Berlin operation: the final chord of the great war. Berlin operation (1945)

Strengths 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 Losses Soviet troops:
78,291 killed
274,184 injured
215.9 thousand units. small arms
1,997 tanks and self-propelled guns
2,108 guns and mortars
917 aircraft
Polish troops:
2,825 killed
6,067 injured Soviet data:
OK. 400 thousand killed
OK. 380 thousand captured

The Great Patriotic War
Invasion of the USSR Karelia Arctic Leningrad Rostov Moscow Sevastopol Barvenkovo-Lozovaya Kharkiv Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Rzhev Stalingrad Caucasus Velikie Luki Ostrogozhsk-Rossosh Voronezh-Kastornoye Kursk Smolensk Donbass Dnieper Right Bank Ukraine Leningrad-Novgorod Crimea (1944) Belarus Lviv-Sandomir Iasi-Chisinau Eastern Carpathians Baltics Courland Romania Bulgaria Debrecen Belgrade Budapest Poland (1944) Western Carpathians East Prussia Lower Silesia Eastern Pomerania Upper Silesia Vein Berlin Prague

Berlin strategic offensive operation- 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 line 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 the decline industrial production Germany. Difficulties in replacing the casualties suffered in the winter of 1944/45 increased. Nevertheless, the German armed forces 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, USA and Great Britain in the fall of 1944, the border of the Soviet occupation zone was supposed to pass 150 km west of Berlin. Despite this, Churchill put forward the idea of getting ahead of the Red Army and capturing Berlin, and then commissioned the development of a plan for a full-scale war against the USSR.

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 the Soviet Union became crucial.

USSR

The military-political situation that had developed by April 1945 required the Soviet command to prepare and carry out an operation in the shortest possible time 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.

Capture the capital of Germany, the city of Berlin
After 12-15 days of the operation, reach the Elbe River

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

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

Two brigades of river ships will assist the troops of the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies in crossing the Oder and breaking through enemy defenses on the Küstrin bridgehead
The third brigade will assist the troops of the 33rd Army in the Furstenberg area
Ensure mine defense of water transport routes.

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.

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 characterizing 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 disguised. Military echelons 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. Bad condition railways and an acute shortage of rolling stock did not allow full use of the capabilities of railway transport, so the main burden of transportation fell on road 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. A huge number of Volkssturm battalions were formed in Berlin and near it.

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 Kyustrin 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. 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

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

Germany

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 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 at the end of the day reached the southern bank of the Teltow Canal. There, encountering strong and well-organized enemy resistance, they were stopped.

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. Something else happened that same day significant event. An hour and a half later, General Baklanov's 34th Guards Corps of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops on the Elbe.

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; 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 engineering troops 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.

We had a chance to observe the work of sappers. Working up to your neck in ice water Among the explosions of shells and mines, they made a crossing. Every second they were threatened with death, but people understood their soldier’s duty and thought about one thing - to help their comrades on the west bank and thereby bring victory closer.

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 increase 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 General Busse's 9th Army 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 German 9th Army made desperate attempts to break through battle formations 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)

Soviet salvo rocket launchers Katyusha in Berlin

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 formidable anti-tank weapons. 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 advanced deeper into enemy 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 captured the Moltke Bridge. 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 14:25, 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 literally 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.

Helmut Weidling (left) and his staff officers surrender Soviet troops. Berlin. May 2, 1945

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 the categorical demand for unconditional surrender. At 18:00 on May 1, the new German government rejected the demand for unconditional surrender, and Soviet troops were forced to continue 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. Some 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, and 917 combat aircraft.

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




	Berlin, Germany
	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.
Opponents
	Germany

Commanders
I. V. Stalin	A. Hitler †
G. K. Zhukov	G. Heinrici
I. S. Konev
K. K. Rokossovsky	G. Weidling
Strengths 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, 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. Polish troops: 2825 killed, 6067 wounded	The whole group. Soviet data: OK. 400 thousand killed, approx. 380 thousand 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 replacing the casualties suffered in the winter of 1944/45 increased. Nevertheless, the German armed forces 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

USSR

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, the city of 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 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 filming, captured documents and interviews with prisoners, detailed diagrams, plans, maps, which were supplied to all command and staff levels. 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. 32 reconnaissance detachments with a strength of up to a reinforced rifle battalion each, over the course of two days on April 14 and 15, through combat they clarified the placement of enemy fire weapons, the deployment of their groups, determined the strongest and most vulnerabilities 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 large volume sapper-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 a continuous and complete supply of the advancing units with ammunition and fuel, the railway track in the occupied territory was changed to a 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. Front engineering troops under the leadership of Lieutenant General Blagoslavov the shortest possible time They pulled up and securely covered dozens of pontoons and hundreds of boats in the coastal zone, brought in timber for the construction of piers and bridges, made rafts, and laid roads through the marshy areas of the coast.

