Never before in world history has such a powerful citadel been taken in such a short time: in just a week. The German command carefully thought out and perfectly prepared the city for defense. Stone bunkers with six floors, pillboxes, bunkers, tanks dug into the ground, fortified houses in which the “faustniks” settled, posing a mortal danger to our tanks. The center of Berlin, cut by canals, and the Spree River, was especially strongly fortified.

The Nazis sought to prevent the Red Army from capturing the capital, knowing that the Anglo-American troops were preparing an offensive in the Berlin direction. However, the degree of preference for surrender to the Anglo-Americans rather than to the Soviet troops was greatly exaggerated in Soviet time. On April 4, 1945, J. Goebbels wrote in his diary:

The main task of the press and radio is to explain to the German people that the Western enemy is harboring the same vile plans for the destruction of the nation as the Eastern one... We must point out again and again that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin will ruthlessly and without regard for anything carry out their deadly plans, as soon as the Germans show weakness and submit to the enemy...».

Soldiers of the Eastern Front, if in the coming days and hours each of you fulfills your duty to the Fatherland, we will stop and defeat the Asian hordes at the gates of Berlin. We foresaw this blow and opposed it with a front of unprecedented power... Berlin will remain German, Vienna will be German...».

Another thing is that the Nazis’ anti-Soviet propaganda was much more sophisticated than against the Anglo-Americans, and the local population eastern regions Germany experienced panic at the approach of the Red Army, and the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were in a hurry to make their way to the West and surrender there. Therefore, I.V. Stalin hurried Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov to begin the assault on Berlin as soon as possible. It began on the night of April 16 with a powerful artillery barrage and blinding the enemy with many anti-aircraft searchlights. After long and stubborn battles, Zhukov's troops captured the Seelow Heights, the main German defense point on the way to Berlin. Meanwhile, the tank army of Colonel General P.S. Rybalko, having crossed the Spree, attacked Berlin from the south. In the north on April 21, tankers of Lieutenant General S.M. Krivoshein were the first to break into the outskirts of the German capital.

The Berlin garrison fought with the despair of the doomed. It was obvious that he could not resist the deadly fire of Soviet heavy 203 mm howitzers, nicknamed by the Germans “Stalin’s sledgehammer”, volleys of Katyusha rockets and constant air bombing. Soviet troops acted on the streets of the city in the highest degree professionally: assault groups with the help of tanks they knocked out the enemy from fortified points. This allowed the Red Army to suffer relatively small losses. Step by step, Soviet troops approached the government center of the Third Reich. Krivoshein's tank corps successfully crossed the Spree and linked up with units of the 1st Ukrainian Front advancing from the south, encircling Berlin.

Captured defenders of Berlin - members of the Volksshurm (detachment people's militia). Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Who defended Berlin from Soviet troops in May 1945? The Berlin Defense Headquarters called on the population to prepare for street fighting on the ground and underground, using subway lines, sewer networks and underground communications. 400 thousand Berliners were mobilized to build fortifications. Goebbels began to form two hundred Volkssturm battalions and women's brigades. 900 square kilometers of city blocks turned into an “impregnable fortress of Berlin.”

The most combat-ready Waffen-SS divisions fought in the southern and western directions. The newly formed XI Panzer Army operated near Berlin under the command of SS-Oberstgruppenführer F. Steiner, which included all the surviving SS units of the city garrison, reservists, teachers and cadets of the SS Junker Schools, personnel of Berlin headquarters and numerous SS departments.

However, during fierce battles with the Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, Steiner’s division suffered such heavy losses that he, in his own words, “remained a general without an army.” Thus, the bulk of the Berlin garrison consisted of all sorts of improvised battle groups, and not regular Wehrmacht formations. The largest unit of the SS troops that the Soviet troops had to fight with was the SS division “Nordland”, its full name is the XI Volunteer SS Panzer-Grenadier Division “Nordland”. It was staffed mainly by volunteers from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. In 1945, the division included the grenadier regiments "Danmark" and "Norge", Dutch volunteers were sent to the emerging SS division "Nederland".

Berlin was also defended by the French SS division Charlemagne (Charlemagne), and the Belgian SS divisions Langemarck and Wallonia. On April 29, 1945, for the destruction of several Soviet tanks, a young native of Paris from the SS Charlemagne division, Unterscharführer Eugene Valot, was awarded the order Knight's Cross, becoming one of its last recipients. On May 2, a month before his 22nd birthday, Vazho died on the streets of Berlin. The commander of the LVII battalion from the Charlemagne division, Haupsturmführer Henri Fenet, wrote in his memoirs:

In Berlin there is a French street and a French church. They are named after the Huguenots who fled religious oppression and settled in Prussia in the earlyXVIIcentury, helping to build the capital. In the mid-20th century, other Frenchmen came to defend the capital that their ancestors had helped build.».

On 1 May the French continued to fight on Leipzigerstrasse, around the Air Ministry and at Potsdamerplatz. The French SS men of Charlemagne became the last defenders of the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery. During the day of fighting on April 28, out of a total of 108 Soviet tanks destroyed, the French "Charlemagne" destroyed 62. On the morning of May 2, following the announcement of the capitulation of the capital of the Third Reich, the last 30 "Charlemagne" fighters out of 300 who arrived in Berlin left the bunker of the Reich Chancellery, where, Apart from them, there was no one left alive. Along with the French, the Reichstag was defended by the Estonian SS. In addition, Lithuanians, Latvians, Spaniards and Hungarians took part in the defense of Berlin.

Members French division SS Charlemagne before being sent to the front. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Latvians in the 54th fighter squadron defended the Berlin sky from Soviet aviation. Latvian legionnaires continued to fight for the Third Reich and the already dead Hitler even when the German Nazis stopped fighting. On May 1, the battalion of the XV SS Division under the command of Obersturmführer Neulands continued to defend the Reich Chancellery. Famous Russian historian V.M. Falin noted:

Berlin fell on May 2, and the “local fighting” ended there ten days later... In Berlin, SS units from 15 states resisted the Soviet troops. Along with the Germans, Norwegian, Danish, Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourg Nazis operated there».

According to the French SS man A. Fenier: “ All of Europe gathered here for the last meeting", and, as always, against Russia.

Ukrainian nationalists also played a role in the defense of Berlin. On September 25, 1944, S. Bandera, Y. Stetsko, A. Melnik and 300 other Ukrainian nationalists were released by the Nazis from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin, where the Nazis had once placed them for too zealous campaigning for the creation of an “Independent Ukrainian State.” In 1945, Bandera and Melnik received instructions from the Nazi leadership to gather all Ukrainian nationalists in the Berlin area and defend the city from the advancing Red Army units. Bandera created Ukrainian units as part of the Volkssturm, and he himself hid in Weimar. In addition, several Ukrainian air defense groups (2.5 thousand people) operated in the Berlin area. Half of the III company of the 87th SS Grenadier Regiment "Kurmark" were Ukrainians, reservists of the XIV Grenadier Division of the SS "Galicia" troops.

However, not only Europeans took part in the Battle of Berlin on Hitler's side. Researcher M. Demidenkov writes:

When our troops fought on the outskirts of the Reich Chancellery in May 1945, they were surprised that they came across the corpses of Asians - Tibetans. This was written about in the 50s, albeit in passing, and mentioned as a curiosity. The Tibetans fought to the last bullet, shot their wounded, and did not surrender. Not a single living Tibetan in SS uniform remains».

In the memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, there is information that after the fall of Berlin, corpses in a rather strange uniform were found in the Reich Chancellery: the cut was that of the everyday SS troops (not field), but the color was dark brown, and there were no runes in the buttonholes. Those killed were clearly Asians and distinctly Mongoloid with rather dark skin. They died, apparently, in battle.

It should be noted that the Nazis conducted several expeditions to Tibet along the Ahnenerbe line and established strong, friendly relations and a military alliance with the leadership of one of the largest religious movements in Tibet. Constant radio communications and an air bridge were established between Tibet and Berlin; a small German mission and a security company from the SS troops remained in Tibet.

In May 1945, our people crushed not just a military enemy, not just Nazi Germany. Nazi Europe was defeated, another European Union, previously created by Charles of Sweden and Napoleon. How can one not recall the eternal lines of A.S. Pushkin?

The tribes walked

Threatening disaster to Russia;

Wasn't all of Europe here?

And whose star was guiding her!..

But we have become a solid heel

And they took the pressure with their chests

Tribes obedient to the will of the proud,

And the unequal dispute was equal.

But the following stanza from the same poem becomes no less relevant today:

Your disastrous escape

Having boasted, they have now forgotten;

They forgot the Russian bayonet and the snow,

Buried their glory in the desert.

A familiar feast beckons them again

- The blood of the Slavs is intoxicating for them;

But their hangover will be severe;

But the guests' sleep will be long

At a cramped, cold housewarming party,

Under the grain of the northern fields!

The Berlin operation of the Red Army, carried out from April 16 to May 2, 1945, became a triumph for the Soviet troops: Berlin, the capital of the Third Reich, was defeated, and the Hitlerite empire was completely defeated.

The history of the Battle of Berlin has been described many times in military historical literature here and abroad. Assessments are different, sometimes polar: some consider it a standard of military art, others believe that it is far from the best example of military art.

Be that as it may, when describing the capture of Berlin by the Red Army in Western historiography of this most important operation, the main attention is paid to two issues: the level of military art of the Red Army and the attitude of Soviet soldiers towards the population of Berlin. When covering these topics, not all, but many authors from other countries, and in recent years some domestic historians, strive to emphasize the negative phenomena in both issues.

How did all this actually happen, given the conditions and time of action of the Soviet troops in April-May 1945?

The main blow to Berlin was delivered by the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. Photo by Georgy Petrusov.

DID YOU FILL BERLIN WITH A MOUNTAIN OF CORPSES OR WRITE A GOLDEN PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF MILITARY ART?

Most critics agree that the fronts that carried out the Berlin operation, despite their superiority over the enemy, did not act skillfully enough and suffered unreasonably high losses.

