The final battle in the Great Patriotic War was the battle for Berlin, or the Berlin strategic offensive operation, which was carried out from April 16 to May 8, 1945.

On April 16, at 03:00 local time, aviation and artillery preparation began on the sector of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. After its completion, 143 searchlights were turned on to blind the enemy, and the infantry, supported by tanks, went on the attack. Encountering no strong resistance, she advanced 1.5-2 kilometers. However, the further our troops advanced, the stronger the resistance of the enemy grew.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a swift maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined up west of Berlin, completing the encirclement of the entire enemy Berlin grouping.

The liquidation of the Berlin enemy grouping directly in the city continued until May 2. The assault had to take every street and house. On April 29, fighting began for the Reichstag, the possession of which was entrusted to the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.

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

The fighting for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1. At 6:30 am on May 2, the head of the defense of Berlin, General of Artillery G. Weidling, surrendered and ordered the remnants of the troops of the Berlin garrison to cease resistance. In the middle of the day, the resistance of the Nazis in the city ceased. On the same day, the encircled groupings of German troops southeast of Berlin were liquidated.

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

Capture of Berlin. 1945 Documentary

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

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

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

With the onset of dawn on the Seelow Heights, the Germans came to their senses and fight with bitterness. Zhukov introduces tank armies into battle

16 Apr. 45g. The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev meet less resistance on the way of their offensive and immediately force the Neisse

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

Konev demands from Rybalko and Lelyushenko not to get involved in protracted and head-on battles, to boldly move forward towards Berlin

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

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

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

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front Zhukov break the 3rd enemy defense line on the Oderen-on the Seelow Heights all day

By the end of the day, Zhukov's troops completed the breakthrough of the 3rd lane of the Oder line at the Seelow Heights

On the left wing of Zhukov's front, conditions were created for cutting off the Frankfurt-Guben group of the enemy from the area on Berlin

Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to the commanders of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts: "It is better to treat the Germans." , Antonov

Another directive of the Headquarters: on identification marks and signals at the meeting of Soviet armies and allied forces

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

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

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

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

Hitler ordered the 12th Army, previously targeted against the Americans, to be turned against the 1st Ukrainian Front. She now has the goal of linking up with the remnants of the 9th and 4th Panzer Armies, making their way south of Berlin to the west.

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

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

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

In the district of Spremberg, Soviet troops liquidated the encircled group of Germans. Among the destroyed units is the tank division "Protection of the Fuhrer"

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

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

Himmler unsuccessfully tries through the Swedish diplomat Bernadotte to offer the allies surrender on the Western Front

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

Forces of the German 9th and 4th tanks. armies are surrounded in the forests southeast of Berlin. Parts of the 1st Ukrainian Front reflect the counterattack of the 12th German Army

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

In the area of ​​Torgau on the Elbe, Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian fr. met with the troops of the 12th American Army Group General Bradley

Having crossed the Spree, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev and the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of Zhukov are rushing towards the center of Berlin. The rush of Soviet soldiers in Berlin can no longer be stopped

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in Berlin occupied Gartenstadt and Gerlitsky Station, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front - the district of Dahlem

Konev turned to Zhukov with a proposal to change the demarcation line between their fronts in Berlin - the city center to transfer it to the front

Zhukov asks Stalin to salute the capture of the center of Berlin to the troops of his front, replacing Konev's troops in the south of the city

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

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

The battles for the Reichstag began, the mastery of which was entrusted to the 79th rifle corps of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front

When breaking through the barriers on the Berlin Kaiserallee, the tank of N. Shendrikov received 2 holes, caught fire, the crew failed. The mortally wounded commander, having gathered his last strength, sat down at the controls and threw the flaming tank at the enemy cannon

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

Soviet units are fighting for the Berlin metro

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

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

In different places of the Reichstag, several red banners were fixed - from regimental and divisional to self-made

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

Lieutenant Berest from the Neustroev battalion led the combat mission of installing the Banner over the Reichstag. Established around 3.00, May 1

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

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

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front captured Bandenburg, cleared the areas of Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and 100 quarters in Berlin

In Berlin, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, after killing their 6 children

Beg. German General Staff Krebs, announced the suicide of Hitler, offered to conclude a truce. Stalin confirmed the categorical demand for unconditional surrender in Berlin. At 18 o'clock the Germans rejected him

At 18.30, in connection with the rejection of the surrender, the Berlin garrison received a fire attack. The mass surrender of the Germans began

At 01.00, the radios of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “Please cease fire. We are sending parliamentarians to the Potsdam Bridge"

A German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance

At 0600, General Weidling surrendered and an hour later signed the surrender order for the Berlin garrison.