Disguise and disinformation

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.

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 did not allow full use of the capabilities of railway transport, so the main burden of transportation fell on road transport. The front was allocated 1,900 vehicles. The troops had to cover part of the route on foot.

Germany

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.

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 3300 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.

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 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 (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 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 the front line. 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:

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 its first tank attacks on the positions of the 5th Guards mechanized corps 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 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.

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.

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 General Busse's 9th Army 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 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

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, the losses of personnel only took into account the losses of military personnel and did not take into account 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.

Overstatement 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 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. In part, 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 knocked out, which was due to the efficient work of the services for evacuation of equipment from the battlefield, the presence of a large number of well-equipped repair units and the 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.
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.
From German captivity Hundreds of thousands of people were released, 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:

Skillful choice of directions for the main attack.
Concentration and deployment of large forces, and primarily tank and artillery masses, in areas where the greatest success was observed, quick and energetic actions to widen the created gaps in the German front.
The use of various tactical techniques, achieving moments of surprise, even in cases where our command has information about the upcoming Russian offensive and expects this offensive.
Exceptionally maneuverable troop leadership, the operation of the Russian troops is characterized by clarity of plans, purposefulness and perseverance in the implementation of these plans.

Historical facts

The Berlin operation is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most major 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 those liberated by the guards of the 63rd Chelyabinsk tank brigade M. G. Fomichev former French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot was a prisoner of a concentration camp near Babelsberg.
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 liberated almost all higher education from captivity military leadership 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 Gold Star medal of the 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.

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

Whose army would be the first to approach the German capital - already at the beginning of 1945, this question turned out to be a key one for the Allies. Each of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition sought to conquer Berlin before the others. Capturing the main lair of the enemy was not just prestigious: it opened up broad geopolitical prospects. Wanting to get ahead of the Red Army, the British and Americans joined the race to capture the German capital.

Race for Berlin

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

The “Berlin Question” was also discussed in Moscow. When on April 1, 1945, the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal, was summoned to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Georgy Zhukov and commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Ivan Konev, there was only one question on the agenda: who will take Berlin?

Road to Berlin

By that time Stalin has already received information that the Allies are preparing a group of troops under the command of Field Marshal to take the capital of Germany Bernarda Montgomery. Marshal Konev assured the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that Berlin would be taken by the Red Army. Zhukov announced the readiness of the 1st Belorussian Front to carry out this task, since it had enough forces and was aimed at the main city of the Third Reich from the shortest distance.

On the same day, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent to the American President Franklin Roosevelt telegram with the following content:

"Nothing will have such an effect psychological impact and would not cause such despair among all German resistance forces as an attack on Berlin. For the German people this will be the most convincing sign of defeat. On the other hand, if Berlin, lying in ruins, is allowed to withstand the Russian siege, then it should be taken into account that as long as the German flag flies there, Berlin will inspire resistance from all Germans under arms.

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

Besides, there is another aspect of the matter which you and I would do well to consider. The Russian armies will undoubtedly conquer all of Austria and enter Vienna. If they capture Berlin, will they not have a very exaggerated idea that they have made an overwhelming contribution to our common victory, and might this lead them into a frame of mind which will cause serious and very significant difficulties in the future? Therefore I believe that from a political point of view we should advance as far east as possible in Germany and that if Berlin comes within our reach we should certainly take it. This seems reasonable from a military point of view as well.”

"It's too high a price"

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

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

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

When planning the Berlin offensive operation, the Soviet command understood that heavy, stubborn battles could not be avoided. The enemy was still strong and had no intention of giving up.

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

This well-fortified and almost impregnable fortress was to be taken by storm by Soviet troops.

Under the spotlights

On April 16, 1945, two hours before dawn, the roar of more than 40 thousand guns and mortars announced the beginning of the final operation to defeat Nazi Germany. And shortly before the artillery preparation, 743 long-range bombers launched a massive attack on the enemy’s defenses. For 42 minutes, bombs rained down on the heads of the fascists. The power of the fire was enormous. On the first day of the operation alone, the front artillery used up 1 million 236 thousand shells (that’s almost 2.5 thousand railway cars).