Thus, David Glantz, a famous American military historian, writes that “The Berlin operation was one of the most unsuccessful for Zhukov” (in parentheses, let’s say that the same Glantz calls Zhukov’s most unsuccessful operation the Rzhev-Sychevsky offensive operation “Mars”, which was carried out on November 25 –12/20/1942). According to the German historian Karl-Heinz Friser, “the gigantic Soviet fire strike (meaning the artillery barrage on April 16 - author’s note) went into the sand... The use of searchlights glorified by Zhukov’s propaganda was just as unproductive and even harmful.” Russian historian Andrei Mertsalov notes that Zhukov “lost his nerves” and “in a state of passion, he made a fatal mistake. He used tank armies designed to develop operational success to break through tactical defenses.” 1,400 tanks were used as a ram, which went through the marching formations of the 8th Guards. armies, mixed them up and created enormous confusion in the command and control system. The operational plan was disrupted. As Mertsalov notes, “the mistake was all the more severe” because the 8th Guards. the army had its own tanks in large numbers."

But was it really that simple?

Yes, the Berlin operation cost us great losses - 78,291 killed and 274,184 wounded. Average daily losses amounted to 15,325 people - one of the highest losses suffered by the Red Army in strategic and independent front-line operations during the entire period of the war.

But in order to talk sensibly about this operation, it is necessary to remember the environment in which it was carried out.

Firstly, it had to be carried out as quickly as possible. Why? Because already on April 22, after listening to a report on the situation at the front, Hitler made a decision: to throw all his forces against the Russian troops. What did this mean? And the fact is that, having long wanted to open the front to the Western allies, and now having received Hitler’s permission, German generals were ready to surrender part of their troops as prisoners to the Anglo-American armies in order to throw all their remaining forces onto the Eastern Front. And Stalin understood this well. This was discussed in the Allied negotiations in Switzerland with SS General Karl Wolf, and in the negotiations with the Germans in Sweden, and in the main actions of the Wehrmacht on the Western Front. And here we must pay tribute to Stalin’s intuition. He foresaw what the English historian Basil Liddell Hart would later write about: “The Germans might make the fatal decision to sacrifice the defense of the Rhine for the defense of the Oder in order to delay the Russians.”

In the spring of 1945, the military-political situation demanded that the Berlin operation be carried out as soon as possible.

Essentially, on April 11, after the Americans encircled Army Group B under the command of Field Marshal Model in the Ruhr, the resistance of German troops in the West ceased. One of the American journalists wrote: “Cities fell like bowling pins. We drove 150 km without hearing a single shot. The city of Kassel surrendered through the mediation of the burgomaster. Osnabrück surrendered without resistance on April 5. Mannheim capitulated over the telephone." On April 16, the mass surrender of Wehrmacht soldiers and officers began.

But if on the Western Front “cities fell like ninepins,” then on the Eastern Front the German resistance was desperate to the point of fanaticism. Stalin wrote with irritation to Roosevelt on April 7: “The Germans have 147 divisions on the Eastern Front. They could, without harming their cause, remove 15-20 divisions from the Eastern Front and transfer them to help their troops on the Western Front. However, the Germans did not and will not do this. They continue to fiercely fight with the Russians for some little-known Zemlyanitsa station in Czechoslovakia, which they need as much as a dead poultice, but without any resistance they surrender such important cities in the center of Germany as Osnabrück, Mannheim, Kassel.” That is, the path to Berlin for the Western allies was essentially open.

What could the Soviet troops do to prevent the gates of Berlin from opening to the Western allies? Only one. Capture the capital of the Third Reich faster. And therefore, all the reproaches against our front commanders, especially Zhukov, lose ground.

On the Eastern Front, German resistance was desperate to the point of fanaticism.

Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovsky had one task - to quickly, as quickly as possible, capture the capital of the Third Reich. And it was not easy. The Berlin operation did not fit into the canons of offensive operations of front groups of those years.

Speaking at the editorial office of the Military Historical Journal in August 1966, Zhukov said: “Now, after a long time, reflecting on the Berlin operation, I came to the conclusion that the defeat of the Berlin enemy group and the capture of Berlin itself were done correctly, but it is possible It would have been possible to carry out this operation somewhat differently.”

Yes, of course, reflecting on the past, our commanders and modern historians find better options. But this is today, many years later and under completely different conditions. And then? Then there was one task: to take Berlin as quickly as possible. But this required careful preparation.

And we must admit that Zhukov did not succumb to the sentiments of Stalin, the General Staff, and the commander of his key army, Chuikov, who believed that after capturing the bridgehead on the Oder near the city of Küstrin, it was necessary to immediately march on Berlin. He understood well that the troops were tired, the rear was lagging behind, and a pause was needed for the final final offensive. He also saw something else: the 2nd Belorussian Front was 500 km behind. To the right, over his, Zhukov’s, 1st Belorussian Front looms a powerful group - the Vistula Army Group. Guderian later wrote: “The German command intended to launch a powerful counterattack with the forces of Army Group Vistula with lightning speed, until the Russians brought large forces to the front or until they guessed our intentions.”

Even boys from the Hitler Youth were thrown into battle.

And he, Zhukov, managed to convince Headquarters that the attack on Berlin in February would not bring success. And then Stalin decided to launch an attack on Berlin on April 16, but to carry out the operation in no more than two weeks.

The main blow was delivered by Zhukov's front - the 1st Belorussian. But the environment in which he had to act was very specific.

By decision of the commander, the front launched the main attack from the bridgehead west of Küstrin with the forces of five combined arms and two tank armies. On the very first day, the combined arms armies were supposed to break through the first defensive line 6-8 km deep. Then, to develop success, tank armies had to be introduced into the breakthrough. At the same time, the situation and terrain made any other forms of maneuver difficult. Therefore, Zhukov’s favorite technique was chosen - a frontal strike. The goal is to fragment the forces concentrated on the shortest route to the capital of the Third Reich in the direction of Küstrin-Berlin. The breakthrough was planned on a wide front - 44 km (25% of the entire length of the 1st Belorussian Front). Why? Because a breakthrough on a wide front in three directions excluded a counter-maneuver of enemy forces to cover Berlin from the east.

The enemy was placed in a position where he could not weaken the flanks, without risking allowing the Red Army to capture Berlin from the north and south, but could not strengthen the flanks at the expense of the center, because this would speed up the advance of Soviet troops in the Küstrin-Berlin direction.

Storm troops were created for the fighting in Berlin. This B-4 howitzer was assigned to the first battalion of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division. Photo by Yakov Ryumkin.

But we must take into account that the experience of almost four years of war has taught both belligerents a lot. This means that it was necessary to undertake something new, unexpected for the German troops, something for which they were not prepared. And Zhukov begins the offensive not at dawn, as usual, but at night after a short artillery barrage and begins the attack by suddenly turning on 143 powerful searchlights in order to blind the enemy, suppress him not only with fire, but also with a sudden psychological technique - blinding.

Historians have different assessments of the success of the use of searchlights, but participants on the German side recognize its suddenness and effectiveness.

However, the peculiarity of the Berlin operation was that, essentially, the first defensive line was immediately followed by a second, and behind it fortified settlements all the way to Berlin. This factor was not properly appreciated by the Soviet command. Zhukov understood that after breaking through the enemy’s tactical defense zone, he would throw the tank armies into the breakthrough, lure the main forces of the Berlin garrison to fight them and destroy them in the “open field.”

Soviet tanks near the bridge over the Spree River in the Reichstag area.

Therefore, breaking through two lines of defense (what kind!) in one day by combined arms armies was an impossible task for combined arms armies.

And then the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front decides to introduce tank armies into battle - in fact, to directly support the infantry. The pace of the advance increased.

But we must not forget that these were last days war, the last battles for the victory of Russia. “And it’s not at all scary to die for her,” as the poet Mikhail Nozhkin wrote, “but everyone still hopes to live.” And this factor could not be ignored. Zhukov directs the 1st Guards. the tank army not to the north, but bypassing the city, and to the south-eastern outskirts of Berlin, cutting off the escape routes of the 9th German Army to Berlin.

But then tankmen and infantrymen burst into Berlin, and fighting began in the city. Assault detachments are created, which include infantry and tank units, sappers, flamethrowers, and artillerymen. The fight is on for every street, every house, every floor.

The tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front enter Berlin from the south. For some time, the troops are mixed. In this regard, Konev’s troops are withdrawn outside Berlin, Zhukov continues the assault on the capital of Hitler’s Reich.

Self-propelled guns SU-76M on one of the streets of Berlin.

This is how this extraordinary offensive. Therefore, critics of its conduct should at least take into account the uniqueness of the situation, and not analyze it according to classical canons.

Of course, there were mistakes by the command and the executors, and interruptions in supplies, and skirmishes between units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts, and aviation sometimes hit the wrong targets. Yes, it all happened.

But amidst all this chaos generated by the deadly final battle of two great armies, we must distinguish the main thing. We won a final victory over a strong and desperately resisting enemy. “The enemy was strong, the greater our glory!” We have put a victorious point in the war with the fascist bloc. The Third Reich was defeated and destroyed. The Red Army, which had become the strongest in the world, raised its banners high in the center of Europe. Against the background of all this, the mistakes and miscalculations that happen to every commander in every war fade away. The Berlin operation is forever inscribed as a golden page in the history of military art.

“HORDES OF BARBARIANS” SOURGING INTO “CIVILIZED EUROPE” OR ARE THERE LIBERERS?

As mentioned above, a favorite theme of historians who want to discredit the successes of the Red Army during the war in every possible way is the comparison of Soviet soldiers with “hordes of barbarians”, “Asian hordes” who poured into “civilized Europe” for the purpose of robbery, outrages and violence. This topic is especially discussed when describing the Berlin operation and the attitude of soldiers and officers of the Red Army towards the civilian population.

Musical moment. Photo by Anatoly Egorov.

