5th Shock, 8th Guards and 3rd Army) and two tank armies from the Küstrin bridgehead in the direction of Berlin. The tank armies were planned to be brought into battle after the combined arms armies had broken through the second line of defense on the Seelow Heights. In the main attack area, an artillery density of up to 270 guns (with a caliber of 76 mm and above) was created per kilometer of the breakthrough front. In addition, front commander G.K. Zhukov decided to launch 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 - by the forces of the 69th and 33rd armies to Bonsdorf with the main task of preventing the retreat of the enemy 9th Army to Berlin.
The 1st Ukrainian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow with the forces of five armies: three combined arms (13th, 5th Guards and 3rd Guards) and two tank armies from the area of the city of Trimbel in the direction of Spremberg. An auxiliary strike 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 ended 50 km southeast of Berlin in the area of the city of Lübben, which allowed, if necessary, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front to strike Berlin from the south.
The commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, K.K. Rokossovsky, decided to deliver the main blow with the forces of the 65th, 70th and 49th armies in the direction of Neustrelitz. Separate tank, mechanized and cavalry corps of front-line subordination were to develop the success after the breakthrough of the German defense.
Preparing for surgery
USSR
Intelligence support
Reconnaissance aircraft took aerial photographs of Berlin, all approaches to it and defensive zones 6 times. In total, about 15 thousand aerial photographs were obtained. Based on the results of the shooting, captured documents and interviews with prisoners, detailed diagrams, plans, and maps were drawn up, which were supplied to all command and staff authorities. The military topographical service of the 1st Belorussian Front produced an accurate model of the city with its suburbs, which was used in studying issues related to the organization of the offensive, the general assault on Berlin and battles in the city center.
Two days before the start of the operation, reconnaissance in force was carried out throughout the entire zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. Over the course of two days on April 14 and 15, 32 reconnaissance detachments, each with a force of up to a reinforced rifle battalion, clarified the placement of enemy fire weapons, the deployment of his groups, and determined the strong and most vulnerable places of the defensive line.
Engineering support
During the preparation for the offensive, the engineering troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Lieutenant General Antipenko carried out a large amount of sapper and engineering work. By the beginning of the operation, often under enemy fire, 25 road bridges with a total length of 15,017 linear meters had been built across the Oder and 40 ferry crossings had been prepared. In order to organize continuous and full provision The advancing units used ammunition and fuel to change the railway track in the occupied territory to the Russian track almost all the way to the Oder. In addition, military engineers of the front made heroic efforts to strengthen the railway bridges across the Vistula, which were in danger of being demolished 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 to cross the Neisse River.
At the beginning of the offensive, the 2nd Belorussian Front had to cross the Oder, the width of which in some places reached six kilometers, so special attention was also paid to the engineering preparation of the operation. The engineering troops of the front, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Blagoslavov, in the shortest possible time pulled up and securely sheltered dozens of pontoons and hundreds of boats in the coastal zone, transported timber for the construction of piers and bridges, made rafts, and laid roads through the marshy areas of the coast.
Disguise and disinformation
When preparing the operation, special attention was paid to the issues of camouflage and achieving operational and tactical surprise. The front headquarters developed detailed action plans for disinformation and misleading the enemy, according to which preparations for an offensive by the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts were 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 clearly visible to the enemy. It was explained to all army personnel that the main task was stubborn defense. In addition, documents were planted at the enemy’s location characterizing the activities of troops in various areas front.
The arrival of reserves and reinforcement units was carefully disguised. Military trains with artillery, mortar, and tank units on Polish territory were disguised as trains transporting timber and hay on platforms.
When conducting reconnaissance, tank commanders from the battalion commander to the army commander dressed in infantry uniforms and, under the guise of signalmen, examined crossings and areas where their units would be concentrated.
The circle of knowledgeable persons was extremely limited. In addition to army commanders, only the chiefs of army staffs, heads of operational departments of army headquarters and artillery commanders were allowed to familiarize themselves with the Headquarters directive. Regimental commanders received tasks verbally three days before the offensive. Junior commanders and Red Army soldiers were allowed to announce the offensive mission two hours before the attack.
Regrouping of troops
In preparation for the Berlin operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, which had just completed the East Pomeranian operation, in the period from April 4 to April 15, 1945, had to transfer 4 combined arms armies over a distance of up to 350 km from the area of the cities of Danzig and Gdynia to the line of the Oder River and replace the armies of the 1st Belorussian Front there. The poor condition of the railways and the acute shortage of rolling stock prevented full use of the opportunities railway transport Therefore, the main burden of transportation fell on motor transport. The front was allocated 1,900 vehicles. The troops had to cover part of the route on foot.
Germany
The German command foresaw the offensive of the Soviet troops and carefully prepared to repel it. From the Oder to Berlin, a deeply layered defense was built, and the city itself was turned into a powerful defensive citadel. First-line divisions were replenished with personnel and equipment, and strong reserves were created in the operational depths. In Berlin and nearby it was formed great amount Volkssturm battalions.