Immediately after the artillery barrage, Soviet troops and the 1st Army of the Polish Army rushed forward. Powerful searchlights shone behind the advancing fighters, blinding the enemy. hung in the air soviet planes. Then, in just the first 24 hours, our pilots dropped over 1.5 thousand tons of bombs on the enemy. And in the first hours, the offensive of the 1st Belorussian Front developed successfully: infantry and tanks advanced 1.5–2 km.

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

But then serious difficulties began. The battles on the Seelow Heights, which dominated the surrounding area, were especially difficult. The heights were stormed by the 8th Guards Army of General Vasily Chuikov, whose connections moved extremely slowly. “By 13 o’clock,” recalled the marshal Georgy Zhukov, – I clearly understood that fire system The enemy’s defense here has largely survived, and in the battle formation in which we launched the attack and are conducting the offensive, we will not be able to take the Seelow Heights.”

The steep slopes of the Seelow Heights were dug with trenches and trenches. All approaches to them were covered with cross artillery and rifle-machine-gun fire. Individual buildings were turned into strongholds, barriers made of logs and metal beams were erected on the roads, and the approaches to them were mined. On both sides of the highway running from the city of Seelow to the west, there were anti-aircraft artillery, which was used for anti-tank defense.

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

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

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

But here another problem arose: the Germans could withdraw a group of their troops from the capital and thus preserve personnel and equipment. To prevent this from happening, the Headquarters ordered the commanders of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts to complete the encirclement of the entire Berlin enemy group no later than April 25.

In Hitler's bunker

Meanwhile, the German command made desperate efforts to prevent the encirclement of their capital. On the afternoon of April 22, the last operational meeting, at which Hitler agreed with the proposal of his generals to withdraw troops from the Western Front and throw them into the battle for Berlin. In connection with this, several operational formations (including the 12th Army of General Walter Wenck) was ordered to make a breakthrough to the capital.

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

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

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

The fortress city will be taken!

While the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front eliminated the enemy group surrounded near Berlin, units of the 1st Belorussian Front stormed the city itself. Back in early March, Hitler declared the capital of the Third Reich a fortified city. And now the Soviet troops needed to capture this fortress, and in an extremely short time.

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

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

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

The main role in street battles was played by assault groups and detachments. This is how they acted. While the assault squads, having penetrated the building, sought to rush out to the opposite part of it and begin an attack on the following objects, the supporting squad combed the building, destroying the remnants of the enemy garrison, after which it advanced behind the assault divisions. The reserve finally cleared the building of enemies, after which it either consolidated in it or followed the assault group, assisting it.

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

The fighting went on around the clock simultaneously on the ground, in underground communications and in the air. Taking turns, the assault units moved forward. Berlin was shrouded in smoke from fires, and the pilots had great difficulty distinguishing friends from foes. To support the assault troops, mainly dive bombers were used, and the best crews were selected. Fighter aircraft not only covered the troops, but also blocked the Berlin garrison from air supplies.

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

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

Flags over the Reichstag

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

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

On the morning of April 30, the 150th (General Vasily Shatilov) and 171st (Colonel Alexey Negoda) rifle divisions, with the support of the 23rd Tank Brigade, launched an assault on these fortifications. But the first attempt was unsuccessful. We had to bring hundreds of guns, tanks, self-propelled guns and rocket launchers to the Reichstag.

On April 30, 1945, at 6 p.m., the third assault on the Reichstag began. This attack was a success: the battalions of captains Stepan Neustroyev, Vasily Davydov and senior lieutenant Konstantina Samsonova broke into the building.

Everyone knows the story that the Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag by scouts Egorov And Kantaria. However, in fact, several red flags were placed over the Reichstag.

More than 600 soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army who took part in the storming of Berlin were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 1 million 141 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 187 units and formations received the names of Berlin. To commemorate this battle, the medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was established. It was awarded to 1 million 82 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army and the Polish Army

The first to reach the roof of the building were the soldiers of the captain's assault group. Vladimir Makov as part of Sgt. Mikhail Minin, senior sergeants Gazi Zagitova, Alexandra Lisimenko And Alexey Bobrov. At 22:40 a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin. The fighters attached it to a metal pipe-rod on the sculpture of the Goddess of Victory, located above the main entrance in the western part of the building. After some time, the fighters of Major’s assault group strengthened their flag on the same sculptural group Mikhail Bondar. Another red flag was placed on the western part of the Reichstag building by scouts of the 674th regiment under the command of Lieutenant Semyon Sorokin.