The English historian Anthony Beevor, author of the acclaimed book “The Fall of Berlin,” is especially sophisticated in this direction. Without bothering to check the facts, the author cites mainly the statements of people who met him (like a “survey on the streets”, practiced on modern radio stations). Statements, naturally, may be different, but the author cites only those that talk about looting and especially violence against women by Soviet soldiers. The data is very vague. For example, “one Komsomol organizer of a tank company said that Soviet soldiers raped at least 2 million women,” “one doctor calculated that the violence was massive,” “Berliners remember the violence that took place,” etc. Unfortunately, Geoffrey Roberts, the author of the generally objective book “Victory at Stalingrad,” writes about the same thing, also without reference to documents.

At the same time, Beevor, among the main reasons for violent actions on the part of Soviet soldiers, identifies “sexual pathologies in all representatives of Soviet society, formed by the government’s policy in the field of sexual education.”

Of course, as in any army, there were cases of looting and violence. But the European medieval principle, when captured cities were given over for three days to be plundered, is one thing. And it’s a completely different matter when the political leadership and army command do (and effectively do) everything possible to stop or reduce to a minimum the outrages.

This task was not easy for the Soviet leadership, but it was carried out everywhere and with dignity. And this is after what the Soviet soldier saw on the lands he liberated: the atrocities of the German occupiers, devastated cities and villages, millions of people turned into slaves, the consequences of bombing, shelling, backbreaking work and terror in the temporarily occupied territory of the country, not to mention the indirect losses. Tens of millions were left homeless. Tragedy and horror came to every Soviet family, and the rage of the soldiers and officers who fought on enemy soil knew no bounds. An avalanche of revenge could have overwhelmed Germany, but this did not happen. It was not possible to completely prevent violence, but they managed to contain it and then reduce it to a minimum.

First peace day in Berlin. Soviet soldiers communicate with civilians. Photo by Victor Temin.

Let us say in passing that the British historian is clearly silent about the fact that German command in the occupied territory not only of the USSR, but also of other countries, regularly organized round-ups of women with the aim of delivering them to the front line for the pleasure of the German soldiers. It would be interesting to hear his opinion whether this was connected with the sexual pathologies of the Germans, “shaped by the government’s policies in the field of sexual education”?

Let us recall that the political position on the attitude towards the German population was first formulated by Stalin in February 1942. Rejecting the Nazi slander that the Red Army aims to exterminate the German people and destroy the German state, the Soviet leader said: “The experience of history says that the Hitlers are coming and they leave, but the German people and the German state remain.” The Wehrmacht at this time was still 100 km from Moscow.

With the entry of the Red Army into the territory of the aggressor countries, emergency measures were taken to prevent atrocities against the German civilian population. On January 19, 1945, Stalin signed an order that demanded that rude treatment of the local population be prevented. The order was communicated to every soldier. This order was followed up by orders from the Military Councils of the fronts, army commanders, and division commanders of other formations. The order of the Military Council of the 2nd Belorussian Front, signed by Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, ordered that looters and rapists be shot at the scene of the crime.

With the start of the Berlin operation, Headquarters sent a new document to the troops:

Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to the commanders of troops and members of the military councils of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts on changing attitudes towards German prisoners of war and the civilian population on April 20, 1945.

The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command orders:

1. Demand a change in attitude towards Germans, both prisoners of war and civilians. Treat the Germans better. The brutal treatment of the Germans makes them afraid and forces them to stubbornly resist without surrendering.

A more humane attitude towards the Germans will make it easier for us to conduct military operations on their territory and will undoubtedly reduce the tenacity of the Germans in defense.

2. In the regions of Germany west of the line of the mouth of the Oder River, Fürstenberg, then the Neisse River (to the west), create German administrations, and install German burgomasters in the cities.

Ordinary members of the National Socialist Party, if they are loyal to the Red Army, should not be touched, but only the leaders should be detained if they did not manage to escape.

3. Improving attitudes towards Germans should not lead to a decrease in vigilance and familiarity with the Germans.

Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

I.STALIN

ANTONOV

Along with explanatory work, strict punitive measures were taken. According to data from the Military Prosecutor's Office, in the first months of 1945, 4,148 officers and a large number of privates were convicted by military tribunals for committing atrocities against the local population. A few illustrative trials against military personnel culminated in the imposition of death sentences on the perpetrators.

Commander of the 756th Infantry Regiment, first commandant of the Reichstag Fyodor Zinchenko.

For comparison, in the US Army, where the number of rapes has sharply increased, 69 people were executed for murder, looting and rape with murder in April, and more than 400 people were convicted in April alone. Eisenhower, after the entry of Western troops into Germany, generally forbade military personnel from any communication with the local population. However, as American historians note, this ban was doomed to failure, “because it was contrary to the very nature of a young, healthy American and allied soldier when it came to women and children.”

As for the Red Army, thousands of documents from political agencies (the so-called “7 departments”), commandant’s offices, and prosecutors’ offices, which were directly involved in eliminating negative phenomena in relations between troops and the local population, show that intensive work was constantly carried out in this direction, and it gradually brought positive results.

The state of relations between the army and the population was closely monitored by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. And it gave results.

Here, for example, is an excerpt from the report of the head of the political department of the 8th Guards Army to the head of the political department of the 1st Belorussian Front on the behavior of the German population in the occupied suburbs of Berlin and its attitude towards Soviet military personnel dated April 25, 1945:

The general impression from the first meetings with residents of the suburbs of Berlin - the settlements of Ransdorf and Wilhelmshagen - is that the majority of the population treats us loyally and strives to emphasize this both in conversations and in behavior. Almost all the residents say: “We didn’t want to fight, let Hitler fight now.” At the same time, everyone tries to emphasize that they are not involved in the Nazis and never supported Hitler’s policies; some persistently try to convince them that they are communists.

IN populated areas Wilhelmshagen and Ransdorf have restaurants serving liquor, beer and snacks. Moreover, restaurant owners are willing to sell all this to our soldiers and officers for occupation stamps. Head of the political department of the 28th Guards. CK Colonel Borodin ordered the owners of Ransdorf's restaurants to close their restaurants until the battle was over.

Head of the political department of the 8th Guards. Army of the Guards Major General M. SKOSYREV

One of the reports from a member of the Military Council of the 1st Ukrainian Front states that “the Germans carefully carry out all instructions and express satisfaction with the regime established for them. Thus, the pastor of the city of Zagan, Ernst Schlichen, stated: “The measures carried out by the Soviet command are regarded by the German population as fair, arising from military conditions. But individual cases of arbitrariness, especially cases of rape of women, keep the Germans in constant fear and tension.” The military councils of the front and armies are waging a determined struggle against the looting and rape of German women.”

Unfortunately, rarely does anyone in the West remember anything else. About the selfless assistance of the Red Army to Berliners and Germans from other cities. But it’s not for nothing that a monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator stands (and was recently renovated) in Berlin’s Treptower Park. The soldier stands with his sword lowered and clutching the rescued girl to his chest. The prototype of this monument was the feat of soldier Nikolai Masolov, who, under heavy enemy fire, risking his life, carried a German child from the battlefield. This feat was accomplished by many Soviet soldiers, and some of them died in the last days of the war.

Before the assault on April 30, 1945, Colonel Fedor Zinchenko was appointed commandant of the Reichstag. Half an hour before the battle, he learned of the death of his last brother. Two others died near Moscow and Stalingrad. All his six sisters remained widows. But, fulfilling his duty, the commandant first took care of the local population. The storming of the Reichstag was still ongoing, and the regimental cooks were already distributing food to the hungry Germans.

Reconnaissance platoon of the 674th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Idritsa Infantry Division on the steps of the Reichstag. In the foreground is Private Grigory Bulatov.

Immediately after the capture of Berlin, the following food standards were introduced for the population of the German capital for each resident (depending on the nature of the activity): bread - 300-600 grams; cereals – 30-80 grams; meat – 20-100 grams; fat – 70 grams; sugar – 15-30 grams; potatoes – 400-500 grams. Children under 13 years of age were given 200 grams of milk daily. Approximately the same standards were established for other cities and towns in the regions of Germany liberated by the Soviet Army. At the beginning of May 1945, the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front reported on the situation in Berlin to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters: “The measures of the Soviet command to supply food and improve life in the city stunned the Germans. They are surprised by the generosity, the quick restoration of order in the city, and the discipline of the troops.” Indeed, in Berlin alone, from the resources of the Soviet troops, for the needs of the local population, the following were allocated in the shortest possible time: 105 thousand tons of grain, 18 thousand tons of meat products, 1500 tons of fats, 6 thousand tons of sugar, 50 thousand tons of potatoes and other products. The city government was given 5 thousand dairy cows to provide children with milk, 1000 trucks and 100 cars, 1000 tons of fuels and lubricants for establishing intra-city transportation.

A similar picture was observed everywhere in Germany, where the Soviet army. It was not easy at that time to find the necessary resources: the Soviet population was given modest food rations strictly on ration cards. But the Soviet government did everything to provide the German population with the necessary products.

A lot of work has been done to restore educational institutions. With the support of the Soviet military administration and thanks to the dedicated work of local democratic bodies of self-government, by the end of June, classes were held in 580 schools in Berlin, where 233 thousand children were studying. 88 orphanages and 120 cinemas began operating. Theaters, restaurants, and cafes were opened.

Even in the days of fierce battles, the Soviet military authorities took under protection outstanding monuments of German architecture and art, preserved for humanity the famous Dresden Gallery, the richest book collections of Berlin, Potsdam and other cities.

In conclusion, we repeat once again: the task of taking control of such a huge city as Berlin was extremely difficult. But the troops of the Zhukov, Konev, and Rokossovsky fronts coped with it brilliantly. The significance of this victory is recognized throughout the world, including by German generals and military leaders of the allied forces.

Here, in particular, is how I rated it Battle of Berlin one of the outstanding military leaders of the time, Army General George Marshall: “The chronicle of this battle provides many lessons for all who are involved in the art of war. Assault on the capital Nazi Germany- one of the most difficult operations of the Soviet troops during the Second World War. This operation represents remarkable pages of glory, military science and art.”