Nature of defense
The basis of the defense was the Oder-Neissen defensive line and the Berlin defensive region. The Oder-Neisen line consisted of three defensive lines, and its total depth reached 20-40 km. The main defensive line had up to five continuous lines of trenches, and its front edge ran along the left bank of the Oder and Neisse rivers. A second defense line was created 10-20 km from it. It was the most equipped in engineering terms at the Seelow Heights - in front of the Küstrin bridgehead. The third stripe was located 20-40 km from the front 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 all-round defense. During the construction of the Oder-Neissen line, special attention was paid to the organization of anti-tank defense.
The saturation of defensive positions with enemy troops was uneven. The greatest density of troops was observed in front of the 1st Belorussian Front in a 175 km wide zone, where the defense was occupied by 23 divisions, a significant number of individual brigades, regiments and battalions, with 14 divisions defending against the Kyustrin bridgehead. In the 120 km wide offensive zone of the 2nd Belorussian Front, 7 infantry divisions and 13 separate regiments defended. There were 25 enemy divisions in the 390 km wide zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
In an effort to increase the resilience of their troops in defense, the Nazi leadership tightened repressive measures. So, on April 15, in his address to the soldiers of the eastern front, A. Hitler demanded that everyone who gave the order to withdraw or would withdraw without an order be shot on the spot.
Composition and strengths of the parties
USSR
1st Belorussian Front (commander 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 V. N. Gordov)
- 5th Guards Army (Colonel General Zhadov A.S.)
- 13th Army (Colonel General N.P. Pukhov)
- 28th Army (Lieutenant General A. A. Luchinsky)
- 52nd Army (Colonel General Koroteev K. A.)
- 3rd Guards Tank Army (Colonel General P. S. Rybalko)
- 4th Guards Tank Army (Colonel General D. D. Lelyushenko)
- 2nd Air Army (Colonel General of Aviation Krasovsky S.A.)
- 2nd Army of the Polish Army (Lieutenant General Sverchevsky K.K.)
- 25th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Fominykh E.I.)
- 4th Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces P. P. Poluboyarov)
- 7th Guards Mechanized Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Korchagin I.P.)
- 1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General V.K. Baranov)
2nd Belorussian Front (commander Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, chief of staff Colonel General A.N. Bogolyubov) consisting of:
- 2nd Shock Army (Colonel General I. I. Fedyuninsky)
- 65th Army (Colonel General Batov P.I.)
- 70th Army (Colonel General Popov V.S.)
- 49th Army (Colonel General Grishin I.T.)
- 4th Air Army (Colonel General of Aviation Vershinin K.A.)
- 1st Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Panov M.F.)
- 8th Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Popov A.F.)
- 3rd Guards Tank Corps (Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Panfilov A.P.)
- 8th Mechanized Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Firsovich A. N.)
- 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 V.F. Tributs)
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, the 1st Belorussian Front included German formations consisting of former captured Wehrmacht soldiers and officers who agreed to participate in the fight against the Nazi regime (Seydlitz troops)
Germany
Army Group "Vistula" under the command of Colonel General G. Heinrici, from April 28, General K. Student, consisting of:
- 3rd Tank Army (General of Tank Forces H. Manteuffel)
- 32nd Army Corps (Infantry General F. Schuck)
- Army Corps "Oder"
- 3rd SS Panzer Corps (SS Brigadeführer J. Ziegler)
- 46th Tank Corps (Infantry General M. Garais)
- 101st Army Corps (Artillery General W. Berlin, from April 18, 1945 Lieutenant General F. Sikst)
- 9th Army (Infantry General T. Busse)
- 56th Tank Corps (Artillery General G. Weidling)
- 11th SS Corps (SS-Obergruppenführer M. Kleinheisterkamp)
- 5th SS Mountain Corps (SS-Obergruppenführer F. Jeckeln)
- 5th Army Corps (Artillery General K. Weger)
Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal F. Scherner, consisting of:
- 4th Tank Army (General of Tank Forces F. Gräser)
- 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 Army (Infantry General W. Hasse)
Aviation support for the ground forces was provided by: 4th air fleet, 6th Air Fleet, Air Fleet "Reich".
Total: 48 infantry, 6 tank and 9 motorized divisions; 37 separate infantry regiments, 98 separate infantry battalions, as well as a large number of individual 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 Infantry General W. Wenck, which had previously occupied the defense 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. 9,000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1,500 BM-13 and BM-31 RS installations, 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 dazzling light stunned the enemy and at the same time illuminated the way for the advancing units. (German night vision systems Infrarot-Scheinwerfer 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.) For the first one and a half to two hours, the offensive of the Soviet troops developed successfully, individual formations reached the second defense line. 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 managed to capture individual strongholds, they failed to achieve decisive success. The powerful resistance unit equipped on the Zelovsky Heights turned out to be insurmountable for rifle formations. This jeopardized the success of the entire operation. In such a situation, the front commander, Marshal Zhukov, decided to bring the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies into battle. This was not provided for in the offensive plan, however, the stubborn resistance of the German troops required strengthening the penetrating ability of the attackers by introducing tank armies into battle. The course of the battle on the first day showed that the German command attached decisive importance to holding the Seelow Heights. To strengthen the defense in this sector, by the end of April 16, the operational reserves of Army Group Vistula were deployed. 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 German troops and repelling fierce counterattacks, by the end of April 19, front troops broke through the third defensive line and were able to develop an offensive on Berlin.