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

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

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

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

Berlin was taken. General Hans Krebs, having arrived at the location of Soviet troops, reported Hitler’s suicide, the composition of the new German government and conveyed an appeal Goebbels and Bormann to the main command of the Red Army with a request for a temporary cessation of hostilities in Berlin as a condition for peace negotiations between Germany and the USSR. The message was transmitted to Marshal Zhukov, who, in turn, reported everything to Moscow. Soon I called Stalin: “No negotiations other than unconditional surrender, either with Krebs, nor with other Nazis." With these words, Krebs went back to the bunker.

However, without waiting for the decision of their command, individual enemy garrisons began to surrender. By the end of May 1, the Reichstag garrison laid down its arms. And on May 2 at 6:30 a.m., the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling announced the unconditional surrender of all units defending the city. By 3 p.m., the remnants of the Berlin garrison—135 thousand people—surrendered.

Thus the last battle of the war ended victoriously.

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

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

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

On April 16, at 3 o'clock local time, aviation and artillery preparation began in the sector of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. After its completion, 143 searchlights were turned on to blind the enemy, and infantry, supported by tanks, went on the attack. Without encountering strong resistance, she advanced 1.5-2 kilometers. However, the further our troops advanced, the stronger the enemy’s resistance grew.

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

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

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

The fighting for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1. At 6:30 a.m. on May 2, the chief of defense of Berlin, artillery general G. Weidling, surrendered and gave the order to the remnants of the Berlin garrison to cease resistance. In the middle of the day, the Nazi resistance in the city ceased. On the same day, surrounded groups of German troops southeast of Berlin were eliminated.

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

Capture of Berlin. 1945 Documentary

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

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

The infantry and tanks of the 1st Belorussian Front began the attack before dawn under the illumination of anti-aircraft searchlights and advanced 1.5-2 km

With the onset of dawn on the Seelow Heights, the Germans came to their senses and fought with ferocity. Zhukov brings tank armies into battle

16 Apr 45 The troops of Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front encounter less resistance on the path of their advance and immediately cross the Neisse

The commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Konev, orders the commanders of his tank armies, Rybalko and Lelyushenko, to advance on Berlin

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

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

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

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

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front Zhukov spend the whole day breaking the 3rd line of enemy defense on the Oderen on the Seelow Heights

By the end of the day, Zhukov’s troops completed the breakthrough of the 3rd line of the Oder line on the Seelow Heights

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

Directive from the Supreme Command Headquarters to the commander of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts: “Treat the Germans better.” , Antonov

Another directive from Headquarters: about identification marks and signals when meeting Soviet armies and Allied troops

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

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

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

The 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies wedged into the city defensive perimeter of Berlin in the areas of Petershagen and Erkner

Hitler ordered the 12th Army, previously aimed at the Americans, to be turned against the 1st Ukrainian Front. It now has the goal of connecting with the remnants of the 9th and 4th Panzer armies, making their way south of Berlin to the west.

Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army broke into the southern part of Berlin and by 17.30 was fighting for Teltow - Konev’s telegram to Stalin

Hitler in last time refused to leave Berlin while there was such an opportunity. Goebbels and his family moved to a bunker under the Reich Chancellery (“Fuhrer’s bunker”)

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

In the area of Spremberg, Soviet troops eliminated the encircled group of Germans. Among the destroyed units tank division"Fuhrer's Guard"

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

Goering, who left Berlin, turned to Hitler on the radio, asking him to approve him at the head of the government. Received an order from Hitler removing him from the government. Bormann ordered Goering's arrest for treason

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

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

German 9th and 4th tank forces. armies are surrounded in the forests southeast of Berlin. Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front repulse the counterattack of the 12th German Army

Report: “In the Berlin suburb of Ransdorf there are restaurants where they “willingly sell” beer to our fighters for occupation stamps.” The head of the political department of the 28th Guards Rifle Regiment, Borodin, ordered the owners of Ransdorf restaurants to close them until the battle was over.

