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 link up with the Allied forces.

The troops of the Red Army, having defeated large groups during January - March 1945 Nazi troops in East Prussia, Poland and East Pomerania, by the end of March they reached the Oder and Neisse rivers on a broad front. After the liberation of Hungary and the occupation of Vienna by Soviet troops in mid-April, Nazi 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, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and 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 irrecoverable losses amounted to 78,291 people, and sanitary - 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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Berlin offensive became one of the very last operations of the Great Patriotic War and one of the most famous. During it, the Red Army took the capital of the Third Reich - Berlin, defeated the last, most powerful forces of the enemy and forced him to capitulate.

The operation lasted 23 days, from April 16 to May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced 100-220 km westward. Within its framework, private offensive operations were carried out: Stettin-Rostok, Seelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Stremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Ratenow. Three fronts took part in the operation: 1st Belorussian (G.K. Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (K.K. Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (I.S. Konev).

Intent, plans of the parties

The idea of ​​the operation was determined at Headquarters back in November 1944; it was refined during the Vistula-Oder, East Prussian, and Pomeranian operations. They also took into account the actions on the Western Front and the actions of the Allies: at the end of March - beginning of April they reached the Rhine and began to cross it. The Allied High Command planned to capture the Ruhr industrial region, then reach the Elbe and launch an offensive in the Berlin direction. At the same time, in the south, American-French troops planned to capture the areas of Stuttgart and Munich and enter the central parts of Czechoslovakia and Austria.

At the Crimean Conference, the Soviet occupation zone was supposed to go west of Berlin, but the allies planned to launch the Berlin operation themselves, and there was a high probability of a separate conspiracy with Hitler or his military to surrender the city to the United States and England.

Moscow had serious concerns; the Anglo-American troops encountered almost no serious resistance in the West. In mid-April 1945, American radio commentator John Grover reported: “The Western Front virtually no longer exists.” The Germans, having retreated beyond the Rhine, did not create a powerful defense; in addition, the main forces were transferred to the east, and even in the most difficult moments, forces were constantly taken from the Wehrmacht Ruhr group and transferred to the Eastern Front. Therefore, the Rhine was surrendered without serious resistance.

Berlin tried to prolong the war, holding back the onslaught of Soviet armies. At the same time conducting secret negotiations with Westerners. The Wehrmacht built a powerful defense from the Oder to Berlin; the city itself was a huge fortress. Operational reserves were created, in the city and surrounding areas there were militia units (Volkssturm battalions); in April there were 200 Volkssturm battalions in Berlin alone. The basic defense centers of the Wehrmacht were the Oder-Neissen defensive line and the Berlin defensive region. On the Oder and Neisse, the Wehrmacht created three defensive zones 20-40 km deep. The most powerful fortifications of the second zone were on the Seelow Heights. The Wehrmacht engineering units made excellent use of all natural obstacles - lakes, rivers, heights, etc., turned populated areas into strongholds, Special attention was devoted to anti-tank defense. The enemy created the greatest density of defense in front of the 1st Belorussian Front, where in a 175 km wide zone the defense was occupied by 23 Wehrmacht divisions and a significant number of smaller units.

Offensive: milestones

At 5 o'clock in the morning on April 16, the 1st Belorussian Front, in a sector of 27 km (breakthrough zone), spent 25 minutes using more than 10 thousand artillery barrels, rocket systems, and mortars, destroying the first line, then transferred fire to the second line of enemy defense. After this, 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on to blind the enemy, the first strip was penetrated in one and a half to two hours, and in some places they reached the second. But then the Germans woke up and brought up their reserves. The battle became even more fierce; our rifle units could not overcome the defense of the Seelow Heights. In order not to disrupt the timing of the operation, Zhukov brought into battle the 1st (M. E. Katukov) and 2nd (S. I. Bogdanov) Guards Tank Armies, while the German command at the end of the day threw the operational reserves of the Vistula Army Group into battle " All day and night of the 17th there was a fierce battle; by the morning of the 18th, units of the 1st Belorussian, with the help of the 16th and 18th air armies, were able to take the heights. By the end of April 19, the Soviet armies, breaking through the defenses and repelling the enemy’s fierce counterattacks, broke through the third line of defense and were able to strike at Berlin itself.