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

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

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

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

Everywhere in Berlin, Soviet field kitchens are deployed, where "wild barbarians" feed hungry Berliners.

Berlin operation 1945

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

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

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

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

The attack on Berlin began on April 16, 1945. The most heated battles unfolded in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, on which the Seelow Heights were located, covering the central direction. (The Seelow Heights are a range of heights in the North German Plain, 50–60 km east of Berlin. It runs along the left bank of the old Oder riverbed, up to 20 km long. At these heights, a well-equipped engineering 2nd defense line was created Germans, which was occupied by the 9th Army.)

To capture Berlin, the Soviet High Command used not only the frontal attack of the 1st Belorussian Front, but also the flank maneuver of the formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front, which broke through to the German capital from the south.

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

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

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

Berlin was covered to a great depth by numerous defensive structures erected along the western banks of the Oder and Neisse rivers. This boundary consisted of three bands 20–40 km deep. In terms of engineering, the defense in front of the Kustrinsky bridgehead and in the Kotbus direction, where the strongest groupings of Nazi troops were concentrated, was especially well prepared.

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

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

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

The plan of the Soviet command was to break through the enemy defenses along the Oder and Neisse with powerful strikes by troops on all three fronts, encircle the main grouping of German troops in the Berlin direction, and reach the Elbe.

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

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

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

Since April 25, fierce street fighting has been going on in Berlin. On May 1, the red flag was raised over the Reichstag building. On May 2, the garrison of the city capitulated.

The struggle for Berlin was not for life, but for death. From April 21 to May 2, 1.8 million artillery shots were fired at Berlin (more than 36 thousand tons of metal). The Germans defended their capital with great tenacity. According to the memoirs of Marshal Konev, "German soldiers still surrendered only when they had no way out."

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

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

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

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

Soviet troops lost 2156 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, 1220 guns and mortars, 527 aircraft. (“Secrecy stamp removed. Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts.” M., 1993. S. 220.)

According to Colonel General A.V. Gorbatov, “from a military point of view, Berlin should not have been stormed ... It was enough to encircle the city, and he himself would have surrendered in a week or two. Germany would capitulate inevitably. And on the assault, at the very end of the victory, in street battles, we put at least a hundred thousand soldiers ... ". “So did the British and Americans. They blocked the German fortresses and waited for months for their surrender, sparing their soldiers. Stalin acted differently. (“History of Russia in the 20th century. 1939–2007”. M., 2009. P. 159.)

The Berlin operation is one of the largest operations of World War II. The victory of the Soviet troops in it became a decisive factor in the completion of the military defeat of Germany. With the fall of Berlin and other vital areas, Germany lost the ability to organize resistance and soon capitulated.

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

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

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

The first paragraph of the Act read:

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

The meeting for the signing of the Act of German Surrender was led by the representative of the Supreme High Command of the Soviet Forces, Marshal G.K. Zhukov. Air Marshal Arthur V. Tedder of Great Britain, General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the US Strategic Air Forces, and General Jean Delattre de Tassigny, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, were present as representatives of the Allied High Command.

The price of victory is the undeserved losses of the Red Army from 1941 to 1945. (Information from the declassified repositories of the General Staff, published in Izvestia on 06/25/1998.)

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

The total demographic losses of the Red Army, including losses, from which 1936 thousand people who returned from captivity after the war, re-conscripted military personnel who found themselves in the occupied and then liberated territory (they were considered missing), 939 thousand people, are deducted, amount to 9,168 400 people. Of these, the payroll (that is, those who fought with weapons in their hands) 8,668,400 people.

Overall, the country lost 26,600,000 citizens. The civilian population suffered the most during the war - 17,400,000 killed and died.

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

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

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

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

Transferred to work in industry and local self-defense 3,614 thousand people. Sent to staff the troops and organs of the NKVD, to the Polish Army, Czechoslovak and Romanian armies - 1,500 thousand people.

More than 994,000 people were convicted (of which 422,000 were sent to penal units, 436,000 to places of detention). 212,000 deserters and those who strayed from the echelons were not found on their way to the front.

These figures are astonishing. At the end of the war, Stalin declared that the army had lost 7 million people. In the 1960s, Khrushchev called "more than 20 million people."

In March 1990, the Military History Journal published an interview with the then Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, General of the Army M. Moiseev: gratuitous losses among military personnel amounted to 8,668,400 people.