Real threat 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 establish a strong defense there. This plan was supported by the commander of Army Group Vistula, Colonel General Heinrici, but Hitler rejected this proposal and ordered the occupied lines to be held at all costs.
April 20 was marked by an artillery strike on Berlin, delivered by long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army. It was a kind of birthday gift 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 planted the first Soviet banner in Berlin. On the evening of April 21, the advanced units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army of P. S. Rybalko approached the city from the south. April 23 and 24 fighting in all directions took on a particularly fierce character. On April 23, the greatest success in the assault on Berlin was achieved by the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly. The warriors of this corps took possession of Karlshorst and part of Kopenick with a decisive assault and, reaching the Spree, crossed it on the move. The ships of the Dnieper military flotilla provided great assistance in crossing the Spree, transferring rifle units to the opposite bank under enemy fire. Although the pace of Soviet advance had slowed by April 24, the Nazis were unable to stop them. On April 24, the 5th Shock Army, fighting fiercely, 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 (16-25 April)
The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully. On April 16, early in the morning, a smoke screen was placed along the entire 390-kilometer front, blinding the enemy's forward observation posts. At 6:55 a.m., after a 40-minute artillery strike on the front edge of the German defense, reinforced battalions of the first echelon divisions began crossing the Neisse. Having quickly captured bridgeheads on the left bank of the river, they provided conditions for building bridges and crossing the main forces. During the first hours of the operation, 133 crossings were equipped by front engineering troops in the main direction of attack. With each passing hour, the amount of forces and means transported to the bridgehead increased. In the middle of the day, the attackers reached the second line of German defense. Sensing the threat of a major breakthrough, the German command, already on the first day of the operation, threw into battle not only its tactical, but also operational reserves, giving them the task of throwing the advancing Soviet troops into the river. However, by the end of the day, front troops broke through the main defense line on the 26 km front 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 long, the front troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, continued to widen and deepen the gap in the German defense. Aviation support for the advancing troops was provided by pilots of the 2nd Air Army. Attack aircraft, acting at the request of ground commanders, destroyed fire weapons and manpower of the enemy at cutting edge. Bomber aircraft destroyed suitable reserves. By the middle of April 17, the following situation had developed in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front: the tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko were marching west along a narrow corridor penetrated by troops of the 13th, 3rd and 5th Guards Armies. By the end of the day they approached the Spree and began crossing it. Meanwhile, in the secondary, Dresden, direction, the troops of the 52nd Army of General K.A. Koroteev and the 2nd Army The troops of Polish General K.K. Swierchevsky broke through the enemy’s tactical defenses and in two days of fighting advanced to a depth of 20 km.
Taking into account 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 Headquarters decided to turn the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front to Berlin. In his order to the army commanders Rybalko and Lelyushenko for the offensive, the front commander wrote:
Following 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 groups 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 was 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 rapid 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, infantry and tank units were urgently sent to the area of the cities of Zossen, Luckenwalde, and Jutterbog. Overcoming their stubborn resistance, Rybalko’s tankers reached the outer Berlin defensive perimeter 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 perimeter of Berlin, and by the end of the day reached the southern bank of the Teltovkanal. There, encountering strong and well-organized enemy resistance, they were stopped.
On the afternoon of April 22, a meeting of the top military leadership was held at Hitler's headquarters, at which it was decided to remove W. Wenck's 12th Army from the Western Front and send it to join the semi-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 is around the enemy’s 9th Army east and southeast of Berlin; the other is to the west of Berlin, around the units directly defending in the city.
The Teltow Canal was a fairly serious obstacle: a water-filled ditch 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 is an almost continuous wall of houses, bristling with fire, with walls a meter or more thick. Having assessed the situation, the Soviet command decided to carry out thorough preparations for crossing the Teltow Canal. All day on April 23, the 3rd Guards Tank Army prepared for the assault. By the morning of April 24, a powerful artillery group was concentrated on the southern bank of the Teltow Canal, with a density of up to 650 guns per kilometer of front, intended to destroy German fortifications on the opposite bank. Having suppressed the enemy defenses with a powerful artillery strike, the troops of the 6th Guards Tank Corps of Major General Mitrofanov successfully crossed the Teltow Canal and captured a bridgehead on its northern bank. On the afternoon of April 24, Wenck's 12th Army launched the first tank attacks on the positions of General Ermakov's 5th Guards Mechanized Corps (4th Guards Tank Army) and units of the 13th Army. All attacks were successfully repulsed with the support of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps of 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. On the same day, another significant event occurred. An hour and a half later, on the Elbe, the 34th Guards Corps of General Baklanov of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.