On April 16, a smoke screen was placed on the 390-kilometer front of the 1st Ukrainian Front, an artillery attack began at 6.15, and at 6.55 the advanced units crossed the Neisse River and captured bridgeheads. The establishment of crossings for the main forces began; in the first hours alone, 133 crossings were established; by the middle of the day, the troops broke through the first line of defense and reached the second. The Wehrmacht command, understanding the gravity of the situation, already on the first day threw tactical and operational reserves into battle, setting the task of driving our forces across the river. But by the end of the day, Soviet units broke through the second line of defense, and on the morning of the 17th the 3rd (P.S. Rybalko) and 4th (D.D. Lelyushenko) Guards Tank Armies crossed the river. Our armies were supported from the air by the 2nd Air Army, the breakthrough continued to expand all day, and by the end of the day the tank armies reached the Spree River and immediately began crossing it. In the secondary, Dresden direction, our troops also broke through the enemy front.

Considering the fierce resistance of the enemy in the strike zone of the 1st Belorussian Front and its lag behind schedule, the success of its neighbors, the tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian were ordered to turn to Berlin and go without getting involved in battles to destroy enemy strongholds. On April 18 and 19, the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies marched on Berlin at a pace of 35-50 km. At this time, the combined arms armies were preparing to eliminate enemy groups in the Cottbus and Spremberg area. On the 21st, Rybalko's tank army, suppressing fierce enemy resistance in the area of ​​the cities of Zossen, Luckenwalde, and Jutterbog, reached the outer defensive lines of Berlin. On the 22nd, units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army crossed the Notte Canal and broke through the outer fortifications of Berlin.

On April 17-19, the advanced units of the 2nd Belorussian Front conducted reconnaissance in force and captured the Oder interfluve. On the morning of the 20th, the main forces went on the offensive, covering the crossing of the Oder with artillery fire and a smoke screen. The right-flank 65th Army (Batov P.I.) achieved the greatest success, capturing a bridgehead 6 km wide and 1.5 km deep by the evening. In the center, the 70th Army achieved a more modest result; the left flank 49th Army was unable to gain a foothold. On the 21st, all day and night there was a battle to expand the bridgeheads, K.K. Rokossovsky threw units of the 49th Army to support the 70th Army, then threw the 2nd Shock Army, as well as the 1st and 3rd into battle guards tank corps. The 2nd Belorussian Front was able to pin down units of the 3rd German Army with its actions; it was unable to come to the aid of the defenders of Berlin. On the 26th, front units took Stettin.

On April 21, units of the 1st Belorussian Front broke into the suburbs of Berlin, on 22-23 there were battles, on the 23rd the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly captured Karlshorst, part of Kopenick and, reaching the Spree River, with forced it along the way. The Dnieper Military provided great assistance in crossing it, supporting with fire and transferring troops to the other bank. Our units, leading our own and repelling enemy counterattacks, suppressing his resistance, walked towards the center of the German capital.

The 61st Army and the 1st Army of the Polish Army, operating in the auxiliary direction, launched an offensive on the 17th, breaking through the enemy’s defenses, bypassing Berlin from the north and going to the Elbe.

On the 22nd, at Hitler’s Headquarters, it was decided to transfer W. Wenck’s 12th Army from the Western Front, and Keitel was sent to organize its offensive to help the semi-encircled 9th Army. By the end of the 22nd, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian had practically created two encirclement rings - around the 9th Army east and southeast of Berlin and west of Berlin, surrounding the city itself.

The troops reached the Teltow Canal, the Germans created a powerful defense on its bank, the entire day of the 23rd was preparing for the assault, artillery was massed, there were up to 650 guns per 1 km. On the morning of the 24th, the assault began, suppressing enemy firing points with artillery fire, the canal was successfully crossed by units of the 6th Guards Tank Corps of Major General Mitrofanov and captured the bridgehead. On the afternoon of the 24th, Wenck's 12th Army attacked but was repulsed. At 12 o'clock on the 25th, west of Berlin, units of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts united; an hour and a half later, our troops met with American units on the Elbe.

On April 20-23, divisions of the German Army Group Center attacked units of the 1st Ukrainian Front on the left flank, trying to get to its rear. From April 25 to May 2, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought in three directions: units of the 28th Army, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies fought in Berlin; The 13th Army, together with units of the 3rd Panzer Army, repelled the attacks of the 12th German Army; The 3rd Guards Army and part of the units of the 28th Army held back and destroyed the encircled 9th German Army. The battles to destroy the German 9th Army (200,000-strong Frankfurt-Guben group) continued until May 2, the Germans tried to break through to the west and skillfully maneuvered. Creating superiority in forces in narrow areas, they attacked, broke through the ring twice, only emergency measures by the Soviet command made it possible to block them again and ultimately destroy them. Only small enemy groups were able to break through.