During the first period of fighting (June-November 1941), our daily losses on the fronts amounted to 24,000 (17,000 killed and 7,000 wounded). At the end of the war (from January 1944 to May 1945 - 20 thousand people a day: 5.2 thousand killed and 14.8 thousand wounded).

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

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

direct loss.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irretrievable losses of the Red Army.

By the beginning of the war, there were 4,826,907 military personnel in the army and navy according to the list. In addition, 74,945 military personnel and military builders were serving in the formations of civilian departments. During the 4 years of the war, excluding those re-conscripted, another 29,574 thousand were mobilized. In total, together with the personnel, 34,476,700 people were involved in the army, navy and paramilitary formations. Of these, about one third were in service every year (10.5-11.5 million people). Half of this staff (5.0-6.5 million people) served in the army.

In total, according to the commission of the General Staff, during the war years, 6,885,100 military personnel were killed, died of wounds and diseases, died in accidents, which amounted to 19.9% ​​of those called up. 4559 thousand people, or 13% of those who were called up, were missing, captured.

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

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

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

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

sanitary losses.

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

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

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

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

About 6 thousand partisan detachments operated behind enemy lines - more than 1 million people.

Head of the Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland, Major General A.V. Kirilin, in an interview with the Arguments and Facts weekly (2011, No. 24), cited the following data on the losses of the Red Army and Germany during the war of 1941-1945:

From June 22 to December 31, 1941, the losses of the Red Army exceeded 3 million people. Of these, 465,000 were killed, 101,000 died in hospitals, 235,000 people died from diseases and accidents (military statistics included those shot by their own in this category).

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

The figure of Soviet military losses in the Great Patriotic War is 8,664,400 people. This is a figure that is documented. But not all the people who are listed as losses among us died. For example, in 1946, 480,000 "displaced persons" went to the West - those who did not want to return to their homeland. There are 3.5 million people missing in total.

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

Germany, excluding allies, lost 5.3 million killed, dead from wounds, missing, 3.57 million captured on the Soviet-German front. There were 1.3 Soviet soldiers per killed German. 442 thousand captured Germans died in Soviet captivity.

Of the 4559 thousand Soviet soldiers who fell into German captivity, 2.7 million people died.

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When the ring of Soviet troops closed around the capital of Germany, Marshal G. Zhukov ordered his fighters to be ready to fight day and night, not for a second giving the Germans a break. The besieged garrison got a chance to avoid unnecessary bloodshed: on April 23, 1945, the Soviet command sent an ultimatum to surrender to Berlin. The Germans did not answer. And then the blow of four Soviet combined arms and the same number of tank armies hit the city.

The battle in the heart of the agonizing Reich lasted seven days and went down in history as one of the largest and bloodiest. This material is dedicated to interesting and little-known events of the main battle of 1945.

The Berlin offensive began on April 16, 1945. At the same time, the battle plan implied that Berlin would fall on the sixth day of the operation. Another six days were allotted for the completion of hostilities. Thus, if the original scenario came true, Victory Day would fall on April 28th.

In The Fall of Berlin, historians Anthony Reed and David Fischer called the German capital "a fortress with paper walls." So they hinted at her weakness before the decisive blow of the Red Army. However, the Berlin garrison numbered about 100 thousand people, at least 800 guns, 60 tanks. The city was heavily fortified, mined and blocked off by barricades. So the Soviet soldiers, who went through the hurricane of urban battles in Berlin, would hardly agree with historians.

The barricades with which the Germans blocked the streets of Berlin in many places were built thoroughly. The thickness and height of these structures exceeded two meters. Logs, stone, sometimes rails and metal beams were used as materials. Most of the barricades blocked the streets completely, but on the main city highways there were passages in the barriers. In the event of a threat of a breakthrough, they could be quickly closed by blowing up part of the barricade.

Although the Berlin garrison fought desperately, the decline in morale of the German soldiers and militias was evident. The documents recorded many cases when the Germans, a few days before the official surrender, massively surrendered. For example, on April 25, 1945, the Soviet side sent an employee to a tobacco factory in the Pankow district of Berlin to negotiate the surrender of its defenders. Previously, he was shown German prisoners, so that he would be convinced that they were being treated normally. As a result, the worker brought from the factory (according to various reports) 600–700 militia fighters, who voluntarily surrendered their weapons.

The shells of the Katyusha M-31 installation were almost two meters long and weighed almost 95 kg. During street fighting in Berlin, Soviet fighters dragged them into houses by hand, set up a launch frame on window sills, or simply placed a projectile on a sheet of slate and fired direct fire at the enemy in the building across the street. Most actively, this non-standard technique was used by the soldiers of the 3rd Guards Army, which was the first to reach the Reichstag.