From April 25 to May 2, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles in three directions: units of the 28th Army, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies took part in the assault on Berlin; part of the forces of the 4th Guards Tank Army, together with the 13th Army, repelled 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 from the beginning of the operation, the command of Army Group Center sought to disrupt 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 back the troops of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army. On April 23, a new powerful 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 April 17 to 19, troops of the 65th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, under the command of Colonel General P.I. Batov, conducted reconnaissance in force and advanced detachments captured the Oder interfluve, thereby facilitating subsequent crossings of the river. On the morning of April 20, the main forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive: the 65th, 70th and 49th armies. 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 engineering troops of the army. Having established two 16-ton pontoon crossings by 1 p.m., the troops of this army captured a bridgehead 6 kilometers wide and 1.5 kilometers deep by the evening of April 20.
More modest success was achieved on the central sector of the front in the 70th Army zone. 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, persistently expanded bridgeheads on the western bank of the Oder. In the current situation, front commander K.K. Rokossovsky decided to send the 49th Army along the crossings of the right neighbor of the 70th Army, and then return it to its offensive zone. By April 25, as a result of fierce battles, 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 transported to the western bank of the Oder. At the first stage of the operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, through its actions, shackled the main forces of the 3rd German Tank Army, depriving it of the opportunity to help those fighting near Berlin. On April 26, formations of the 65th Army took Stettin by storm. Subsequently, the armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front, breaking enemy resistance and destroying suitable reserves, stubbornly advanced to the west. On May 3, Panfilov's 3rd Guards Tank Corps southwest of Wismar established contact with the advanced units of the 2nd British Army.
Liquidation of the Frankfurt-Guben group
By the end of April 24, formations of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front came into contact with units of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, thereby encircling the 9th Army of General Busse southeast of Berlin and cutting it off from the city. The surrounded group of German troops began to be called the Frankfurt-Gubensky group. Now the Soviet command was faced with the task of eliminating the 200,000-strong enemy group and preventing its breakthrough to Berlin or to the West. To accomplish the last task, the 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front took up active defense in the path of a possible breakthrough of 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 repeatedly made attempts to break out of the encirclement. By skillfully maneuvering and skillfully creating superiority in forces on narrow sections of the front, 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.
Assault on Berlin (April 25 - May 2)
At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin when the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army crossed the Havel River and linked up with units of the 328th Division of the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich. By that time, according to the Soviet command, the Berlin garrison numbered at least 200 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and 250 tanks. The city's defense was carefully thought out and well prepared. It was based on a system of strong fire, strongholds and resistance units. The closer to the city center, the denser the defense became. Massive stone buildings with thick walls gave it particular strength. The windows and doors of many buildings were sealed 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 faustpatrons, which in the context of street battles 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 to maneuver troops, as well as to shelter them from artillery and bomb attacks.
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 assault on Berlin. th 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, consisting of rifle battalions or companies, reinforced with tanks, artillery and sappers. The actions of assault troops, 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 that had deeply advanced to 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 through” 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. Ya. Samsonov the Moltke Bridge was captured. At dawn on April 30, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, adjacent to the parliament building, was stormed at the cost of considerable losses. The path to the Reichstag was open.
On April 30, 1945, at 21.30, units of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Major General V.M. Shatilov and the 171st Infantry Division under the command of Colonel A.I. Negoda stormed the main part of the Reichstag building. The remaining Nazi units offered stubborn resistance. We 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 did the Reichstag garrison capitulate.
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. The message was immediately transmitted to G.K. Zhukov, who himself called Moscow. 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 Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor.
At one o'clock in the morning 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 envoys to the Potsdam Bridge.” A German officer who arrived at the appointed place, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance. At 6 a.m. on May 2, Artillery General 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 a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, delivered to enemy 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.
Losses of the parties
USSR
From April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which 78,291 were irretrievable. The losses of Polish troops during the same period amounted to 8,892 people, of which 2,825 were irretrievable. The losses of military equipment amounted to 1,997 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,108 guns and mortars, 917 combat aircraft, 215.9 thousand small arms.
Germany
According to combat reports from the Soviet fronts:
- Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in the period from April 16 to May 13
killed 232,726 people, captured 250,675
- Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the period from April 15 to 29
killed 114,349 people, captured 55,080 people
- Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the period from April 5 to May 8:
killed 49,770 people, captured 84,234 people
Thus, according to reports from the Soviet command, the losses of German troops were about 400 thousand people killed and about 380 thousand people captured. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.
Also, according to the assessment of the Soviet command, the total number of troops that emerged from the encirclement in the Berlin area does not exceed 17,000 people with 80-90 units of armored vehicles.
German losses according to German sources
According to German data, 45 thousand German troops took part in the defense of Berlin itself, of which 22 thousand people died. Germany's losses in killed during the entire Berlin operation amounted to about one hundred thousand military personnel. It is necessary to take into account that data on losses in 1945 in the OKW were determined by calculation. Due to violations of systematic documentation and reporting, violations of troop control, the reliability of this information is very low. In addition, according to the rules adopted in the Wehrmacht, losses personnel Only the losses of military personnel were taken into account and the losses of troops of allied states and foreign formations that fought as part of the Wehrmacht, as well as paramilitary formations serving the troops, were not taken into account.