In the city, our troops met fierce resistance, the enemy did not even think of surrendering. Relying on numerous structures, underground communications, barricades, he not only defended himself, but constantly attacked. Ours operated in assault groups, reinforced by sappers and artillery, and by the evening of the 28th, units of the 3rd Shock Army reached the Reichstag area. By the morning of the 30th, after a fierce battle, they captured the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and began storming the Reichstag, but only on the night of May 2nd did the remnants of the German garrison surrender. On May 1, the Wehrmacht had only the government quarter and Tiergarten left. The chief of the general staff of the German ground forces, General Krebs, proposed a truce, but ours insisted on unconditional surrender, the Germans refused, and the fighting continued. On May 2, General Weidling, commander of the city's defense, announced surrender. Those German units that did not accept it and tried to break through to the west were scattered and destroyed. Thus ended the Berlin operation.

Main results

The main forces of the Wehrmacht were destroyed, the German command now had no opportunity to continue the war, the capital of the Reich and its military-political leadership were captured.

After the fall of Berlin, the Wehrmacht practically ceased resistance.

In fact, the Great Patriotic War was over, all that remained was to formalize the country's surrender.

Hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war, driven into slavery by Soviet people, were freed.

The Berlin offensive operation demonstrated to the whole world the high combat skills of the Soviet armies and its commanders and became one of the reasons for the cancellation of Operation Unthinkable. Our “allies” planned to strike the Soviet army in order to push it into Eastern Europe.

Sources:
Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. In 2 vols. M., 2002.
Keitel V. 12 steps to the scaffold... - Rostov n/d., 2000.
Konev I. S. Forty-fifth. - M., 1970.
Rokossovsky K.K. Soldier's duty. 1988.

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Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation -one of the last strategic operations of the Soviet troops, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War. 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.
MILITARY-POLITICAL SITUATION IN EUROPE IN SPRING 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 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
The Nazi leadership tried to prolong the war in order to achieve a separate peace with England and the USA and a split 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.
To carry out the operation, the forces of three fronts were involved: the 1st and 2nd Belorussian, and the 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.
Tasks of the Soviet fronts
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 dissecting 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 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. 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 (Curland Pocket).
OPERATION PLAN The operation plan included simultaneous transition to the offensive by the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts on the morning of April 16, 1945. The 2nd Belorussian Front, in connection with the upcoming major regrouping of its forces, was supposed to launch an offensive on April 20, that is, 4 days later.

The 1st Belorussian Front must was 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.

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.
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.
PREPARATION FOR OPERATION USSR
Intelligence support
Reconnaissance aircraft took aerial photographs of Berlin, all approaches to it and defensive zones 6 times. In total, about 15 thousand aerial photographs were obtained. Based on the results of the shooting, captured documents and interviews with prisoners, detailed diagrams, plans, and maps were drawn up, which were supplied to all command and staff authorities. The military topographical service of the 1st Belorussian Front produced an accurate model of the city with its suburbs, which was used in studying issues related to the organization of the offensive, the general assault on Berlin and battles in the city center. Two days before the start of the operation in the entire zone of the 1st Belorussian Front reconnaissance of the front was carried out in force. Over the course of two days on April 14 and 15, 32 reconnaissance detachments, each with a force of up to a reinforced rifle battalion, clarified the placement of enemy fire weapons, the deployment of his groups, and determined the strong and most vulnerable places of the defensive line.
Engineering support
During the preparation for the offensive, the engineering troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Lieutenant General Antipenko carried out a large amount of sapper and engineering work. By the beginning of the operation, often under enemy fire, 25 road bridges had been built across the Oder total length 15,017 linear meters and 40 ferry crossings have 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 To cross the Neisse River, 2,440 engineer 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.
2nd Belorussian Front At the beginning of the offensive, it was necessary to cross the Oder, the width of which in some places reached six kilometers, so special attention was also paid to the engineering preparation of the operation. The engineering troops of the front, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Blagoslavov, in the shortest possible time pulled up and securely sheltered dozens of pontoons and hundreds of boats in the coastal zone, transported timber for the construction of piers and bridges, made rafts, and laid roads through the marshy areas of the coast.

