The results of the Berlin operation are brief. Berlin operation (1945)

Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (Berlin Operation, Capture of Berlin)- offensive operation of Soviet troops during Great Patriotic War which ended with the capture of Berlin and victory in the war.

The military operation was carried out in Europe from April 16 to May 9, 1945, during which the territories captured by the Germans were liberated and Berlin was taken under control. Berlin operation became the last in Great Patriotic War And World War II.

Included Berlin operation The following smaller operations were carried out:

• Stettin-Rostock;
• Seelovsko-Berlinskaya;
• Cottbus-Potsdam;
• Stremberg-Torgauskaya;
• Brandenburg-Ratenow.

The goal of the operation was to capture Berlin, which would allow Soviet troops to open the way to join the Allies on the Elbe River and thus prevent Hitler from delaying World War II for a longer period.

Progress of the Berlin operation

In November 1944, the General Staff of the Soviet Forces began planning an offensive operation on the approaches to the German capital. During the operation it was supposed to defeat the German Army Group “A” and finally liberate the occupied territories of Poland.

At the end of the same month, the German army launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes and was able to push back the Allied forces, thereby putting them almost on the brink of defeat. To continue the war, the Allies needed the support of the USSR - for this, the leadership of the United States and Great Britain turned to the Soviet Union with a request to send their troops and conduct offensive operations in order to distract Hitler and give the Allies the opportunity to recover.

The Soviet command agreed, and the USSR army launched an offensive, but the operation began almost a week earlier, which resulted in insufficient preparation and, as a result, large losses.

By mid-February, Soviet troops were able to cross the Oder, the last obstacle on the way to Berlin. There were a little more than seventy kilometers left to the capital of Germany. From that moment on, the battles took on a more protracted and fierce character - Germany did not want to give up and tried with all its might to hold back the Soviet offensive, but it was quite difficult to stop the Red Army.

At the same time, preparations began on the territory of East Prussia for the assault on the Konigsberg fortress, which was extremely well fortified and seemed almost impregnable. For the assault, the Soviet troops carried out thorough artillery preparation, which ultimately bore fruit - the fortress was taken unusually quickly.

In April 1945, the Soviet army began preparations for the long-awaited assault on Berlin. The leadership of the USSR was of the opinion that in order to achieve the success of the entire operation, it was necessary to urgently carry out the assault, without delaying it, since prolonging the war itself could lead to the fact that the Germans could open another front in the West and conclude a separate peace. In addition, the leadership of the USSR did not want to give Berlin to the Allied forces.

Berlin offensive operation prepared very carefully. Huge reserves of military equipment and ammunition were transferred to the outskirts of the city, and the forces of three fronts were pulled together. The operation was commanded by Marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky and I.S. Konev. In total, more than 3 million people took part in the battle on both sides.

Storm of Berlin

Berlin operation was characterized by the highest density of artillery shells in the history of all world wars. The defense of Berlin was thought out to the smallest detail, and breaking through the system of fortifications and tricks was not so easy; by the way, the loss of armored vehicles amounted to 1,800 units. That is why the command decided to bring up all nearby artillery to suppress the city’s defenses. The result was a truly hellish fire that literally wiped out the enemy's front line of defense.

The assault on the city began on April 16 at 3 am. Under the light of searchlights, one and a half hundred tanks and infantry attacked the German defensive positions. A fierce battle lasted for four days, after which the forces of three Soviet fronts and troops of the Polish army managed to encircle the city. On the same day, Soviet troops met with the Allies on the Elbe. As a result of four days of fighting, several hundred thousand people were captured and dozens of armored vehicles were destroyed.

However, despite the offensive, Hitler had no intention of surrendering Berlin; he insisted that the city must be held at all costs. Hitler refused to surrender even after Soviet troops approached the city; he threw all available human resources, including children and the elderly, onto the battlefield.

On April 21, the Soviet army was able to reach the outskirts of Berlin and start street battles there - German soldiers fought to the last, following Hitler's order not to surrender.

On April 30, the Soviet flag was hoisted on the building - the war ended, Germany was defeated.