The war was ending. Everyone understood this - both the Wehrmacht generals and their opponents. Only one person - Adolf Hitler - despite everything, continued to hope for the strength of the German spirit, for a “miracle”, and most importantly - for a split between his enemies. There were reasons for this - despite the agreements reached in Yalta, England and the United States did not particularly want to cede Berlin to Soviet troops. Their armies advanced almost unhindered. In April 1945, they broke through into the center of Germany, depriving the Wehrmacht of its “forge” - the Ruhr Basin - and gaining the opportunity to rush to Berlin. At the same time, Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front and Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front froze in front of the powerful German defense line on the Oder. Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front finished off the remnants of enemy troops in Pomerania, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts advanced towards Vienna.

On April 1, Stalin convened a meeting of the State Defense Committee in the Kremlin. The audience was asked one question: “Who will take Berlin - us or the Anglo-Americans?” “The Soviet Army will take Berlin,” Konev was the first to respond. He, Zhukov’s constant rival, was also not taken by surprise by the Supreme Commander’s question - he showed the members of the State Defense Committee a huge model of Berlin, where the targets of future strikes were precisely indicated. The Reichstag, the Imperial Chancellery, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - all these were powerful centers of defense with a network of bomb shelters and secret passages. The capital of the Third Reich was surrounded by three lines of fortifications. The first took place 10 km from the city, the second - on its outskirts, the third - in the center. Berlin was defended by selected units of the Wehrmacht and SS troops, to whose aid the last reserves were urgently mobilized - 15-year-old members of the Hitler Youth, women and old men from the Volkssturm (people's militia). Around Berlin in the Vistula and Center army groups there were up to 1 million people, 10.4 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, the superiority of Soviet troops in manpower and equipment was not just significant, but overwhelming. 2.5 million soldiers and officers, 41.6 thousand guns, more than 6.3 thousand tanks, 7.5 thousand aircraft were supposed to attack Berlin. The main role in the offensive plan approved by Stalin was assigned to the 1st Belorussian Front. From the Küstrinsky bridgehead, Zhukov was supposed to storm the defense line head-on on the Seelow Heights, which towered above the Oder, closing the road to Berlin. Konev’s front had to cross the Neisse and strike the capital of the Reich with the forces of the tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko. It was planned that in the west it would reach the Elbe and, together with Rokossovsky’s front, would link up with the Anglo-American troops. The Allies were informed of the Soviet plans and agreed to halt their armies on the Elbe. The Yalta agreements had to be implemented, and this also made it possible to avoid unnecessary losses.

The offensive was scheduled for April 16. To make it unexpected for the enemy, Zhukov ordered an attack early in the morning, in the dark, blinding the Germans with the light of powerful searchlights. At five in the morning, three red rockets gave the signal to attack, and a second later thousands of guns and Katyushas opened hurricane fire of such force that an eight-kilometer space was plowed up overnight. “Hitler’s troops were literally sunk in a continuous sea of ​​fire and metal,” Zhukov wrote in his memoirs. Alas, the day before, a captured Soviet soldier revealed to the Germans the date of the future offensive, and they managed to withdraw their troops to the Seelow Heights. From there, targeted shooting began at Soviet tanks, which, wave after wave, made a breakthrough and died in a completely shot through field. While the enemy's attention was focused on them, the soldiers of Chuikov's 8th Guards Army managed to move forward and occupy lines near the outskirts of the village of Zelov. By evening it became clear: the planned pace of the offensive was being disrupted.

At the same time, Hitler addressed the Germans with an appeal, promising them: “Berlin will remain in German hands,” and the Russian offensive “will drown in blood.” But few people believed in this anymore. People listened with fear to the sounds of cannon fire, which were added to the already familiar bomb explosions. The remaining residents - there were at least 2.5 million of them - were forbidden to leave the city. The Fuhrer, losing his sense of reality, decided: if the Third Reich perishes, all Germans must share its fate. Goebbels' propaganda frightened the people of Berlin with the atrocities of the "Bolshevik hordes", convincing them to fight to the end. A Berlin defense headquarters was created, which ordered the population to prepare for fierce battles on the streets, in houses and underground communications. Each house was planned to be turned into a fortress, for which all remaining residents were forced to dig trenches and equip firing positions.

At the end of the day on April 16, Zhukov received a call from the Supreme Commander. He dryly reported that Konev overcame Neisse “happened without any difficulties.” Two tank armies broke through the front at Cottbus and rushed forward, continuing the offensive even at night. Zhukov had to promise that during April 17 he would take the ill-fated heights. In the morning, General Katukov's 1st Tank Army moved forward again. And again the “thirty-four”, which passed from Kursk to Berlin, burned out like candles from the fire of “Faust cartridges”. By evening, Zhukov's units had advanced only a couple of kilometers. Meanwhile, Konev reported to Stalin about new successes, announcing his readiness to take part in the storming of Berlin. Silence on the phone - and the dull voice of the Supreme: “I agree. Turn your tank armies towards Berlin." On the morning of April 18, the armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko rushed north to Teltow and Potsdam. Zhukov, whose pride suffered severely, threw his units into a last desperate attack. In the morning, the 9th German Army, which received the main blow, could not stand it and began to roll back to the west. The Germans still tried to launch a counterattack, but the next day they retreated along the entire front. From that moment on, nothing could delay the denouement.

Friedrich Hitzer, German writer, translator:

My answer regarding the assault on Berlin is purely personal, not a military strategist. In 1945 I was 10 years old, and, being a child of the war, I remember how it ended, how the defeated people felt. Both my father and my closest relative took part in this war. The latter was a German officer. Returning from captivity in 1948, he decisively told me that if this happened again, he would go to war again. And on January 9, 1945, on my birthday, I received a letter from the front from my father, who also wrote with determination that we needed to “fight, fight and fight the terrible enemy in the east, otherwise we will be taken to Siberia.” Having read these lines as a child, I was proud of the courage of my father - “the liberator from the Bolshevik yoke.” But very little time passed, and my uncle, that same German officer, told me many times: “We were deceived. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you again.” The soldiers realized that this was not the same war. Of course, not all of us were “deceived.” One of my father's best friends warned him back in the 30s: Hitler is terrible. You know, any political ideology of the superiority of some over others, absorbed by society, is akin to drugs...

The significance of the assault, and the finale of the war in general, became clear to me later. The assault on Berlin was necessary - it saved me from the fate of being a conquering German. If Hitler had won, I would probably have become very unlucky person. His goal of world domination is alien and incomprehensible to me. As an action, the capture of Berlin was terrible for the Germans. But in reality it was happiness. After the war, I worked on a military commission dealing with issues of German prisoners of war, and was once again convinced of this.

I recently met with Daniil Granin, and we talked for a long time about what kind of people they were who surrounded Leningrad...

And then, during the war, I was afraid, yes, I hated the Americans and the British, who bombed my hometown Ulm. This feeling of hatred and fear lived in me until I visited America.

I remember well how, evacuated from the city, we lived in a small German village on the banks of the Danube, which was the “American zone”. Our girls and women then inked themselves with pencils so as not to be raped... Every war is terrible tragedy, and this war was especially terrible: today they talk about 30 million Soviet and 6 million German victims, as well as millions of dead people of other nations.

Last birthday

On April 19, another participant appeared in the race for Berlin. Rokossovsky reported to Stalin that the 2nd Belorussian Front was ready to storm the city from the north. On the morning of this day, the 65th Army of General Batov crossed the wide channel of the Western Oder and moved towards Prenzlau, cutting into pieces the German Army Group Vistula. At this time, Konev’s tanks moved north easily, as if in a parade, meeting almost no resistance and leaving the main forces far behind. The Marshal consciously took risks, rushing to approach Berlin before Zhukov. But the troops of the 1st Belorussian were already approaching the city. His formidable commander issued an order: “No later than 4 o’clock in the morning on April 21, break into the suburbs of Berlin at any cost and immediately convey a message about this for Stalin and the press.”

On April 20, Hitler celebrated his last birthday. Selected guests gathered in a bunker 15 meters into the ground under the imperial chancellery: Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann, the top of the army and, of course, Eva Braun, who was listed as the Fuhrer’s “secretary”. His comrades suggested that their leader leave doomed Berlin and move to the Alps, where a secret refuge had already been prepared. Hitler refused: “I am destined to conquer or perish with the Reich.” However, he agreed to withdraw the command of the troops from the capital, dividing it into two parts. The north found itself under the control of Grand Admiral Dönitz, to whom Himmler and his staff went to help. The south of Germany had to be defended by Goering. Then a plan of destruction arose Soviet offensive by the armies of Steiner from the north and Wenck from the west. However, this plan was doomed from the very beginning. Both Wenck's 12th Army and the remnants of SS General Steiner's units were exhausted in battle and incapable of active action. Army Group Center, on which hopes were also pinned, fought heavy battles in the Czech Republic. Zhukov prepared a “gift” for the German leader - in the evening his armies approached the city border of Berlin. The first shells from long-range guns hit the city center. The next morning, General Kuznetsov's 3rd Army entered Berlin from the northeast, and Berzarin's 5th Army from the north. Katukov and Chuikov attacked from the east. The streets of the dull Berlin suburbs were blocked by barricades, and “Faustniks” fired at the attackers from the gateways and windows of houses.

Zhukov ordered not to waste time suppressing individual firing points and to hurry forward. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the headquarters of the German command in Zossen. Most of the officers fled to Potsdam, and the chief of staff, General Krebs, went to Berlin, where on April 22 at 15.00 Hitler held his last military meeting. Only then did they decide to tell the Fuhrer that no one could save the besieged capital. The reaction was violent: the leader burst into threats against the “traitors,” then collapsed on a chair and groaned: “It’s over... the war is lost...”