Disguise and disinformation
Preparing the offensive, recalled G.K. Zhukov, - we were fully aware that the Germans were expecting our attack on Berlin. Therefore, the front command thought out in every detail how to organize this strike as unexpectedly as possible for the enemy. 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 trains with artillery, mortar, and tank units on Polish territory were disguised as trains transporting timber and hay on platforms.
When conducting reconnaissance, tank commanders from the battalion commander to the army commander dressed in infantry uniforms and, under the guise of signalmen, examined crossings and areas where their units would be concentrated.
The circle of knowledgeable persons was extremely limited. In addition to army commanders, only the chiefs of army staffs, heads of operational departments of army headquarters and artillery commanders were allowed to familiarize themselves with the Headquarters directive. Regimental commanders received tasks verbally three days before the offensive. Junior commanders and Red Army soldiers were allowed to announce the offensive mission two hours before the attack.

Regrouping of troops
In preparation for the Berlin operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, which had just completed the East Pomeranian operation, in the period from April 4 to April 15, 1945, had to transfer 4 combined arms armies over a distance of up to 350 km from the area of ​​​​the cities of Danzig and Gdynia to the line of the Oder River and replace the armies of the 1st Belorussian Front there. The poor condition of the railways and the acute shortage of rolling stock 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. This was a difficult maneuver for the troops of an entire front, recalled Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, the like of whom was not seen throughout the entire Great Patriotic War.

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 Zelovsky 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.

Saturation of defensive positions with troops the enemy 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.

Striving to increase resilience 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.
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.
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 Hitler regime (Seydlitz troops).

Germany
Total: 48 infantry, 6 tank and 9 motorized divisions; 37 separate infantry regiments, 98 separate infantry battalions, as well as a large number of separate artillery and special units and formations (1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and assault guns and 3,300 combat aircraft).
On April 24, the 12th Army entered the battle under the command of Infantry General W. Wenck, which had previously occupied the defense on the Western Front.

GENERAL COURSE OF COMBAT OPERATIONS 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. For the first one and a half to two hours, the offensive of the Soviet troops developed successfully, and individual formations reached the second line of defense. However, soon the Nazis, relying on a strong and well-prepared second line of defense, began to offer fierce resistance. Intense fighting broke out along the entire front. Although in some sectors of the front the troops 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, accepted the decision to bring the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies into battle. This was not provided for in the offensive plan, however, the stubborn resistance of the German troops required strengthening the penetrating ability of the attackers by introducing tank armies into battle. The course of the battle on the first day showed that the German command attached decisive importance to holding the Seelow Heights. To strengthen the defense in this sector, by the end of April 16, the operational reserves of Army Group Vistula were deployed. All day and all night on April 17, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought fierce battles with the enemy. By the morning of April 18, tank and rifle formations, with the support of aviation from the 16th and 18th Air Armies, took the Zelovsky Heights. Overcoming the stubborn defense of German troops and repelling fierce counterattacks, by the end of April 19, front troops broke through the third defensive line and were able to develop an offensive on Berlin.

Real threat 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, inflicted 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 rush 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 evening of April 21, the advanced units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army P.S. approached the city from the south. Rybalko. On April 23 and 24, fighting in all directions became especially fierce. On April 23, the greatest success in the assault on Berlin was achieved by the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly. The warriors of this corps took possession of Karlshorst and part of Kopenick with a decisive assault and, reaching the Spree, crossed it on the move. The ships of the Dnieper military flotilla provided great assistance in crossing the Spree, transferring rifle units to the opposite bank under enemy fire. Although the pace of Soviet advance had slowed by April 24, the Nazis were unable to stop them. On April 24, the 5th Shock Army, fighting fiercely, continued to successfully advance towards the center of Berlin.
Operating in the auxiliary direction, the 61st Army and the 1st Army of the Polish Army, having launched an offensive on April 17, overcame the German defenses with stubborn battles, bypassed Berlin from the north and moved towards the Elbe.
1st Ukrainian Front (16-25 April)
The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed more successfully. On April 16, early in the morning, a smoke screen was placed along the entire 390-kilometer front, blinding the enemy's forward observation posts. At 6:55 a.m., after a 40-minute artillery strike on the front edge of the German defense, reinforced battalions of the first echelon divisions began crossing the Neisse. Having quickly captured bridgeheads on the left bank of the river, they provided conditions for building bridges and crossing the main forces. During the first hours of the operation, 133 crossings were equipped by front engineering troops in the main direction of attack. With each passing hour, the amount of forces and means transported to the bridgehead increased. In the middle of the day, the attackers reached the second line of German defense. Sensing the threat of a major breakthrough, the German command, already on the first day of the operation, threw into battle not only its tactical, but also operational reserves, giving them the task of throwing the advancing Soviet troops into the river. However, by the end of the day, front troops broke through the main defense line on the 26 km front and advanced to a depth of 13 km.