Results of the Berlin operation

Berlin operation put an end to the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. As a result of the rapid advance of Soviet troops, Germany was forced to surrender, all chances of opening a second front and concluding peace with the Allies were severed. Hitler, having learned about the defeat of his army and the entire fascist regime, committed suicide. More awards were awarded for the storming of Berlin than for other military operations of World War II. 180 units were awarded honorary “Berlin” distinctions, which in terms of personnel is 1 million 100 thousand people.

The Berlin operation was an offensive operation of the 1st Belorussian (Marshal G.K. Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (Marshal I.S. Konev) fronts to capture Berlin and defeat the defending his group April 16 - May 2, 1945 ( The Second World War, 1939-1945). In the Berlin direction, 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).

The balance of forces is shown in the table.

Source: History of the Second World War: In 12 vols. M., 1973-1 1979. T. 10. P. 315.

The offensive on the German capital began on April 16, 1945, after the completion of the main operations of the Red Army in Hungary, Eastern Pomerania, Austria and East Prussia. This deprived the German capital of support

the most important agricultural and industrial areas. In other words, Berlin was deprived of any possibility of obtaining reserves and resources, which undoubtedly hastened its downfall.

For the strike, which was supposed to shake the German defense, an unprecedented density of fire was used - over 600 guns on 1 km of front. The hottest battles broke out in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, where the Seelow Heights, which covered the central direction, were located. To capture Berlin, not only a frontal attack by the 1st Belorussian Front was used, but also a flank maneuver by the tank armies (3rd and 4th) of the 1st Ukrainian Front. Having covered more than a hundred kilometers in a few days, they broke through to the German capital from the south and completed its encirclement. At this time, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front were advancing towards the Baltic coast of Germany, covering the right flank of the forces advancing on Berlin.

The culmination of the operation was the battle for Berlin, in which there was a 200,000-strong group under the command of General X. Weidling. Fighting within the city began on April 21, and by April 25 it was completely surrounded. Up to 464 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers took part in the battle for Berlin, which lasted almost two weeks and was characterized by extreme ferocity. Due to the retreating units, the Berlin garrison grew to 300 thousand people.

If in Budapest (see Budapest 1) the Soviet command avoided using artillery and aviation, then during the assault on the capital of Nazi Germany they did not spare fire. According to Marshal Zhukov, from April 21 to May 2, almost 1.8 million artillery shots were fired at Berlin. In total, more than 36 thousand tons of metal were dropped on the city. Fire was also fired at the capital's center by fortress guns, the shells of which weighed half a ton.

A feature of the Berlin operation can be called the widespread use of large tank masses in the zone of continuous defense of German troops, including in Berlin itself. In such conditions, Soviet armored vehicles were not able to use wide maneuver and became a convenient target for German anti-tank weapons. This led to high losses. Suffice it to say that in two weeks of fighting, the Red Army lost a third of the tanks and self-propelled guns that participated in the Berlin operation.

The battles did not subside either day or night. During the day, the assault units attacked in the first echelons, at night - in the second. The battle for the Reichstag, over which the Victory Banner was hoisted, was especially fierce. On the night of April 30 to May 1, Hitler committed suicide. By the morning of May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison were divided into separate groups, which capitulated by 3 p.m. The surrender of the Berlin garrison was accepted by the commander of the 8th Guards Army, General V.I. Chuikov, who walked the path from Stalingrad to the walls of Berlin.

During the Berlin operation, about 480 thousand German soldiers and officers were captured. The losses of the Red Army amounted to 352 thousand people. In terms of daily losses of personnel and equipment (over 15 thousand people, 87 tanks and self-propelled guns, 40 aircraft), the battle for Berlin surpassed all other operations of the Red Army, where the damage was caused primarily during the battle, in contrast to the battles of the first period of the war, when the daily losses of Soviet troops were largely determined by a significant number of prisoners (see Border battles). In terms of the intensity of losses, this operation is comparable only to the Battle of Kursk.

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. A medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was issued for participants in the Berlin operation.

Wir kapitulieren nie?

Offensive operation of the 2nd Belorussian (Marshal Rokossovsky), 1st Belorussian (Marshal Zhukov) and 1st Ukrainian (Marshal Konev) fronts April 16 - May 8, 1945. Having defeated large German groups in East Prussia, Poland and Eastern Pomerania and reaching the Oder and Neisse, Soviet troops penetrated deeply into German territory. On the western bank of the river. Oder bridgeheads were captured, including a particularly important one in the Küstrin area. At the same time, Anglo-American troops were advancing from the west.