But still Nazi elite I wasn't going to give up. It was decided to completely stop resistance to the Anglo-American troops and throw all forces against the Russians. All military personnel capable of holding weapons were to be sent to Berlin. The Fuhrer still pinned his hopes on Wenck's 12th Army, which was supposed to link up with Busse's 9th Army. To coordinate their actions, the command led by Keitel and Jodl was withdrawn from Berlin to the town of Kramnitz. In the capital, besides Hitler himself, the only leaders of the Reich left were General Krebs, Bormann and Goebbels, who was appointed head of defense.

Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov, Lieutenant General of the Foreign Intelligence Service:

The Berlin operation is the penultimate operation of the Second World War. It was carried out by forces of three fronts from April 16 to April 30, 1945 - from the raising of the flag over the Reichstag and the end of resistance - on the evening of May 2. Pros and cons of this operation. Plus, the operation was completed quite quickly. After all, the attempt to take Berlin was actively promoted by the leaders of the allied armies. This is reliably known from Churchill’s letters.

Cons - almost everyone who participated recalls that they were too great sacrifices and, perhaps, without objective necessity. The first reproaches to Zhukov - he stood on the very short distance from Berlin. His attempt to enter with a frontal attack from the east is regarded by many participants in the war as a mistaken decision. It was necessary to encircle Berlin from the north and south and force the enemy to capitulate. But the marshal went straight. Regarding the artillery operation on April 16, the following can be said: Zhukov brought the idea of ​​​​using searchlights from Khalkhin Gol. It was there that the Japanese launched a similar attack. Zhukov repeated the same technique: but many military strategists claim that the searchlights had no effect. The result of their use was a mess of fire and dust. This frontal attack was unsuccessful and poorly thought out: when our soldiers walked through the trenches, there were few German corpses in them. So the advancing units wasted more than 1,000 wagons of ammunition. Stalin deliberately arranged competition between the marshals. After all, Berlin was finally surrounded on April 25th. It would be possible not to resort to such sacrifices.

City on fire

On April 22, 1945, Zhukov appeared in Berlin. His armies - five rifle and four tank - destroyed the German capital with all types of weapons. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the city limits, occupying a bridgehead in the Teltow area. Zhukov gave his vanguard - the armies of Chuikov and Katukov - the order to cross the Spree, no later than the 24th to be in Tempelhof and Marienfeld - the central regions of the city. For street fighting, assault detachments were hastily formed from fighters from different units. In the north, the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich crossed the Havel River along a bridge that had accidentally survived and headed west, preparing to connect there with Konev’s units and close the encirclement. Having occupied the northern districts of the city, Zhukov finally excluded Rokossovsky from among the participants in the operation. From this moment until the end of the war, the 2nd Belorussian Front was engaged in the defeat of the Germans in the north, drawing over a significant part of the Berlin group.

The glory of the winner of Berlin has passed by Rokossovsky, and it has passed by Konev as well. Stalin's directive, received on the morning of April 23, ordered the troops of the 1st Ukrainian to stop at the Anhalter station - literally a hundred meters from the Reichstag. The Supreme Commander entrusted Zhukov with occupying the center of the enemy capital, noting his invaluable contribution to the victory. But we still had to get to Anhalter. Rybalko with his tanks froze on the bank of the deep Teltow Canal. Only with the approach of artillery, which suppressed the German firing points, were the vehicles able to cross the water barrier. On April 24, Chuikov’s scouts made their way west through the Schönefeld airfield and met Rybalko’s tankers there. This meeting split the German forces in half - about 200 thousand soldiers were surrounded in a wooded area southeast of Berlin. Until May 1, this group tried to break through to the west, but was cut into pieces and almost completely destroyed.

And Zhukov’s strike forces continued to rush towards the city center. Many fighters and commanders had no experience of fighting in a big city, which led to huge losses. The tanks moved in columns, and as soon as the front one was knocked out, the entire column became easy prey for the German Faustians. We had to resort to merciless but effective combat tactics: first, the artillery fired hurricane fire at the target of the future offensive, then volleys of Katyusha rockets drove everyone alive into shelters. After this, tanks moved forward, destroying barricades and destroying houses from which shots were fired. Only then did the infantry get involved. During the battle, the city was hit by almost two million gun shots - 36 thousand tons of deadly metal. From Pomerania to railway Fortress guns were delivered, firing shells weighing half a ton into the center of Berlin.

But even this firepower could not always cope with the thick walls of buildings built back in the 18th century. Chuikov recalled: “Our guns sometimes fired up to a thousand shots at one square, at a group of houses, even at a small garden.” It is clear that no one thought about the civilian population, trembling with fear in bomb shelters and flimsy basements. However, the main blame for his suffering lay not with the Soviet troops, but with Hitler and his entourage, who, with the help of propaganda and violence, did not allow residents to leave the city, which had turned into a sea of ​​​​fire. After the victory, it was estimated that 20% of the houses in Berlin were completely destroyed, and another 30% - partially. On April 22, the city telegraph closed for the first time, having received the last message from the Japanese allies - “we wish you good luck.” Water and gas were cut off, transport stopped running, and food distribution stopped. Starving Berliners, not paying attention to the continuous shelling, robbed freight trains and shops. They were more afraid not of Russian shells, but of SS patrols, which grabbed men and hung them from trees as deserters.

The police and Nazi officials began to flee. Many tried to get to the west to surrender to the Anglo-Americans. But the Soviet units were already there. On April 25 at 13.30 they reached the Elbe and met with tank crews of the 1st American Army near the town of Torgau.

On this day, Hitler entrusted the defense of Berlin to tank general Weidling. Under his command there were 60 thousand soldiers who were opposed by 464 thousand Soviet troops. The armies of Zhukov and Konev met not only in the east, but also in the west of Berlin, in the Ketzin area, and now they were separated from the city center by only 7–8 kilometers. On April 26, the Germans made a last-ditch attempt to stop the attackers. Fulfilling the Fuhrer's order, Wenck's 12th Army, which consisted of up to 200 thousand people, struck from the west at Konev's 3rd and 28th armies. The fighting, unprecedentedly fierce even for this brutal battle, continued for two days, and by the evening of the 27th, Wenck had to retreat to his previous positions.

The day before, Chuikov’s soldiers occupied the Gatov and Tempelhof airfields, carrying out Stalin’s order to prevent Hitler from leaving Berlin at any cost. The Supreme Commander was not going to let the one who treacherously deceived him in 1941 escape or surrender to the Allies. Corresponding orders were also given to other Nazi leaders. There was another category of Germans who were intensively searched for - specialists in nuclear research. Stalin knew about the Americans' work on atomic bomb and was going to create “my own” as quickly as possible. It was already necessary to think about the world after the war, where the Soviet Union had to take a worthy place, paid for in blood.

Meanwhile, Berlin continued to suffocate in the smoke of fires. Volkssturmov soldier Edmund Heckscher recalled: “There were so many fires that night turned into day. You could read a newspaper, but newspapers were no longer published in Berlin.” The roar of guns, shooting, explosions of bombs and shells did not stop for a minute. Clouds of smoke and brick dust blanketed the city center, where, deep under the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery, Hitler again and again tormented his subordinates with the question: “Where is Wenck?”

On April 27, three-quarters of Berlin was in Soviet hands. In the evening, Chuikov’s strike forces reached the Landwehr Canal, one and a half kilometers from the Reichstag. However, their path was blocked by selected SS units, who fought with special fanaticism. Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army was stuck in the Tiergarten area, whose parks were dotted with German trenches. Every step here was taken with difficulty and a lot of blood. Chances again appeared for Rybalko’s tankers, who on that day made an unprecedented rush from the west to the center of Berlin through Wilmersdorf.

By nightfall, a strip 2–3 kilometers wide and up to 16 kilometers long remained in the hands of the Germans. The first batches of prisoners, still small, came out with raised hands from the basements and entrances of houses to the rear. Many were deaf from the incessant roar, others, gone crazy, laughed wildly. The civilian population continued to hide, fearing the revenge of the victors. The Avengers, of course, were - they could not help but be after what the Nazis did on Soviet soil. But there were also those who, risking their lives, pulled German elderly people and children out of the fire, who shared their soldiers’ rations with them. The feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who saved a three-year-old German girl from a destroyed house on the Landwehr Canal, went down in history. It is he who is depicted by the famous statue in Treptower Park - a memory of Soviet soldiers who preserved humanity in the fire of the most terrible of wars.

Even before the end of the fighting, the Soviet command took measures to restore normal life in the city. On April 28, General Berzarin, appointed commandant of Berlin, issued an order to dissolve the National Socialist Party and all its organizations and transfer all power to the military commandant's office. In areas cleared of the enemy, soldiers were already beginning to put out fires, clear buildings, and bury numerous corpses. However, it was possible to establish a normal life only with the assistance of the local population. Therefore, on April 20, the Headquarters demanded that the commanders of the troops change their attitude towards German prisoners and civilians. The directive put forward a simple rationale for such a step: “A more humane attitude towards the Germans will reduce their stubbornness in defense.”

Former sergeant major of the 2nd article, member of the international PEN club ( International organization writers), Germanist writer, translator Evgeniya Katseva:

The greatest of our holidays is approaching, and the cats are scratching at my soul. Recently (in February) of this year I was at a conference in Berlin, seemingly dedicated to this great, I think, not only for our people, date, and I became convinced that many had forgotten who started the war and who won it. No, this stable phrase “win the war” is completely inappropriate: you can win and lose in a game, but in a war you either win or lose. For many Germans, the war is only the horrors of those few weeks when it went on on their territory, as if our soldiers came there of their own free will, and did not fight their way to the west for 4 long years across their native scorched and trampled land. This means that Konstantin Simonov was not so right when he believed that there is no such thing as someone else’s grief. It happens, it happens. And if you forgot who put an end to one of the most terrible wars, defeated German fascism, who can remember who took the capital German Reich- Berlin. Our Soviet Army, our Soviet soldiers and officers took it. Whole, completely, fighting for every district, block, house, from the windows and doors of which shots rang out until the last moment.