During the storming of Berlin, many captured German Faustpatron anti-tank grenade launchers fell into the hands of Soviet soldiers. It turned out that for breaking through the walls of houses during an assault, this weapon is no less effective than against armored vehicles. And certainly more convenient than working with a pickaxe or undermining an explosive charge.

For the assault group, firing points on the upper floors and attics of houses posed a great danger. Among other things, it was difficult to hit them with the fire of tank and self-propelled guns: vehicles often could not raise the barrel at such an angle. Therefore, unit commanders tried to include Lend-Lease armored personnel carriers with heavy anti-aircraft machine guns, which worked perfectly on the upper floors, in the assault groups. The DShK anti-aircraft machine guns (pictured) mounted on IS tanks were also actively used for these purposes.

During the battles for Berlin, it turned out that in the conditions of urban development, conventional guns put forward for direct fire work better and suffer fewer losses than tanks, because the latter "see poorly". And the gun crews, as a rule, had time to notice the Faustniks in time and destroy them.

German anti-aircraft towers were important nodes in the defense of Berlin. One of them was in the Zoological Garden (see photo). She belonged to the first, most powerful generation of construction. The structure, 39 meters high with a wall thickness of about 2.5 meters, was built of such strong concrete that it withstood the fire of Soviet heavy-duty guns with a caliber of 152 to 203 mm. The defenders of the tower capitulated on May 2, along with the remnants of the Berlin garrison.

Churches played an important role in the Berlin defense system. They, as a rule, were located on the squares, which means they had excellent all-round visibility and wide firing sectors. Fire from one church could prevent the advance of Soviet troops along several streets at once. So, for example, the Soviet 248th Rifle Division was detained for two days by a church at the intersection of Linden, Hochstrasse and Orlanien streets. It was possible to take it only after the complete encirclement and blocking of underground exits on April 30, 1945. In the photo - Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, one of the strongholds of the defense.

For the Berlin Zoological Garden (in the photo - a view of the garden and anti-aircraft tower) there were fierce battles. Despite this, some animals managed to survive. Among them was a mountain goat. For fun, Soviet fighters hung the German Iron Cross around his neck - for bravery.

A risky but successful undertaking by the Red Army was the use of an aerostat (balloon) to correct artillery fire in the center of Berlin. Despite powerful anti-aircraft fire, the device rose over the park Kerner. The balloon was attacked by enemy aircraft, it was shot through by German anti-aircraft guns, so the device had to be urgently landed in order to repair the broken shell. Apart from this time, the balloon remained in the air all day. None of the spotter officers working on it were injured.

The only unit of the Soviet fleet, the Dnieper military flotilla, took part in the storming of Berlin. A detachment of half-glider boats under Lieutenant Kalinin played a particularly important role. Under fire, these small seven-meter shells, armed only with a machine gun, repeatedly crossed the Spree River. From April 23 to April 25, they managed to transport about 16,000 people, 100 guns and mortars, and a lot of related cargo from coast to coast.

During the assault on the Reichstag, only for direct fire on the German defenses, the Red Army concentrated 89 guns, about 40 tanks and six self-propelled guns. More cannons and howitzers fired from concealed positions.

The pilots of the Soviet 2nd Air Army decided to keep up with the infantry and decorate the Reichstag with their banners. They prepared two red banners. On one was written: "Long live May 1!" The other was marked with the inscriptions “Victory!” and "Glory to the Soviet soldiers who hoisted the banner of Victory over Berlin"! On May 1, when fighting was still going on in the building, two groups of aircraft passed over the Reichstag and dropped the banners by parachute. After that, the groups returned to base without loss.

On May 2, 1945, on the day of the capitulation of the Berlin garrison, a concert was held on the steps of the Reichstag by People's Artist of the USSR Lidia Ruslanova, which lasted until late at night. After the concert, the great singer signed on the column of the Reichstag.

Berlin strategic offensive operation- one of the last strategic operations of the 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 World War II 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 the support of industrial areas and the possibility of replenishing reserves and resources.

Soviet troops reached the line 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. air army, the Dnieper military flotilla and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

The Red Army was opposed by a large grouping as part of the Vistula Army Group (Generals G. Heinrici, then K. Tippelskirch) and Center (Field Marshal F. Schörner).

The ratio of forces by the time the operation began is given in the table.