By the morning of April 17 The 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies crossed the Neisse in full force. All day long, the front troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, continued to widen and deepen the gap in the German defense. Aviation support for the advancing troops was provided by pilots of the 2nd Air Army. Attack aircraft, acting at the request of ground commanders, destroyed enemy fire weapons and manpower 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 of the Polish General K.K. Sverchevsky broke through the enemy’s tactical defenses and in two days of fighting advanced to a depth of 20 km.

Considering the slow advance of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, as well as the success achieved in the zone of the 1st Ukrainian Front, on the night of April 18, the 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: In the main direction, with a tank fist, push forward bolder and more decisively. Cities and large settlements bypass and not get involved in protracted frontal battles. I demand a firm understanding that the success of tank armies depends on bold maneuver and swiftness in action.
Following orders from 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 force of the 1st Ukrainian Front penetrated deeply 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 at Hitler's headquarters A meeting of the top military leadership was held, at which it was decided to remove the 12th Army of V. Wenck 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 ditch filled with water with high concrete banks forty to fifty meters wide. In addition, its northern bank was very well prepared for defense: trenches, reinforced concrete pillboxes, tanks dug into the ground and self-propelled guns. Above the canal is an almost continuous wall of houses, bristling with fire, with walls a meter or more thick. Having assessed the situation, the Soviet command decided to carry out thorough preparations for crossing the Teltow Canal. All day on April 23, the 3rd Guards Tank Army prepared for the assault. By the morning of April 24, a powerful artillery group was concentrated on the southern bank of the Teltow Canal, with a density of up to 650 guns per kilometer of front, intended to destroy German fortifications on the opposite bank. Having suppressed the enemy defenses with a powerful artillery strike, the troops of the 6th Guards Tank Corps of Major General Mitrofanov successfully crossed the Teltow Canal and captured a bridgehead on its northern bank. On the afternoon of April 24, Wenck's 12th Army launched the first tank attacks on the positions of General Ermakov's 5th Guards Mechanized Corps (4th Guards Tank Army) and units of the 13th Army. All attacks were successfully repulsed with the support of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps of Lieutenant General Ryazanov.

At 12 noon on April 25 West of Berlin, the advanced units of the 4th Guards Tank Army met with units of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. On the same day, another significant event occurred. An hour and a half later, on the Elbe, the 34th Guards Corps of General Baklanov of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.
From April 25 to May 2, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles in three directions: units of the 28th Army, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies took part in the assault on Berlin; part of the forces of the 4th Guards Tank Army, together with the 13th Army, repelled the counterattack of the 12th German Army; The 3rd Guards Army and part of the forces of the 28th Army blocked and destroyed the encircled 9th Army.
All the time since the beginning of the operation, the command of Army Group Center sought to disrupt the advance of Soviet troops. On April 20, German troops launched the first counterattack on the left flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front and pushed back the troops of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army. On April 23, a new powerful counterattack followed, as a result of which the defense at the junction of the 52nd Army and the 2nd Army of the Polish Army was broken through and German troops advanced 20 km in the general direction of Spremberg, threatening to reach the rear of the front.

2nd Belorussian Front (April 20-May 8)
From April 17 to 19, troops of the 65th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, under the command of Colonel General P.I. Batov, conducted reconnaissance in force and advanced detachments captured the Oder interfluve, thereby facilitating subsequent crossings of the river. On the morning of April 20, the main forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive: the 65th, 70th and 49th armies. The crossing of the Oder took place under the cover of artillery fire and smoke screens. The offensive developed most successfully in the sector of the 65th Army, which was largely due to the engineering troops of the army. Having established two 16-ton pontoon crossings by 1 p.m., the troops of this army captured a bridgehead 6 kilometers wide and 1.5 kilometers deep by the evening of April 20.
We had a chance to observe the work of sappers. Working up to their necks in icy water amid exploding 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 zone of the 70th Army. The left-flank 49th Army met stubborn resistance and was unsuccessful. All day and all night on April 21, front troops, repelling numerous attacks by German troops, persistently expanded bridgeheads on the western bank of the Oder. In the current situation, front commander K.K. Rokossovsky decided to send the 49th Army along the crossings of the right neighbor of the 70th Army, and then return it to its offensive zone. By April 25, as a result of fierce battles, front troops expanded the captured bridgehead to 35 km along the front and up to 15 km in depth. To build up striking power, the 2nd Shock Army, as well as the 1st and 3rd Guards Tank Corps, were transported to the western bank of the Oder. At the first stage of the operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front, through its actions, shackled the main forces of the 3rd German Tank Army, depriving it of the opportunity to help those fighting near Berlin. On April 26, formations of the 65th Army took Stettin by storm. Subsequently, the armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front, breaking enemy resistance and destroying suitable reserves, stubbornly advanced to the west. On May 3, Panfilov's 3rd Guards Tank Corps southwest of Wismar established contact with the advanced units of the 2nd British Army.