It was only later, a whole bloody week after the capture of Berlin, on May 2, that our allies appeared, and the main trophy, as a symbol of the joint Victory, was divided into four parts. Into four sectors: Soviet, American, English, French. With four military commandant's offices. Four or four, even more or less equal, but in general Berlin was divided into two completely different parts. For the three sectors quite soon united, and the fourth - the eastern - and, as usual, the poorest - turned out to be isolated. It remained so, although it later acquired the status of the capital of the GDR. In return, the Americans “generously” gave us back Thuringia, which they had occupied. The region is good, but for a long time the disappointed residents harbored a grudge for some reason not against the renegade Americans, but against us, the new occupiers. This is such an aberration...

As for the looting, our soldiers did not come there on their own. And now, 60 years later, all sorts of myths are being spread, growing to ancient proportions...

Reich convulsions

The fascist empire was disintegrating before our eyes. On April 28, Italian partisans caught dictator Mussolini trying to escape and shot him. The next day, General von Wietinghof signed the act of surrender of the Germans in Italy. Hitler learned about the execution of the Duce at the same time as another bad thing: his closest associates Himmler and Goering began separate negotiations with the Western allies, bargaining for their lives. The Fuhrer was beside himself with rage: he demanded that the traitors be immediately arrested and executed, but this was no longer in his power. They managed to get even on Himmler’s deputy, General Fegelein, who fled from the bunker - a detachment of SS men grabbed him and shot him. The general was not saved even by the fact that he was the husband of Eva Braun’s sister. On the evening of the same day, Commandant Weidling reported that there was only enough ammunition left in the city for two days, and there was no fuel at all.

General Chuikov received from Zhukov the task of connecting from the east with the forces advancing from the west, through the Tiergarten. The Potsdamer Bridge, leading to the Anhalter train station and Wilhelmstrasse, became an obstacle to the soldiers. The sappers managed to save him from the explosion, but the tanks that entered the bridge were hit by well-aimed shots from Faust cartridges. Then the tank crews tied sandbags around one of the tanks, doused it with diesel fuel and sent it forward. The first shots caused the fuel to burst into flames, but the tank continued to move forward. A few minutes of enemy confusion were enough for the rest to follow the first tank. By the evening of the 28th, Chuikov approached Tiergarten from the southeast, while Rybalko's tanks were entering the area from the south. In the north of Tiergarten, Perepelkin's 3rd Army liberated the Moabit prison, from where 7 thousand prisoners were released.

The city center has turned into a real hell. The heat made it impossible to breathe, the stones of buildings were cracking, and water was boiling in ponds and canals. There was no front line - a desperate battle went on for every street, every house. In dark rooms and on staircases - the electricity in Berlin had long gone out - hand-to-hand fighting broke out. Early in the morning of April 29, soldiers of General Perevertkin’s 79th Rifle Corps approached the huge building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - “Himmler’s house.” Having shot the barricades at the entrance with cannons, they managed to break into the building and capture it, which made it possible to get close to the Reichstag.

Meanwhile, nearby, in his bunker, Hitler was dictating his political will. He expelled the "traitors" Goering and Himmler from the Nazi Party and accused the entire German army of failing to maintain "commitment to duty until death." Power over Germany was transferred to “President” Dönitz and “Chancellor” Goebbels, and command of the army to Field Marshal Scherner. Towards evening, the official Wagner, brought by the SS men from the city, performed the civil wedding ceremony of the Fuhrer and Eva Braun. The witnesses were Goebbels and Bormann, who stayed for breakfast. During the meal, Hitler was depressed, muttering something about the death of Germany and the triumph of the “Jewish Bolsheviks.” During breakfast, he gave two secretaries ampoules of poison and ordered them to poison his beloved shepherd Blondie. Behind the walls of his office, the wedding quickly turned into a drinking party. One of the few sober employees remained Hitler’s personal pilot Hans Bauer, who offered to take his boss to any part of the world. The Fuhrer once again refused.

On the evening of April 29, General Weidling last time reported the situation to Hitler. The old warrior was frank - tomorrow the Russians will be at the entrance to the office. Ammunition is running out, there is nowhere to wait for reinforcements. Wenck's army was thrown back to the Elbe, and nothing is known about most other units. We need to capitulate. This opinion was confirmed by SS Colonel Mohnke, who had previously fanatically carried out all the Fuhrer’s orders. Hitler prohibited surrender, but allowed soldiers in “small groups” to leave the encirclement and make their way to the west.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops occupied one building after another in the city center. The commanders had difficulty finding their way on the maps - the pile of stones and twisted metal that was previously called Berlin was not indicated there. After taking the “Himmler House” and the town hall, the attackers had two main targets - the Imperial Chancellery and the Reichstag. If the first was the real center of power, then the second was its symbol, the most tall building the German capital, where the Victory Banner was to be hoisted. The banner was already ready - it was handed over to one of the best units of the 3rd Army, the battalion of Captain Neustroev. On the morning of April 30, the units approached the Reichstag. As for the office, they decided to break through to it through the zoo in Tiergarten. In the devastated park, soldiers rescued several animals, including a mountain goat, which had the German Iron Cross hung around its neck for its bravery. Only in the evening the center of defense was taken - a seven-story reinforced concrete bunker.

Near the zoo, Soviet assault troops came under attack from the SS from the torn up metro tunnels. Chasing them, the fighters penetrated underground and discovered passages leading towards the office. A plan arose right away to “finish off the fascist beast in its lair.” The scouts went deeper into the tunnels, but after a couple of hours water rushed towards them. According to one version, upon learning that the Russians were approaching the office, Hitler ordered to open the floodgates and let the Spree water flow into the metro, where, in addition to Soviet soldiers, there were tens of thousands of wounded, women and children. Berliners who survived the war recalled that they heard an order to urgently leave the metro, but due to the resulting crush, few were able to get out. Another version refutes the existence of the order: water could have broken into the subway due to continuous bombing that destroyed the walls of the tunnels.

If the Fuhrer ordered the drowning of his fellow citizens, this was the last of his criminal orders. On the afternoon of April 30, he was informed that the Russians were on Potsdamerplatz, a block from the bunker. Soon after this, Hitler and Eva Braun said goodbye to their comrades and retired to their room. At 15.30 a shot was heard from there, after which Goebbels, Bormann and several other people entered the room. The Fuhrer, pistol in hand, lay on the sofa with his face covered in blood. Eva Braun did not disfigure herself - she took poison. Their corpses were taken into the garden, where they were placed in a shell crater, doused with gasoline and set on fire. The funeral ceremony did not last long - Soviet artillery opened fire, and the Nazis hid in a bunker. Later, the burnt bodies of Hitler and his girlfriend were discovered and transported to Moscow. For some reason, Stalin did not show the world evidence of the death of his worst enemy, which gave rise to many versions of his salvation. Only in 1991, Hitler's skull and his ceremonial uniform were discovered in the archive and demonstrated to everyone who wanted to see these dark evidence of the past.

Zhukov Yuri Nikolaevich, historian, writer:

The winners are not judged. That's all. In 1944, it turned out to be quite possible to withdraw Finland, Romania, and Bulgaria from the war without serious fighting, primarily through the efforts of diplomacy. An even more favorable situation for us arose on April 25, 1945. On that day, troops of the USSR and the USA met on the Elbe, near the city of Torgau, and the complete encirclement of Berlin was completed. From that moment on, the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed. Victory became inevitable. Only one thing remained unclear: exactly when the complete and unconditional surrender of the moribund Wehrmacht would follow. Zhukov, having removed Rokossovsky, took upon himself the leadership of the assault on Berlin. I could just squeeze the blockade ring every hour.

Force Hitler and his henchmen to commit suicide not on April 30, but a few days later. But Zhukov acted differently. Over the course of a week, he mercilessly sacrificed thousands of soldiers' lives. He forced units of the 1st Belorussian Front to fight bloody battles for every quarter of the German capital. For every street, every house. Achieved the surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2. But if this surrender had followed not on May 2, but, say, on the 6th or 7th, tens of thousands of our soldiers could have been saved. Well, Zhukov would have gained the glory of a winner anyway.

Molchanov Ivan Gavrilovich, participant in the assault on Berlin, veteran of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front:

After the battles at Stalingrad, our army under the command of General Chuikov passed through all of Ukraine, the south of Belarus, and then through Poland it reached Berlin, on the outskirts of which, as is known, the very difficult Kyustrin operation took place. I, a scout in an artillery unit, was 18 years old at the time. I still remember how the earth trembled and a barrage of shells plowed it up and down... How, after a powerful artillery barrage on the Zelovsky Heights, the infantry went into battle. The soldiers who drove the Germans from the first line of defense later said that after being blinded by the searchlights that were used in this operation, the Germans fled clutching their heads. Many years later, during a meeting in Berlin, German veterans who took part in this operation told me that they then thought that the Russians had used a new secret weapon.

After the Seelow Heights we moved directly to the German capital. Because of the flood, the roads were so muddy that both equipment and people had difficulty moving. It was impossible to dig trenches: water came out as deep as a spade bayonet. We reached the ring road by the twentieth of April and soon found ourselves on the outskirts of Berlin, where incessant battles for the city began. The SS men had nothing to lose: they strengthened residential buildings, metro stations, and various institutions thoroughly and in advance. When we entered the city, we were horrified: its center was completely bombed by the Anglo-American forces, and the streets were so littered that equipment could barely move along them. We moved with a map of the city - it was difficult to find the streets and neighborhoods marked on it. On the same map, in addition to objects - fire targets, museums, book depositories, and medical institutions were indicated, at which it was prohibited to shoot.

In the battles for the center, our tank units also suffered losses: they became easy prey for the German patrons. And then the command applied a new tactic: first, artillery and flamethrowers destroyed enemy firing points, and after that, tanks cleared the way for the infantry. At this point, only one gun remained in our unit. But we continued to act. When approaching the Brandenburg Gate and the Anhalt Station, we received the order “not to shoot” - the accuracy of the battle here turned out to be such that our shells could hit our own. By the end of the operation, the remnants of the German army were cut into four parts, which began to be squeezed with rings.