On April 16, 1945, at 5 am Moscow time (2 hours before dawn), artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1500 installations of the RS BM-13 and BM-31 for 25 minutes, grinded the first line of German defense on the 27-kilometer breakthrough section. With the start of the attack, artillery fire was moved 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 path 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 was concentrated in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, the most intense battles flared up in the area of ​​​​the Seelow Heights.

Despite fierce resistance, on April 21, the first Soviet assault detachments reached the outskirts of Berlin, and street fighting ensued. On the afternoon of March 25, units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined, closing the ring around the city. However, the assault was yet to come, and the defense of Berlin was carefully prepared and well thought out. It was a whole system of strongholds and centers of resistance, the streets were blocked by powerful barricades, many buildings were turned into firing points, underground structures and the metro were actively used. Faustpatrons became a formidable weapon in the conditions of street fighting and limited space for maneuver, they inflicted especially heavy damage on tanks. The situation was also complicated by the fact that all German units and individual groups of soldiers retreating during the fighting on the outskirts of the city 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 taken by storm. However, thanks to the superiority in strength, as well as the experience gained 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, 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 office was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior arrangement, 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 commander of the army, General V. I. Chuikov, about Hitler's suicide and about the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. But the categorical demand for unconditional surrender received in response was rejected by this government. 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, using loud-speaking installations and radio, brought to enemy units defending in center of Berlin. As this order was brought to the attention of the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Separate 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 people were irretrievably lost. In terms of daily losses of personnel and equipment, the battle for 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 the German troops, according to the reports of the Soviet command, amounted to: killed - about 400 thousand people, captured about 380 thousand people. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.

The Berlin operation dealt the last crushing blow to the armed forces of the Third Reich, which, with the loss of Berlin, lost their 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 Germany's unconditional surrender.

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 .: Military Publishing, 1963.

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

4. Shatilov V. M. Banner over the Reichstag. 3rd edition, corrected and enlarged. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1975. - 350 p.

5. Neustroev S.A. Path to the Reichstag. - Sverdlovsk: Middle Ural book publishing house, 1986.

6. Zinchenko F.M. Heroes of the assault on the Reichstag / Literary record of N.M. Ilyash. - 3rd ed. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1983. - 192 p.

Storming of the Reichstag.

The assault on 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 Banner of Victory.

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 Kroll Opera.

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

The military operation was conducted on the territory of Europe from April 16 to May 9, 1945, during which the territories occupied by the Germans were liberated and Berlin was taken under control. The Berlin operation was the last in the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.

The following smaller operations were carried out as part of the Berlin operation:

• Stettin-Rostock;
• Zelovsko-Berlinskaya;
• Cottbus-Potsdam;
• Stremberg-Torgauskaya;
• Brandenburg-Rathenow.

The purpose of the operation was the capture of Berlin, which would allow the Soviet troops to open the way to connect with the Allies on the Elbe River and thus prevent Hitler from dragging out the Second World War for a longer period.

The course of the Berlin operation

In November 1944, the General Staff of the Soviet troops began planning an offensive operation on the outskirts of 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 troops, 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, due to which there was insufficient preparation and, as a result, heavy losses.

By mid-February, Soviet troops were able to cross the Oder, the last obstacle on the way to Berlin. A little more than seventy kilometers remained to the capital of Germany. From that moment on, the fighting took on a more protracted and fierce character - Germany did not want to give up and tried with all its might to restrain 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 Königsberg fortress, which was extremely well fortified and seemed almost impregnable. For the assault, the Soviet troops carried out a thorough artillery preparation, which, as a result, paid off - 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 an assault without delay, since the prolongation of the war itself could lead to the Germans being able to 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.

The Berlin offensive was prepared very carefully. Huge stocks 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 participated in the battle on both sides.

Storming Berlin

The assault on the city began on April 16 at 3 am. By the light of searchlights, one and a half hundred tanks and infantry attacked the defensive positions of the Germans. A fierce battle was fought for four days, after which the forces of three Soviet fronts and the 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, dozens of armored vehicles were destroyed.

However, despite the offensive, Hitler was not going to surrender Berlin, he insisted that the city must be held at all costs. Hitler refused to surrender even after the Soviet troops came close to the city, he threw all available human resources, including children and the elderly, onto the field of operations.

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

On April 29, Soviet soldiers stormed the Reichstag building. On April 30, the Soviet flag was hoisted on the building - the war ended, Germany was defeated.

The results of the Berlin operation

The Berlin operation put an end to the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. As a result of the rapid offensive of the Soviet troops, Germany was forced to surrender, all chances for opening a second front and making peace with the allies were cut off. Hitler, having learned about the defeat of his army and the entire fascist regime, committed suicide.