Overestimation of 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.
- Between April 15 and April 29, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front destroyed 1,067 tanks and captured 432 tanks and self-propelled guns;
- Between April 5 and May 8, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front destroyed 195 and captured 85 tanks and self-propelled guns.
In total, according to the fronts, 3,592 tanks and self-propelled guns were destroyed and captured, which is more than 2 times 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 dedicated to the Berlin offensive operation. 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 was more than 2 times greater than the number of tanks the Germans had against the 1st Belorussian Front front before the start of the operation. The speech also spoke of a slight overestimation (by about 15%) of the casualties suffered by German troops.
These data allow us to talk about the overestimation of German losses in equipment by the Soviet command. On the other hand, it is necessary to take into account that the 1st Ukrainian Front, during the operation, had to fight with the troops of the 12th German Army, which before the start of the battle took up defensive positions against American troops and whose tanks were not taken into account in the initial calculation. Partly, the excess of the number of knocked out German tanks over the number available at the beginning of the battle is also explained by the high “return” of German tanks to service after being knocked out, which was due to the efficient work of the services for evacuation of equipment from the battlefield, the presence large number well-equipped repair units and good maintainability of German tanks.
Results of the operation
- Destruction of the largest group of German troops, capture of the capital of Germany, capture of the highest military and political leadership of Germany.
- The fall of Berlin and the loss of the German leadership's ability to govern led to the almost complete cessation of organized resistance on the part of 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 the cancellation of Operation Unthinkable, the Allied war plan against the Soviet Union. However, this decision did not subsequently influence the development of the arms race and the beginning of the Cold War.
- Hundreds of thousands of people were released from German captivity, including at least 200 thousand citizens of foreign countries. In the zone of the 2nd Belorussian Front alone, 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.
Enemy recall
The last commander of the defense of Berlin, artillery general 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:
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Historical facts
- The Berlin operation is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest battle in history. About 3.5 million people, 52 thousand guns and mortars, 7,750 tanks and 11 thousand aircraft took part in the battle on both sides.
- 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, based on a false denunciation, gave the order to execute the commander of the 56th Panzer Corps, Artillery General G. Weidling. Having learned about this, Weidling arrived at headquarters and obtained 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 for this appointment at the chancellery, says: “I would prefer to be shot.”
- On April 22, tank crews 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, there were 358 tons of ammunition per kilometer of 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, stolen by the Germans from North Caucasus in 1942.
- The food rations given to Berlin residents 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 senior military leadership of Belgium, including the chief of the general staff of the Belgian army.
- The Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces established the medal “For the Capture of Berlin,” which was awarded to more than 1 million soldiers. 187 units and formations that most distinguished themselves during the assault on the enemy capital were given the honorary name “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 medal " Golden Star» Hero of the Soviet Union.
- Episodes 4 and 5 of the film 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.
Soviet operation plan Supreme High Command was to deliver several powerful blows on a wide front, dismember the enemy’s Berlin group, encircle and destroy it piece by piece. The operation began on April 16, 1945. After powerful artillery and air 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 cross the Neisse River. Despite the fierce resistance of the enemy, Soviet troops broke through his defenses.
On April 20, long-range artillery fire from the 1st Belorussian Front on Berlin marked the beginning of its assault. By the evening of April 21, his shock units reached the northeastern outskirts of the city.
The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a rapid maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 21, having advanced 95 kilometers, 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 shock group of the 1st Ukrainian Front quickly 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 group (500 thousand people).
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Oder and, having broken through the enemy’s defenses, advanced to a depth of 20 kilometers by April 25. They firmly pinned down the 3rd German Tank Army, preventing it from being used on the approaches to Berlin.
The Nazi group in Berlin, despite the 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 combat broke out in subway tunnels, underground communication structures and communication passages. The basis of the combat formations of rifle and tank units during the fighting in the city were assault detachments and groups. Most of the artillery (up to 152 mm and 203 mm guns) was assigned to rifle units for direct fire. Tanks operated as part of both rifle formations and tank corps and armies, promptly subordinate to the command of combined arms armies or operating in their own offensive zone. Attempts to use tanks independently led to heavy losses from artillery fire and faustpatrons. Due to the fact that Berlin was shrouded in smoke during the assault, the massive use of bomber aircraft was often difficult. The most powerful strikes on military targets in the city were carried out by aviation on April 25 and on the night of April 26; 2,049 aircraft took part in these strikes.
By April 28, only the central part remained in the hands of the defenders of Berlin, 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 continuously strengthen. It 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 barriers were erected, and machine gun and artillery firing points were equipped.
On April 30, troops of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front began fighting for the Reichstag, which immediately became extremely fierce. Only in the evening, after repeated attacks, Soviet soldiers broke into the building. The Nazis put up fierce resistance. Hand-to-hand combat broke out on the stairs and in the corridors every now and then. The assault units, step by step, room by room, floor by floor, cleared the Reichstag building of 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, holed up in basement compartments, capitulated only on the night of May 2.
In the battles for the Reichstag, the enemy lost more than 2 thousand soldiers and officers 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 Berlin defense centers surrendered: the Spandau citadel and the Flakturm I (Zoobunker) concrete anti-aircraft defense tower.