Hitler, hoping for disagreements between the allies, took all measures to delay the advance of Soviet troops on the approaches to Berlin and negotiate a separate peace with the Americans. In the Berlin direction, the German command concentrated a large group as part of the Vistula Army Group (3rd Panzer and 9th Armies) of Colonel General G. Heinrici (from April 30, Infantry General K. Tippelskirch) and the 4th Panzer and 17th Armies. th armies of Army Group Center under General Field Marshal F. Scherner (total about 1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,530 tanks and assault guns, over 3,300 aircraft). On the western banks of the Oder and Neisse, 3 defensive zones up to 20-40 km deep were created. The Berlin defensive area consisted of 3 defensive rings. All large buildings in the city were turned into strongholds, streets and squares were blocked with powerful barricades, numerous minefields were installed, and booby traps were scattered everywhere.

The walls of the houses were covered with Goebbels' propaganda slogans: "Wir kapitulieren nie!" (“We will never surrender!”), “Every German will defend his capital!”, “Let’s stop the red hordes at the walls of our Berlin!”, “Victory or Siberia!”. Loudspeakers in the streets called on residents to fight to the death. Despite the ostentatious bravado, Berlin was already doomed. The giant city was in a huge trap. The Soviet command concentrated 19 combined arms (including 2 Polish), 4 tank and 4 air armies (2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 7,500 aircraft) in the Berlin direction. From the west, British and American bombers came in continuous waves, methodically, block by block, turning the city into a heap of ruins.

On the eve of the capitulation, the city presented a terrible sight. Flames shot out from a damaged gas pipeline, illuminating the smoky walls of houses. The streets were impassable due to piles of rubble. Suicide bombers jumped out of the basements of houses with Molotov cocktails and rushed at Soviet tanks, which had become easy prey in city blocks. Hand-to-hand fighting took place everywhere - on the streets, on the roofs of houses, in basements, in tunnels, in the Berlin subway. Advanced Soviet units competed with each other for the honor of being the first to capture the Reichstag, considered the symbol of the Third Reich. Soon after the Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag dome, Berlin capitulated on May 2, 1945.

Material used from the website Third Reich www.fact400.ru/mif/reich/titul.htm

In the historical dictionary:

BERLIN OPERATION - an offensive operation of the Red Army at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

In January - March 1945, Soviet troops defeated large German fascist groups in East Prussia, Poland and East Pomerania, penetrated deeply into German territory and captured the bridgeheads necessary to capture its capital.

The plan of the operation was to deliver several powerful blows on a wide front, dismember the enemy’s Berlin group, encircle and destroy it piece by piece. To accomplish this task, the Soviet command concentrated 19 combined arms (including two Polish), four tank and four air armies (2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 7,500 aircraft).

The German command concentrated a large group in the Berlin area as part of Army Group Vistula (3rd Panzer and 9th Armies) and Army Group Center (4th Panzer and 17th Army) - about 1 million people, 10 400 guns and mortars, 1,530 tanks and assault guns, over 3,300 aircraft. On the western banks of the Oder and Neisse rivers, three defensive strips up to 20-40 km deep were created; The Berlin defensive area consisted of three defensive rings; all large buildings in the city were turned into strongholds; streets and squares were blocked with powerful barricades.

On April 16, after powerful artillery and air preparation, the 1st Belorussian Front (Marshal G.K. Zhukov.) attacked the enemy on the river. Oder. At the same time, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Marshal I.S. Konev) began to cross the river. Neisse. Despite fierce enemy resistance, especially on the Zelovsky Heights, Soviet troops broke through his defenses. Attempts by the Nazi command to win the battle for Berlin on the Oder-Neisse line failed.

On April 20, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky) crossed the river. Oder and by the end of April 25 they broke through the main enemy defense line south of Stettin. On April 21, the 3rd Guards Tank Army (General Ya. S. Rybalko) was the first to break into the northeastern outskirts of Berlin. Troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, after breaking through enemy defenses from the north and south, bypassed Berlin and on April 25 encircled up to 200 thousand German troops west of Berlin.