In the area of Torgau on the Elbe, Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian fr. met with the troops of the 12th American group General Bradley's armies

Having crossed the Spree, the troops of Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front and Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front are rushing towards the center of Berlin. Nothing can stop the rush of Soviet soldiers in Berlin

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in Berlin occupied Gartenstadt and Görlitz station, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied the Dahlem district

Konev turned to Zhukov with a proposal to change the demarcation line between their fronts in Berlin - the center of the city should be transferred to the front

Zhukov asks Stalin to honor the capture of the center of Berlin by the troops of his front, replacing Konev’s troops in the south of the city

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

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

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

When breaking through the barriers on the Berlin Kaiserallee, N. Shendrikov’s tank received 2 holes, caught fire, and the crew was disabled. The mortally wounded commander, gathering his last strength, sat down at the control levers and threw the flaming tank at the enemy gun.

Hitler's wedding to Eva Braun in a bunker under the Reich Chancellery. Witness - Goebbels. In his political will, Hitler expelled Goering from the NSDAP and officially named Grand Admiral Dönitz as his successor.

Soviet units are fighting for the Berlin metro

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

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

Several red banners were fixed in different places of the Reichstag - from regimental and divisional to homemade

Scouts of the 150th division Egorov and Kantaria were ordered to hoist the Red Banner over the Reichstag around midnight

Lieutenant Berest from Neustroev's battalion led the combat mission to plant the Banner over the Reichstag. Installed around 3.00, May 1

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

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

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front captured Bandenburg, in Berlin they cleared the areas of Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and 100 blocks

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

The commander arrived at the headquarters of Chuikov's army in Berlin. German General Staff Krebs, reported Hitler's suicide, proposed a truce. Stalin confirmed his categorical demand for unconditional surrender in Berlin. At 18 o'clock the Germans rejected it

At 18.30, due to the refusal of surrender, a fire strike was launched at the Berlin garrison. Mass surrender of Germans began

At 01.00, the radios 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, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance

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

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

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

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

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

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

During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet troops carried out the Berlin strategic offensive operation, the purpose of which was to defeat the main forces of the German army groups Vistula and Center, capture Berlin, reach the Elbe River and unite with the Allied forces.

The Red Army troops were defeated during January - March 1945 large groups Nazi troops in East Prussia, Poland and Eastern Pomerania, by the end of March reached a broad front to the Oder and Neisse rivers. After the liberation of Hungary and the occupation of Vienna by Soviet troops in mid-April fascist Germany was under attack from the Red Army from the east and south. At the same time, from the west, without encountering any organized German resistance, Allied troops advanced in the Hamburg, Leipzig and Prague directions.

The main forces of the Nazi troops acted against the Red Army. By April 16, there were 214 divisions (of which 34 tank and 15 motorized) and 14 brigades were on the Soviet-German front, and against the American-British troops the German command held only 60 poorly equipped divisions, of which five were tank. The Berlin direction was defended by 48 infantry, six tank and nine motorized divisions and many other units and formations (a total of one million people, 10.4 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns). From the air, ground troops covered 3.3 thousand combat aircraft.

The defense of the fascist German troops in the Berlin direction included the Oder-Neissen line 20-40 kilometers deep, which had three defensive lines, and the Berlin defensive area, which consisted of three ring contours - external, internal and urban. In total, the depth of defense with Berlin reached 100 kilometers; it was intersected by numerous canals and rivers, which served as serious obstacles for tank forces.

During the Berlin offensive operation, the Soviet Supreme High Command envisaged breaking through the enemy's defenses along the Oder and Neisse and, developing an offensive in depth, encircling the main group of fascist German troops, dismembering it and subsequently destroying it piece by piece, and then reaching the Elbe. For this, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal Georgy Zhukov and troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev were brought in. The operation was attended by the Dnieper military flotilla, part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet, and the 1st and 2nd armies of the Polish Army. In total, the Red Army troops advancing on Berlin numbered over two million people, about 42 thousand guns and mortars, 6250 tanks and self-propelled guns. artillery installations, 7.5 thousand combat aircraft.

According to the plan of the operation, the 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to capture Berlin and reach the Elbe no later than 12-15 days later. The 1st Ukrainian Front had the task of defeating the enemy in the Cottbus area and south of Berlin and on the 10-12th day of the operation to capture the line of Belitz, Wittenberg and further the Elbe River to Dresden. The 2nd Belorussian Front had to cross the Oder River, defeat the enemy's Stettin group and cut off the main forces of the German 3rd Tank Army from Berlin.