By 15:00 on May 2, enemy resistance had completely ceased, the remnants of the Berlin garrison surrendered. total number more than 134 thousand people.
During the fighting, out of approximately 2 million Berliners, about 125 thousand died, and 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 had moderate damage. More than a third of metro stations were flooded and destroyed, 225 bridges were blown up by Nazi troops.
The fighting with individual groups breaking through from the outskirts of Berlin to the west ended on May 5. 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 group of enemy troops in the history of wars. They defeated 70 enemy infantry, 23 tank and mechanized divisions and captured 480 thousand people.
The Berlin operation cost the Soviet troops dearly. Their irretrievable 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
Berlin 1945 was largest city Reich and its center. Here were the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, the Reich Chancellery, the headquarters of most armies and many other administrative buildings. By spring, Berlin was home to more than 3 million residents and about 300 thousand deported civilians from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The entire top of Nazi Germany remained here: Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Goering and others.
Preparing 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.
The USSR allies refused to participate in the operation. Berlin in 1945 represented an extremely important strategic goal. In addition, the fall of the city would invariably lead to a victory in propaganda terms. The Americans developed a plan for the assault back in 1944. After consolidating the troops in Normandy, it was planned to make a rush 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. 460 thousand people were concentrated for the strike, and Polish formations also took part.
City defense
The defense of Berlin in 1945 was prepared very carefully. The garrison numbered over 200 thousand people. It is quite 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. Every building was turned into a fortress. Barricades were built on the streets. Almost the entire population was obliged to take part in the construction of engineering structures. Concrete bunkers were hastily installed on the approaches to the city.
Berlin in 1945 was defended by the best troops of the Reich, including the SS. The so-called Volkssturm was also created - militia units recruited from civilians. They were actively armed with Faust cartridges. This is a single-shot anti-tank gun that fires cumulative projectiles. Machine gun crews were located in buildings and simply on city streets.
Offensive
Berlin in 1945 had already been under regular bombing for several months. In 1944, raids by the British and Americans became more frequent. Before this, in 1941, on the personal orders of Stalin, a number of secret operations were carried out by Soviet aviation, as a result of which a number of bombs were dropped on the city.
On April 25, massive artillery preparation began. Soviet aviation ruthlessly suppressed firing points. Howitzers, mortars, and MLRS hit Berlin with direct fire. On April 26, the fiercest fighting of the entire war began in the city. For the Red Army, the density of the city's buildings was a huge problem. It was extremely difficult to advance due to the abundance of barricades and dense fire.
Large losses in armored vehicles were caused by many Volkssturm anti-tank groups. To take one city block, it was first treated with artillery.
The fire stopped only when the infantry approached the German positions. Then the tanks destroyed the stone buildings blocking the path, and the Red Army moved on.
Liberation of Berlin (1945)
Marshal Zhukov ordered to use the experience of the Stalingrad battles. In a similar situation, Soviet troops successfully used small mobile groups. Several armored vehicles, a group of sappers, mortarmen and artillerymen were attached to the infantry. Also, sometimes flamethrowers were included in such a unit. They were needed to destroy the enemy hidden 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 concentrated in a small area in the city center. A ditch was dug around the building, making a tank breakthrough impossible. All available artillery fired at the building. On April 30, shells breached the Reichstag. At 14:25 a red flag was raised over the buildings.
The photograph that captured this moment would later become one of
The Fall of Berlin (1945)
After the capture of the Reichstag, the Germans began to flee en masse. Chief of the General Staff Krebs requested a ceasefire. Zhukov conveyed the proposal of the German side personally to Stalin. The commander-in-chief demanded only the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The Germans rejected such an ultimatum. Immediately after this, heavy fire fell on Berlin. The fighting continued for several more days, as a result of which the Nazis were finally defeated and ended in Europe. in Berlin in 1945 showed the whole world the power of the liberating Red Army and the Soviet people. The capture of the Nazi lair has forever remained one of the most important moments in the history of mankind.
The capture of Berlin was the necessary final point in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people.
The enemy, who came to Russian soil and brought incredible losses, terrible destruction, plunder of cultural property and left behind scorched territories, had to not only be expelled.
He must be defeated and defeated on his own soil. During all four bloody years of the war, the Soviet people associated it as a lair and stronghold of Hitlerism.
Complete and final victory in this war was to end with the capture of the capital of Nazi Germany. And it was the Red Army that had to complete this victorious operation.
This was demanded not only by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin, but it was necessary for the entire Soviet people.
Battle of Berlin
The final operation of World War II began on April 16, 1945 and ended on May 8, 1945. The Germans defended themselves fanatically and desperately in Berlin, which had turned into a fortress city by order of the Wehrmacht.
Literally every street was prepared for a long and bloody battle. 900 square kilometers, including not only the city itself, but also its suburbs, were turned into a well-fortified area. All sectors of this area were connected by a network of underground passages.