The defeat of this group resulted in a fierce battle. Until May 2, bloody battles raged on the streets of Berlin day and night. On April 30, troops of the 3rd Shock Army (Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov) began fighting for the Reichstag and took it by the evening. Sergeant M.A. Egorov and Junior Sergeant M.V. Kantaria hoisted the Victory Banner on the Reichstag.

The fighting in Berlin continued until May 8, when representatives of the German High Command, led by Field Marshal W. Keitel, signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany.

Orlov A.S., Georgieva N.G., Georgiev V.A. Historical Dictionary. 2nd ed. M., 2012, p. 36-37.

Battle of Berlin

In the spring of 1945, the Third Reich stood on the verge of final collapse.

By April 15, 214 divisions, including 34 tank and 14 motorized, and 14 brigades, were fighting on the Soviet-German front. 60 German divisions, including 5 tank divisions, acted against the Anglo-American troops.

Preparing to repel the Soviet offensive, the German command created a powerful defense in the east of the country. Berlin was covered to great depth by numerous defensive structures erected along the western banks of the Oder and Neisse rivers.

Berlin itself was turned into a powerful fortified area. Around it, the Germans built three defensive rings - outer, inner and city, and in the city itself (an area of ​​88 thousand hectares) they created nine defense sectors: eight around the circumference and one in the center. This central sector, which covered the main state and administrative institutions, including the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery, was prepared especially carefully in engineering terms. There were more than 400 reinforced concrete permanent structures in the city. The largest of them - six-story bunkers dug into the ground - could accommodate up to a thousand people each. The subway was used for covert maneuver of troops.

For the defense of Berlin, the German command hastily formed new units. In January - March 1945, even 16- and 17-year-old boys were called up for military service.

Taking these factors into account, the Supreme Command Headquarters concentrated large forces on three fronts in the Berlin direction. In addition, it was planned to use part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet, the Dnieper Military Flotilla, the 18th Air Army, and three air defense corps of the country.

Polish troops were involved in the Berlin operation, consisting of two armies, tank and air corps, two breakthrough artillery divisions and a separate mortar brigade. They were part of the fronts.

On April 16, after powerful artillery preparation and air strikes, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive. The Berlin operation began. The enemy, suppressed by artillery fire, did not offer organized resistance at the front line, but then, having recovered from the shock, resisted with fierce tenacity.

Soviet infantry and tanks advanced 1.5-2 km. In the current situation, in order to speed up the advance of the troops, Marshal Zhukov brought into the battle the tank and mechanized corps of the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies.

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed successfully. At 06:15 on April 16, artillery preparation began. Bombers and attack aircraft dealt heavy blows to resistance centers, communications centers and command posts. The battalions of the first echelon divisions quickly crossed the Neisse River and captured bridgeheads on its left bank.

The German command brought up to three tank divisions and a tank destroyer brigade into the battle from its reserve. The fighting became fierce. Breaking enemy resistance, the combined arms and tank formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through the main line of defense. On April 17, front troops completed the breakthrough of the second line and approached the third, which ran along the left bank of the river. Spree.

The successful offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front created a threat for the enemy to bypass his Berlin group from the south. The German command concentrated its efforts in order to delay the further advance of Soviet troops at the turn of the river. Spree. The reserves of Army Group Center and the withdrawn troops of the 4th Tank Army were sent here. But the enemy’s attempts to change the course of the battle were unsuccessful.

The 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive on April 18. On April 18-19, front troops crossed the Ost-Oder in difficult conditions, cleared the enemy from the lowland between the Ost-Oder and the West-Oder and took up their starting positions for crossing the West-Oder.

Thus, favorable preconditions for the continuation of the operation have developed on all fronts.

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed most successfully. They entered the operational space and rushed towards Berlin, covering the right wing of the Frankfurt-Guben group. On April 19-20, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies advanced 95 km. The rapid offensive of these armies, as well as the 13th Army, by the end of April 20 led to the cutting off of Army Group Vistula from Army Group Center.

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front continued the offensive. On April 20, on the fifth day of the operation, the long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsova opened fire on Berlin. On April 21, the advanced units of the front broke into the northern and southeastern outskirts of the German capital.