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

Assault on Berlin (April 25 - May 2)
At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin when the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army crossed the Havel River and linked up with units of the 328th Division of the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich. By that time, according to the Soviet command, the Berlin garrison numbered at least 200 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and 250 tanks. The city's defense was carefully thought out and well prepared. It was based on a system of strong fire, strongholds and resistance units. The closer to the city center, the denser the defense became. Massive stone buildings with thick walls gave it particular strength. The windows and doors of many buildings were sealed and turned into embrasures for firing. The streets were blocked by powerful barricades up to four meters thick. The defenders had a large number of faustpatrons, which in the context of street battles turned out to be a formidable anti-tank weapon. Of no small importance in the enemy’s defense system were underground structures, which were widely used by the enemy to maneuver troops, as well as to shelter them from artillery and bomb attacks.

By April 26 in the storming of Berlin Six armies of the 1st Belorussian Front took part (47th, 3rd and 5th shock, 8th Guards, 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies) and three armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front (28th I, 3rd and 4th Guards Tank). Considering the experience of taking major cities, for battles in the city, assault detachments were created consisting of rifle battalions or companies, reinforced with tanks, artillery and sappers. The actions of assault troops, as a rule, were preceded by a short but powerful artillery preparation.

By April 27 As a result of the actions of the armies of two fronts that had deeply advanced to the center of Berlin, the enemy grouping in Berlin stretched out in a narrow strip from east to west - sixteen kilometers long and two or three, in some places five kilometers wide. The fighting in the city did not stop day or night. Block after block, Soviet troops “gnawed through” the enemy’s defenses. So, by the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army reached the Reichstag area. On the night of April 29, the actions of the forward battalions under the command of Captain S. A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K. Ya. Samsonov 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.
April 30, 1945 at 21.30 units of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Major General V

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

Battle of Berlin

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

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

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

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

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Berlin operation

Scheme of the Berlin operation (panoramaberlin.ru).


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Storming of the Reichstag

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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History of the Reichstag

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



Reichstag. Modern look(Jürgen Matern).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Why was the Reichstag chosen to hoist the Victory Banner?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Victory Standard Bearers

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

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

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

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Banner of the Sorokin group

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

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

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

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

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

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Makov Group Banner

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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Banner of Pyatnitsky and Shcherbina

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Famous photo of Evgeniy Khaldei

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

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

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

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

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Autographs of the Winners

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

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

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

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

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

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

panoramaberlin.ru

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

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

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

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“Stalingraders Shpakov, Matyash, Zolotarevsky”

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

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

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

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

panoramaberlin.ru

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

There, in Perm, he lived after the war, worked as a mechanic at a factory and did not even suspect that his painting on the Reichstag column, captured in the photograph, became one of the symbols of Victory. Then, in May 1945, the photograph did not catch the eye of Sergei Ivanovich. Only many years later, in 1970, Anatoly Morozov found Platov and, having specially arrived in Perm, showed him the photograph. After the war, Sergei Platov visited Berlin again - the GDR authorities invited him to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Victory. It is curious that on the anniversary coin Sergei Ivanovich has an honorary neighbor - on the other side, the meeting of the Potsdam Conference of 1945 is depicted. But the veteran did not live to see its release - Sergei Platov died in 1997.
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“Seversky Donets – Berlin. Artillerymen Doroshenko, Tarnovsky and Sumtsev” was the inscription on one of the columns of the defeated Reichstag. It would seem that this is just one of thousands and thousands of inscriptions left in the May days of 1945. But still, she is special. This inscription was made by Volodya Tarnovsky, a boy of 15 years old, and at the same time, a scout who had come a long way to Victory and experienced a lot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"Sapunov"

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

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

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

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

Zhukov about the battle for Berlin

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

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