The German command hastily removed troops from the Western Front and transferred them to Berlin, sending them against the Red Army. The allies of the Soviet Union in the anti-Hitler coalition planned to take Berlin first; this was their priority task. But for the Soviet command it was also the most important.
Intelligence provided the Soviet command with a plan of the Berlin fortified area, and on the basis of this a plan was drawn up military operation for the capture of Berlin. Three fronts under the command of G.K. took part in the capture of Berlin. a, K.K. and I.S. Koneva.
With the forces of these fronts, it was necessary to gradually break through, crush and crush the enemy’s defenses, encircle and dismember the main forces of the enemy, and squeeze the fascist capital into a ring. An important aspect of this operation, which was supposed to bring tangible results, was a night attack using searchlights. Previously, the Soviet command had already used a similar practice and it had a significant effect.
The amount of ammunition used for shelling was almost 7 million. A huge number of manpower - more than 3.5 million people were involved in this operation on both sides. It was the largest operation of times. Almost all forces on the German side took part in the defense of Berlin.
Not only professional military personnel, but also militia took part in the battles, regardless of age and physical abilities. The defense consisted of three lines. The first line included natural obstacles - rivers, canals, lakes. Large-scale mining was used against tanks and infantry - about 2 thousand mines per sq. km.
A huge number of tank destroyers with Faust cartridges were used. The assault on Hitler's citadel began on April 16, 1945 at 3 a.m. with a strong artillery attack. After its completion, the Germans began to be blinded by 140 powerful searchlights, which helped to successfully carry out an attack by tanks and infantry.
After just four days of fierce fighting, the first line of defense was crushed and the fronts of Zhukov and Konev closed a ring around Berlin. During the first stage, the Red Army defeated 93 German divisions and captured almost 490 thousand Nazis. A meeting between Soviet and American soldiers took place on the Elbe River.
The Eastern Front merged with the Western Front. The second defensive line was considered the main one and ran along the outskirts of the suburbs of Berlin. Anti-tank obstacles and numerous barbed wire barriers were erected on the streets.
Fall of Berlin
On April 21, the second line of defense of the Nazis was crushed and fierce, bloody battles were already taking place on the outskirts of Berlin. German soldiers they fought with the desperation of the doomed and surrendered extremely reluctantly, only if they realized the hopelessness of their situation. The third line of defense ran along the circular railway.
All the streets that led to the center were barricaded and mined. Bridges, including the metro, are prepared for explosions. After a week of brutal street fighting, on April 29, Soviet fighters began storming the Reichstag, and on April 30, 1945, the Red Banner was hoisted over it.
On May 1, the Soviet command received news that he had committed suicide the day before. General Krabs, Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, was brought to the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army with a white flag and negotiations for an armistice began. On May 2, the Berlin Defense Headquarters ordered an end to resistance.
The German troops stopped fighting and Berlin fell. More than 300 thousand killed and wounded - such losses were suffered by Soviet troops during the capture of Berlin. On the night of May 8-9, an act of unconditional surrender was signed between defeated Germany and members of the anti-Hitler coalition. The war in Europe was over.
conclusions
By taking Berlin, which symbolized for all progressive humanity the stronghold of fascism and Hitlerism, the Soviet Union confirmed its leading role in the Second World War. The victorious defeat of the Wehrmacht led to complete surrender and the fall of the existing regime in Germany.
This article briefly describes the Battle of Berlin - the decisive and final operation of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War. It consisted of the final destruction of the fascist army and the capture of the capital of Germany. The successful completion of the operation marked the victory of the Soviet Union and the whole world over fascism.
Plans of the parties before the operation
By April 1945, as a result of a successful offensive, Soviet troops were in close proximity to the German capital. The Battle of Berlin was important not only militarily, but also ideologically. The Soviet Union sought, ahead of its allies, to capture the capital of Germany in a short time. Soviet troops had to valiantly complete the bloody war by hoisting their banner over the Reichstag. The desired end date for the war was April 22 (Lenin's birthday).
Hitler, realizing that the war was lost in any case, wanted to resist to the end. It is unknown what mental state Hitler was in at the end of the war, but his actions and statements seem crazy. Berlin, he said, is becoming the last bastion, the citadel of the German nation. It must be protected by every German capable of bearing arms. The Battle of Berlin should be a triumph of fascism, and this would stop the advance of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the Fuhrer argued that the best Germans died in previous battles, and the German people never fulfilled their world mission. One way or another, fascist propaganda bore fruit until the very end of the war. The Germans showed exceptional tenacity and courage in the final battles. Fear of expected revenge played an important role Soviet soldiers for the atrocities of the Nazis. Even realizing that victory was no longer possible, the Germans resisted, hoping for surrender to Western troops.