On April 24, southeast of Berlin, the 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front, advancing on the left flank of the strike force, met with the 3rd Guards Tank and 28th Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front. As a result, the enemy's Frankfurt-Guben group was completely isolated from the Berlin garrison.

On April 25, the advanced units of the 1st Ukrainian Front - the 5th Guards Army of General A.S. Zhadov - met on the banks of the Elbe in the Torgau area with reconnaissance groups of the 5th Corps of the 1st American Army of General O. Bradley. The German front was cut. In honor of this victory, Moscow saluted the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

At this time, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the West Oder and broke through the defenses on its western bank. They pinned down the German 3rd Panzer Army and prevented it from launching a counterattack from the north against the Soviet forces encircling Berlin.

In ten days of operation, Soviet troops overcame the German defenses along the Oder and Neisse, encircled and dismembered its groups in the Berlin direction and created the conditions for the capture of Berlin.

The third stage is the destruction of the enemy's Berlin group, the capture of Berlin (April 26 - May 8). German troops, despite the inevitable defeat, continued to resist. First of all, it was necessary to eliminate the enemy’s Frankfurt-Guben group, which numbered up to 200 thousand people.

Part of the troops of the 12th Army that survived the defeat retreated to the left bank of the Elbe along bridges built by American troops and surrendered to them.

By the end of April 25, the enemy defending in Berlin occupied a territory whose area was approximately 325 square meters. km. The total length of the front of the Soviet troops operating in the German capital was about 100 km.

On May 1, units of the 1st Shock Army, advancing from the north, met south of the Reichstag with units of the 8th Guards Army, advancing from the south. The surrender of the remnants of the Berlin garrison took place on the morning of May 2 by order of its last commander, artillery general G. Weidling. The liquidation of the Berlin group of German troops was completed.

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, moving westward, reached the Elbe by May 7 on a wide front. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front reached the coast of the Baltic Sea and the border of the Elbe River, where they established contact with the 2nd British Army. The troops of the right wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front began to regroup in the Prague direction to carry out tasks to complete the liberation of Czechoslovakia. During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops defeated 70 enemy infantry, 23 tank and motorized divisions, captured about 480 thousand people, captured up to 11 thousand guns and mortars, over 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, and 4,500 aircraft.

Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in this final operation - more than 350 thousand people, including over 78 thousand - irrevocably. The 1st and 2nd armies of the Polish Army lost about 9 thousand soldiers and officers. (The classification has been removed. Losses of the USSR Armed Forces in wars, combat operations and military conflicts. M., 1993. P. 220.) Soviet troops also lost 2,156 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 1,220 guns and mortars, 527 aircraft.

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

Materials used from the site http://100top.ru/encyclopedia/

Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation- one of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted 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, Eastern 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).

The balance of forces at the start of the operation is shown in the table.

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 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, neutralized night vision devices and at the same time illuminated the way for the advancing units.

The offensive unfolded in three directions: through the Seelow Heights directly to Berlin (1st Belorussian Front), south of the city, along the left flank (1st Ukrainian Front) and north, along the right flank (2nd Belorussian Front). The largest number of enemy forces were concentrated in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, and the most intense fighting 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 conditions of street fighting and limited space for maneuver; they caused especially heavy damage to tanks. The situation was also complicated by the fact that all German units and individual groups of soldiers who retreated during the battles on the outskirts of the city were concentrated in Berlin, replenishing the garrison of the city’s defenders.

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

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior agreement, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army. He informed the army commander, General V.I. Chuikov, about Hitler’s suicide and the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. But the categorical demand for unconditional surrender received in response by this government was rejected. Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor. The remnants of the German troops were no longer able to continue resistance, and in the early morning of May 2, a German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, communicated to enemy units defending in 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. In terms of the intensity of losses, this operation is comparable only to the Battle of Kursk.

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.

The Berlin operation is one of the largest in the Great Patriotic War.