On April 16, 1945, after powerful aviation and artillery preparation, a decisive attack by troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts of the Oder-Neissen defensive line began. In the area of the main attack of the 1st Belorussian Front, where the offensive was launched before dawn, infantry and tanks, in order to demoralize the enemy, launched an attack in a zone illuminated by 140 powerful searchlights. The troops of the front's strike group had to successively break through several lines of deeply echeloned defense. By the end of April 17, they managed to break through the enemy’s defenses in the main areas near the Seelow Heights. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front completed the breakthrough of the third line of the Oder defense line by the end of April 19. On the right wing of the front's shock group, the 47th Army and the 3rd Shock Army successfully advanced to cover Berlin from the north and northwest. On the left wing, conditions were created to bypass the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group from the north and cut it off from the Berlin area.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Neisse River, broke through the enemy’s main defense line on the first day, and wedged 1-1.5 kilometers into the second. By the end of April 18, front troops completed the breakthrough of the Niessen defense line, crossed the Spree River and provided conditions for encircling Berlin from the south. In the Dresden direction, formations of the 52nd Army repelled an enemy counterattack from the area north of Görlitz.

The advanced units of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Ost-Oder on April 18-19, crossed the interfluve of the Ost-Oder and West Oder, and then began crossing the West Oder.

On April 20, artillery fire from the 1st Belorussian Front on Berlin marked the beginning of its assault. On April 21, tanks of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke into the southern outskirts of Berlin. On April 24, troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts united in the Bonsdorf area (southeast of Berlin), completing the encirclement of the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group. On April 25, tank formations of the fronts, having reached the Potsdam area, completed the encirclement of the entire Berlin group (500 thousand people). On the same day, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Elbe River and linked up with American troops in the Torgau area.

During the offensive, 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 pinned down the German 3rd Panzer Army, preventing it from launching a counterattack from the north against the Soviet forces encircling Berlin.

The Frankfurt-Guben group was destroyed by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts in the period from April 26 to May 1. The destruction of the Berlin group directly in the city continued until May 2. By 15:00 on May 2, enemy resistance in the city had ceased. The fighting with individual groups breaking through from the outskirts of Berlin to the west ended on May 5.

Simultaneously with the defeat of the encircled groups, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Elbe River on a wide front on May 7.

At the same time, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, successfully advancing in Western Pomerania and Mecklenburg, on April 26 captured the main strongholds of the enemy’s defense on the western bank of the Oder River - Poelitz, Stettin, Gatow and Schwedt and, launching a rapid pursuit of the remnants of the defeated 3rd tank army, on May 3 they reached the coast of the Baltic Sea, and on May 4 they advanced to the line of Wismar, Schwerin, and the Elde River, where they came into contact with British troops. On May 4-5, front troops cleared the islands of Wollin, Usedom and Rügen of the enemy, and on May 9 they landed on the Danish island of Bornholm.

The resistance of the Nazi troops was finally broken. On the night of May 9, the Act of Surrender of the Armed Forces of Nazi Germany was signed in the Karlshorst district of Berlin.

The Berlin operation lasted 23 days, the width of the combat front reached 300 kilometers. The depth of front-line operations was 100-220 kilometers, the average daily rate of attack was 5-10 kilometers. As part of the Berlin operation, the Stettin-Rostok, Seelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Stremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Ratenow front-line offensive operations were carried out.

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.

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

Goals of the parties

Germany

USSR

Operation plan

Regrouping of troops

Germany

Nature of defense

Composition and strengths of the parties

USSR

Germany

2nd Belorussian Front (April 20-May 8)

Liquidation of the Frankfurt-Guben group

Assault on Berlin (April 25 - May 2)

Losses of the parties

USSR

Germany

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

Goals of the parties

Germany

USSR

Operation plan

Preparing for surgery

USSR

Intelligence support

Engineering support

Disguise and disinformation

Regrouping of troops

Germany

Nature of defense

Composition and strengths of the parties

USSR

Germany

General course of hostilities

1st Belorussian Front (April 16-25)

1st Ukrainian Front (April 16-25)

2nd Belorussian Front (April 20-May 8)

Liquidation of the Frankfurt-Guben group

Assault on Berlin (April 25 - May 2)

Losses of the parties

USSR

Germany

German losses according to German sources

Overstatement of German losses

Results of the operation

Enemy recall

Historical facts

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

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