Balance of power
Soviet troops, having approached Berlin to a distance of about 50 km, constituted an impressive offensive force. The total number was about 2.5 million people. The operation involved: 1st Belorussian (Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (Konev) fronts. A 3-4 times superiority in military equipment was concentrated against the defenders of Berlin. The Soviet army accumulated great experience conducting military operations, including assaults on fortified cities. There was great motivation among the soldiers to end the war victoriously
German troops (Army Groups Vistula and Center) numbered about 1 million people. Berlin was surrounded by three well-fortified defense rings. The most protected area was in the Seelow Heights area. The Berlin garrison itself (commander - General Weidling) consisted of 50 thousand people. The city was divided into eight defense sectors (around the circumference), plus a central fortified sector. After the encirclement of Berlin by Soviet troops, the number of defenders, according to different estimates ranged from 100 to 300 thousand people. Among them, the most combat-ready were the remnants of the defeated troops defending the suburbs of Berlin, as well as the bloodless garrison of the city. The remaining defenders were hastily recruited from the residents of Berlin, forming units of the people's militia (Volkssturm), mainly old people and children over 14 years old, which simply did not have time to go through any military training. The situation was complicated by the fact that there was an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition. Information is provided that by the beginning of the immediate battle for Berlin, there was one rifle for every three defenders. Only faust cartridges were sufficiently sufficient, which really became a serious problem for Soviet tanks.
Construction of the city's defenses began late and was not fully completed. However, the assault big city always presents great difficulties, since it does not allow full use of heavy equipment. Houses turned into a kind of fortress, many bridges, an extensive metro network - these are the factors that helped hold back the onslaught of Soviet troops.
Stage I (start of operation)
The main role in the operation was assigned to the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal Zhukov, whose task was to storm the most fortified Seelow Heights and enter the German capital. The Battle of Berlin began on April 16 with a powerful artillery bombardment. The Soviet command was the first to use powerful searchlights to blind and disorganize the enemy. This, however, did not bring the desired results and had only a certain psychological factor. German troops offered stubborn resistance, and the pace of the offensive was lower than expected. The opposing sides suffered huge losses. However, the superiority of the Soviet forces began to show, and by April 19, in the main attack direction, the troops broke the resistance of the third ring of defense. Conditions had developed for the encirclement of Berlin from the north.
The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front operated in the southern direction. The offensive also began on April 16 and immediately made it possible to advance far into the depths of the German defense. On April 18, tank armies crossed the river. Spree and launched an attack on Berlin from the south.
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front were supposed to cross the river. Oder and through his actions provide support for Marshal Zhukov to cover Berlin from the north. On April 18-19, the front launched an offensive and achieved significant success.
By April 19, the combined efforts of three fronts had broken the main enemy resistance, and the opportunity arose for the complete encirclement of Berlin and the defeat of the remaining groups.
Stage II (encirclement of Berlin)
Since April 19, the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts have been developing an offensive. Already on April 20, artillery launched its first strikes on Berlin. The next day, troops enter the northern and southeastern areas of the city. On April 25, the tank armies of two fronts united, thereby encircling Berlin. On the same day there is a meeting between Soviet troops and allies on the river. Elbe. This meeting had great importance, as a symbol of the joint struggle against the fascist threat. The garrison of the capital is completely cut off from the rest of the German groups. The remnants of the Army Groups "Center" and "Vistula", which formed the outer lines of defense, find themselves in cauldrons and are partially destroyed, surrender, or attempt to break through to the west.
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front pin down the 3rd Tank Army and thereby deprive it of the opportunity to launch a counterattack.
Stage III (completion of the operation)
The Soviet troops were faced with the task of encircling and destroying the remaining German forces. The victory over the largest - the Frankfurt-Guben grouping - was decisive. The operation took place from April 26 to May 1 and ended in the almost complete destruction of the group.
About 460 thousand Soviet soldiers took part directly in the battle for Berlin. By April 30, the defending forces were cut into four parts. The defense of the Reichstag was fierce, battles were fought for literally every room. Finally, on the morning of May 2, the garrison commander, General Weidling, signed an act of unconditional surrender. This was announced through loudspeakers throughout the city.
Soviet troops on a wide front reached the river. Elbe, as well as to the coast of the Baltic Sea. A regrouping of forces began for the final liberation of Czechoslovakia.
On the night of May 9, 1945, representatives of Germany, the USSR and the allies signed an act of complete and unconditional surrender of Germany. Humanity celebrated the victory over the greatest threat to the whole world - fascism.
Evaluation and significance of the Battle of Berlin
The capture of Berlin is assessed ambiguously in historical science. Soviet historians talked about genius Berlin operation, its careful development. In the post-perestroika period, they pointed out unjustified losses, the pointlessness of the assault, and the fact that there were practically no defenders left. The truth is contained in both statements. The last defenders of Berlin were significantly inferior in strength to the attackers, but do not forget about the power of Hitler's propaganda, forcing people to give their lives for the Fuhrer. This explains the exceptional tenacity in defense. The Soviet troops indeed suffered heavy losses, but the battle for Berlin and the hoisting of the flag at the Reichstag were needed by the people as a logical result of their incredible suffering during the war years.
The Berlin operation was the final stage of the struggle of the leading world powers against the fascist regime of Germany. The main culprit for unleashing the bloody war was defeated. The main ideologist - Hitler committed suicide, the top leaders of the Nazi state were captured or killed. Victory in World War II was just around the corner. For some time (before the start Cold War) humanity felt its unity and the possibility of joint action in the face of serious danger.
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