List of sources used:

1. History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945. In 6 vols. – M.: Voenizdat, 1963.

2. Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. In 2 vols. 1969

4. Shatilov V. M. Banner over the Reichstag. 3rd edition, corrected and expanded. – M.: Voenizdat, 1975. – 350 p.

5. Neustroev S.A. The path to the Reichstag. – Sverdlovsk: Central Ural Book Publishing House, 1986.

6. Zinchenko F.M. Heroes of the storming of the Reichstag / Literary record of N.M. Ilyash. – 3rd ed. - M.: Voenizdat, 1983. - 192 p.

Storming of the Reichstag.

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.

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

The Red Army troops, having defeated large groups of Nazi troops in East Prussia, Poland and Eastern Pomerania during January - March 1945, reached the end of March on a wide front to the Oder and Neisse rivers. 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 Nazi 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 irretrievable losses amounted to 78,291 people, and sanitary losses - 274,184 people.

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

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Cutting through the darkness of the night, a dazzling searchlight beam shot vertically above the Kyustrin bridgehead. This was the signal for the start of the Berlin operation. The task facing the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front was not easy. The Third Reich was already obviously losing the war, but the Germans still had combat-ready units. In addition, from February to April 1945, the Nazis turned the 70-kilometer space from the Soviet bridgeheads on the Oder to Berlin into one continuous fortified area. In addition to fanaticism, units of the German 9th Army were driven by purely pragmatic considerations. Army commander Busset cynically remarked: “We will consider our task completed if American tanks hit us in the back.”

All this together required the highest professionalism from the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, G.K. Zhukov. His first trick was a reconnaissance in force with a pause carried out on April 15, which disoriented the Germans. The second trick was to shift the start of the offensive to the dark, which lengthened the first and most important day of the operation. A short but powerful artillery barrage began at 5:00 am Moscow time (3:00 am local time) on April 16, 1945. Then the anti-aircraft searchlights turned on, illuminating the path for the infantry. Subsequently, the solution with searchlights was sometimes criticized, but their illumination of the battlefield in the war was used more than once, including by the Germans. Zhukov did not invent anything fundamentally new, but only chose a technique appropriate to the situation. The searchlights played their role, highlighting the attack of the German forward positions.

The slowdown in the advance of the 1st Belorussian Front occurred when all the searchlights had already been turned off, around noon. The fact is that the terrain in the direction of the main attack of G.K. Zhukov’s troops was, frankly speaking, not a gift. The Oder Valley was completely cut up by irrigation canals, which in the spring turned into full-fledged anti-tank ditches. Overcoming these obstacles took time. The Seelow Heights, with which the Battle of Berlin is usually associated, blocked the path only for the left flank of the 69th and 8th Guards Armies; for the rest, the main obstacles were rivers and canals. Two armies of the 1st Belorussian reached the Seelow Heights in the afternoon - they were low, but steep, which forced them to advance along the roads. Also, bad weather on the first day of the battle limited the use of the “air hammer” of the 3 thousand front aircraft.

The delay in the Soviet offensive from schedule was temporary. Already on April 18, a gap was made in the German defense, through which the Seelow Heights began to be bypassed along their northern edge by the forces of the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies under the command of M.E. Katukov and S.I. Bogdanov. The German command tried to plug the breakthrough with a reserve, the 3rd SS Panzer Corps, but the SS men were flanked and bypassed. This graceful maneuver opened the road to Berlin for the Red Army. Already on April 22, tank units of the 1st Belorussian Front broke into the streets of the German capital.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of I. S. Konev were also involved in the attack directly on Berlin. On the one hand, he was in an advantageous position: the Germans were not expecting his strike, and the regroupings carried out at the last moment were not revealed. On the other hand, the breakthrough site of the 1st Ukrainian Front was much further from Berlin. The troops of I. S. Konev successfully crossed the Neisse River, broke through the German defenses and soon, on the orders of I. V. Stalin, part of their forces turned to Berlin. Here they were detained in the forests on the Barut-Zossen line south of the city and were somewhat late for the outbreak of battles for the German capital.

However, at the same time, the adjacent flanks of the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front to the southeast of Berlin closed an encirclement ring, which included about 200 thousand soldiers and officers of the German 9th Army. The main forces of the German “Oder Front” suffered a crushing defeat.

Thus, the preconditions were created for a quick assault by the Red Army on Berlin itself.

A. V. Isaev, Ph.D. n.