The shooting ended on May 2nd. And suddenly there was such silence that it was impossible to believe. Residents of the city began to come out of their shelters, they looked at us from under their brows. And here, in establishing contacts with them, their children helped. The ubiquitous children, 10-12 years old, came to us, we treated them to cookies, bread, sugar, and when we opened the kitchen, we began to feed them cabbage soup and porridge. It was a strange sight: somewhere the shooting was renewed, gunfire could be heard, and there was a line for porridge outside our kitchen...

And soon a squadron of our horsemen appeared on the streets of the city. They were so clean and festive that we decided: “Probably somewhere near Berlin they were specially dressed and prepared...” This impression, as well as the arrival of G.K. to the destroyed Reichstag. Zhukov - he drove up in an unbuttoned overcoat, smiling - etched into my memory forever. There were, of course, other memorable moments. In the battles for the city, our battery had to be redeployed to another firing point. And then we came under German artillery attack. Two of my comrades jumped into a hole torn apart by a shell. And I, not knowing why, lay down under the truck, where after a few seconds I realized that the car above me was full of shells. When the shelling ended, I got out from under the truck and saw that my comrades had been killed... Well, it turns out that I was born for the second time that day...

last fight

The assault on the Reichstag was led by the 79th Rifle Corps of General Perevertkin, reinforced by shock groups of other units. The first onslaught on the morning of the 30th was repulsed - up to one and a half thousand SS men dug in in the huge building. At 18.00 a new assault followed. For five hours, the fighters moved forward and upward, meter by meter, to the roof decorated with giant bronze horses. Sergeants Egorov and Kantaria were assigned to hoist the flag - they decided that Stalin would be pleased to have his fellow countryman participate in this symbolic act. Only at 22.50 two sergeants reached the roof and, risking their lives, inserted the flagpole into the shell hole right next to the horse's hooves. This was immediately reported to front headquarters, and Zhukov called the Supreme Commander in Moscow.

A little later, another news came - Hitler's heirs decided to negotiate. This was reported by General Krebs, who appeared at Chuikov’s headquarters at 3.50 am on May 1. He began by saying: “Today is the First of May, a great holiday for both our nations.” To which Chuikov replied without unnecessary diplomacy: “Today is our holiday. It’s hard to say how things are going for you.” Krebs spoke about Hitler's suicide and the desire of his successor Goebbels to conclude a truce. A number of historians believe that these negotiations were supposed to prolong time in anticipation of a separate agreement between the “government” of Dönitz and the Western powers. But they did not achieve their goal - Chuikov immediately reported to Zhukov, who called Moscow, waking Stalin on the eve of the May Day parade. The reaction to Hitler’s death was predictable: “I’ve done it, you scoundrel!” It's a shame we didn't take him alive." The answer to the proposal for a truce was: only complete surrender. This was conveyed to Krebs, who objected: “Then you will have to destroy all the Germans.” The response silence was more eloquent than words.

At 10.30, Krebs left headquarters, having had time to drink cognac with Chuikov and exchange memories - both commanded units at Stalingrad. Having received the final “no” from the Soviet side, the German general returned to his troops. In pursuit of him, Zhukov sent an ultimatum: if Goebbels and Bormann’s consent to unconditional surrender is not given by 10 o’clock, Soviet troops will strike such a blow that “there will be nothing left in Berlin but ruins.” The Reich leadership did not give an answer, and at 10.40 Soviet artillery opened hurricane fire on the center of the capital.

The shooting did not stop all day - Soviet units suppressed pockets of German resistance, which weakened a little, but was still fierce. Tens of thousands of soldiers and Volkssturm troops were still fighting in different parts of the huge city. Others, throwing down their weapons and tearing off their insignia, tried to escape to the west. Among the latter was Martin Bormann. Having learned of Chuikov’s refusal to negotiate, he and a group of SS men fled from the office through an underground tunnel leading to the Friedrichstrasse metro station. There he got out into the street and tried to hide from the fire behind a German tank, but it was hit. The leader of the Hitler Youth, Axman, who happened to be there and shamefully abandoned his young charges, later stated that he saw the dead body of “Nazi No. 2” under the railway bridge.

At 18.30, soldiers of the 5th Army of General Berzarin stormed the last stronghold of Nazism - the Imperial Chancellery. Before this, they managed to storm the post office, several ministries and a heavily fortified Gestapo building. Two hours later, when the first groups of attackers had already approached the building, Goebbels and his wife Magda followed their idol by taking poison. Before this, they asked the doctor to administer a lethal injection to their six children - they were told that they would give an injection that would never make them sick. The children were left in the room, and the corpses of Goebbels and his wife were taken out into the garden and burned. Soon everyone who remained below - about 600 adjutants and SS men - rushed out: the bunker began to burn. Somewhere in its depths only General Krebs, who fired a bullet in the forehead, remained. Another Nazi commander, General Weidling, took responsibility and radioed Chuikov agreeing to unconditional surrender. At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, German officers with white flags appeared on the Potsdam Bridge. Their request was reported to Zhukov, who gave his consent. At 6.00 Weidling signed the order to surrender addressed to all German troops, and he himself set an example to his subordinates. After this, the shooting in the city began to subside. From the basements of the Reichstag, from under the ruins of houses and shelters, the Germans came out, silently putting their weapons on the ground and forming columns. They were observed by the writer Vasily Grossman, who accompanied the Soviet commandant Berzarin. Among the prisoners, he saw old men, boys and women who did not want to part with their husbands. The day was cold, and a light rain fell on the smoldering ruins. Hundreds of corpses lay on the streets, crushed by tanks. There were also flags with swastikas and party cards lying around - Hitler's supporters were in a hurry to get rid of the evidence. In Tiergarten, Grossman saw a German soldier and a nurse on a bench - they were sitting hugging each other and not paying any attention to what was happening around them.

After noon they started driving through the streets soviet tanks, broadcasting the surrender order through loudspeakers. Around 15.00 the fighting finally stopped, and only in the western regions did explosions roar - there they were chasing SS men who were trying to escape. An unusual, tense silence hung over Berlin. And then it was torn apart by a new barrage of shots. Soviet soldiers crowded on the steps of the Reichstag, on the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery and fired again and again - this time into the air. Strangers threw themselves into each other's arms and danced right on the pavement. They couldn't believe that the war was over. Many of them had new wars, hard work, difficult problems ahead, but they had already accomplished the most important thing in their lives.

In the last battle of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army crushed 95 enemy divisions. Up to 150 thousand died German soldiers and officers, 300 thousand were captured. The victory came at a heavy price - in two weeks of the offensive, three Soviet fronts lost from 100 thousand to 200 thousand people killed. The senseless resistance claimed the lives of approximately 150 thousand Berlin civilians, and a significant part of the city was destroyed.

Chronicle of the operation
April 16, 5.00.
Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov), after powerful artillery bombardment, begin an offensive on the Seelow Heights near the Oder.
April 16, 8.00.
Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) cross the Neisse River and move west.
April 18, morning.
The tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko turn north, towards Berlin.
April 18, evening.
The German defense on the Seelow Heights was broken through. Zhukov's units begin to advance towards Berlin.
April 19, morning.
Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) cross the Oder, cutting apart the German defenses north of Berlin.
April 20, evening.
Zhukov's armies are approaching Berlin from the west and northwest.
April 21, day.
Rybalko's tanks occupy the German military headquarters in Zossen, south of Berlin.
April 22, morning.
Rybalko's army occupies the southern outskirts of Berlin, and Perkhorovich's army occupies the northern areas of the city.
April 24, day.
Meeting of the advancing troops of Zhukov and Konev in the south of Berlin. The Frankfurt-Gubensky group of Germans is surrounded by Soviet units, and its destruction has begun.
April 25, 13.30.
Konev's units reached the Elbe near the city of Torgau and met there with the 1st American Army.
April 26, morning.
Wenck's German army launches a counterattack on the advancing Soviet units.
April 27, evening.
After stubborn fighting, Wenck's army was driven back.
April 28.
Soviet units surround the city center.
April 29, day.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs building and the town hall were stormed.
April 30, day.
The Tiergarten area with its zoo is busy.
April 30, 15.30.
Hitler committed suicide in a bunker under the Imperial Chancellery.
April 30, 22.50.
The assault on the Reichstag, which had lasted since the morning, was completed.
May 1, 3.50.
The beginning of unsuccessful negotiations between the German General Krebs and the Soviet command.
May 1, 10.40.
After the failure of negotiations, Soviet troops begin storming the buildings of the ministries and the imperial chancellery.
May 1, 22.00.
The Imperial Chancellery is stormed.
May 2, 6.00.
General Weidling gives the order to surrender.
May 2, 15.00.
The fighting in the city finally stopped.

“Damned questions” of the Great Patriotic War. Lost victories, missed opportunities Bolnykh Alexander Gennadievich

STORM OF BERLIN

STORM OF BERLIN

The last operation of the Great Patriotic War, upon closer examination, turns into a real tangle of mysteries and contradictions, and the threads from this tangle stretch both into the distant future and into the past. Within the framework of historical alternatives, we need to consider several basic issues. Was it necessary to storm Berlin at all? If it is still necessary, then when and how should it be done? To find answers to these questions, we will have to consider the background of the assault, and this consideration will not begin at Stalin's Headquarters, but at the headquarters of General Eisenhower.

The fact is that of all the big three, Winston Churchill thought more about politics and the post-war structure of Europe than Roosevelt and Stalin combined. It was he who constantly rushed around with various ideas that contradicted the preliminary agreements. Either he wanted to land in the Balkans in order to cut off the Red Army’s path to Central Europe, or he wanted to capture Berlin... This is something worth talking about. At Churchill's instigation, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, began to consider

options for a rapid rush of British troops to Berlin, although plans for such operations were not seriously developed. And there was no one to command the rapid rush. The British commander, Field Marshal Montgomery, was known for his pathological methodicalness and complete inability to make swift decisions and actions. Now, if Churchill had decided to talk to American general Patton, then, you see, history could have gone along a different track. By the way, here is another possible alternative for you - an attempt by the Allies to capture Berlin.

However, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe, General Eisenhower, refused to even consider such adventures. However, rumors about the intentions of the British could well have reached Stalin, and then his reaction would have been completely easy to predict. Let's take Berlin! Alas, the former seminarian was not organically capable of anything more reasonable. After this, the next question inevitably arose: how to take it? And here we are simply forced to consider in more detail the events immediately preceding the Berlin operation, or more precisely, the Vistula-Oder operation of the Red Army.

This operation is remarkable in many respects. First of all, few people thought about it, but the possibility cannot be ruled out that it was the course of the battles between the Vistula and Oder rivers and their results that once and for all discouraged the Allies from getting involved with the Soviet Union. It is not for nothing that the Anglo-American warriors based all their subsequent calculations solely on the use of some kind of miracle weapon that would help them defeat the damned Bolsheviks, but at the same time they did not even mention starting a conventional war. The Vistula-Oder operation showed in all its splendor the real power of the Red Army and its main striking force - tank troops. Moreover, the fact that during the operation the commanders, to put it delicately, did not shine with fresh ideas, made its results especially convincing. It was a monstrous force that crushed the vaunted Wehrmacht like a road roller crushing a rag doll.

Since the events of 1945 had several opportunities to turn onto an alternative track, we are simply forced to abandon the usual chapter structure: introduction and then alternative. Now we will highlight alternative scenarios in italics, since we will have to return to reality again and again.

The strategic situation before the start of the Vistula-Oder operation was crystal clear. The Red Army had three bridgeheads across the Vistula, and attacks were to be expected from them. In any case, the famous German historian and former general Tippelskirch writes that the German command foresaw this, but simply did not have enough strength to parry these attacks. I don’t know, I don’t know... If you remember the Battle of Stalingrad, the places where decisive blows would be delivered and the prospect of encircling Paulus’s army were also completely obvious, but for some reason none of the German generals had an insight. But about “not enough” Tippel-Skirch is absolutely right. Although even here he cannot resist telling a fable about the “tenfold” superiority of the Red Army in manpower. Apparently, the general had certain problems with arithmetic - a common disease of beaten commanders. If our generals in 1941 counted that the Germans had “three times more tanks,” then now it is the Germans’ turn to do multiplication and division. The number of German troops at Tippel-Skirch was well known, and if you believe his calculations, it turns out that everything that the Red Army had on the Eastern Front was collected against the unfortunate Army Group “A”. A heated scientific dispute even broke out between Tippelskirch and General von Buttlar: was our army 10 or 11 times superior to theirs?

In tanks, we had a sevenfold superiority, what was, was. But who is to blame for this? Who prevented the Germans from developing their industry at full speed? I have already written more than once that such excuses are simply pathetic evasions. This is the art of a commander, to concentrate superior forces in a decisive place at a decisive moment. And if the state and industry can give it these superior forces, this fact only speaks of the advantages of this state and that one should not try to fight with it.

However, not everything is clean with our history. Just look at the statement of the Military Encyclopedia about the 500-kilometer depth of the German defensive structures between the Vistula and Oder. It immediately becomes clear why they did not have enough tanks: all of Germany was digging trenches and trenches day and night. True, if you believe the map placed in the same second volume of the SVE, with all the efforts between the Vistula and Oder it is impossible to measure more than 350 kilometers of distance. Maybe our General Staff measured the distance from the lower reaches of the Oder to the upper reaches of the Vistula? Then it may turn out even more.

But distances played a role in this operation. During World War II, the maximum depth of operations was determined by the presence or absence of a supply system for the attacking troops. But even the Americans, who had a simply fantastic amount of vehicles, could not afford to go beyond certain limits. For example, the Germans have written more than once that it was supply problems that ultimately destroyed Paulus’s army at Stalingrad and the German troops in the North Caucasus. The most curious thing is that in this case they are not so wrong. It was the Americans who could afford to throw supplies for the XIV air army to China along a risky route through the Himalayas, spending four tons of gasoline to deliver the fifth to General Chennall's planes. But not more! Even they could not supply the advancing armies of Patton and Bradley in this way. Therefore, almost all armies, after a breakthrough of about 500 kilometers, were forced to stop to regroup and pull up their rear, even if there was no enemy resistance in principle.

However, let’s return to January 1945 on the banks of the Vistula. For one reason or another, the Soviet offensive began on January 12. The 1st Belorussian Front of Marshal Zhukov launched strikes from the Magnushevsky and Pulavsky bridgeheads, and the 1st Ukrainian Front of Marshal Konev - one, but much more powerful, from the Sandomierz bridgehead. The force of this blow can be easily imagined if we remember that 8 combined arms and 2 tank armies, as well as 3 separate tank corps, took part in it. It is pleasant and easy to describe such operations. There are no sophisticated maneuvers, no subtle plans in them. The main idea can be characterized in two words: pace and power!

The troops of Marshal Konev were the first to go on the offensive, and the Sandomierz-Silesian operation began. The breakthrough was carried out within a 40-kilometer strip by the forces of three armies. The front troops had a deep operational formation, but at the same time, in the breakthrough sector, even in the first zone, Konev created an overwhelming superiority over the enemy. In total, almost 12,000 guns and more than 1,400 tanks were concentrated on the Sandomierz bridgehead, and all this force fell on the German XLVIII Panzer Corps. After a powerful artillery barrage, the infantry went on the attack, and after a couple of hours the main line of enemy defense was broken through. In the afternoon, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies were thrown into battle, and the German defense simply fell apart.

Where were the German reserves at this time? Here we have Hitler to thank. Almost all the generals write that, at his request, the reserves were located close to the front line, so they came under artillery fire and bomb attacks and were pretty battered by the time they should have gone into battle. But only Guderian reveals another little secret. Army Group A had only 12 tank and mechanized divisions at its disposal. However, they were all evenly distributed along the front line. The Germans did not create a single shock fist. Who ordered this? Not known. However, Guderian, apparently retaining some shreds of honesty, in this case does not try to blame Hitler, from which we can conclude that he tried either German General Staff, or someone in the High Command.

Two days later, the 1st Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. And here we are faced with the first of the mysteries of the Vistula-Oder operation. The configuration of the front simply suggested the idea of ​​encircling the LVI tank and XL1I army corps of the Germans, who were already in the bag, with simultaneous attacks from the Magnushevsky and Sandomierz bridgeheads. Another small alternative. However, this did not happen. Why? Maybe, after all, stories about, to put it mildly, not better relations between Zhukov and Konev are not without grounds? After all, both fronts did not even try to create another cauldron, but rushed together to the west, as if not noticing each other. Moreover, Zhukov’s 69th Army, with a blow from the Pulawy bridgehead, threw the Germans out of the cauldron, which could have arisen by itself, even against the will of the commanders. What was the point of the offensive from a tiny patch of the Puławy bridgehead is not clear, because this offensive had no tactical or operational significance. Although, on the other hand, both commanders were not seen making brilliant decisions, and no matter how hard A. Isaev tries to promote Zhukov, if you carefully read everything he wrote, Isaev’s books prove the complete mediocrity of the marshals.

Organized German resistance ceased on the second day of fighting, and the offensive entered the pursuit stage. This may also partly explain the abandonment of attempts to create an encirclement ring. Why waste time on cunning maneuvers if you can use the second advantage of tank forces - striking power? But even this had to be used skillfully. The heavy roller of a tank army may well turn into a thin pancake all the divisions that find themselves in its path, you just need to aim it correctly and ensure the possibility of linear and non-stop movement. But our generals constantly had problems with this. By the way, straightforwardness still had a right to exist. If we compare the composition of the German 9th Army, which took the main blow, at the beginning of January and the end of the same month, it turns out that not a single one of the originally listed divisions remained in it. Everything that came under the frontal attack of Zhukov and Konev died.

Hitler, naturally, blamed his generals for everything and began feverishly shuffling the commanders of armies and corps. The first to fly from his post was the commander of Army Group A, General Oberst Harpe, followed by other generals. It seems that in January 1945, all the commanders of the army groups and armies operating in Poland were replaced, but it was impossible to correct the situation.

The offensive of the 1st Belorussian Front began on January 14 and at first did not develop so successfully. The advance on the first day of the offensive was no more than 3 kilometers, but then the Germans simply could not stand it. As we already mentioned, they did not have enough forces on the front line or reserves. After the destruction of the main forces of the 9th Army, Zhukov’s tanks also rushed further. Finally, our tankers stopped looking up to the infantry divisions and began to act independently. They were 30-50 kilometers ahead of the infantry divisions, at times this gap could reach 100 kilometers, and then the actions of Guderian and Rommel are immediately remembered.

Our historians somehow do not notice this, but the same Guderian admits that around September 19, the German front in Poland ceased to exist, as it did last year in Belarus. The task set by the operation plan to reach the line Zychlin - Lodz - Radomsko - Częstochowa - Miechow was completed on the sixth day instead of the twelfth as planned. At the same time, the line of advance of both fronts gradually deviated north into Pomerania. If you look at the map, you can see some parallels with Operation Gelb. In the same way, a large group of enemy troops located in East Prussia was cut off. The only difference was that the Germans did not line up on the parade ground to lay down their arms in an organized manner, but tried to fight back.

But here a new portion of incomprehensible moments begins. The 1st Belorussian Front finally turns north and, instead of moving towards Berlin, breaks into Pomerania. There is a formal explanation for this. The Germans created a shock (allegedly) group here that threatened the flank of the front, and it was necessary to defeat it first. But even General Routh himself, who commanded this parody offensive, honestly writes that he had no forces. Do you catch the subtlety? Not “not enough,” but “none at all.” His own words: “10 divisions with 70 tanks.” Against such a background, even a freshly formed tank division“Clausewitz”, which, scary to think, had as many as 12 tanks and 20 self-propelled guns. There is one good example of the effectiveness of such counterattacks. Tippel-Skirch and von Buttlar write about the attempt of the German 4th Army to jump out of East Prussia. But look carefully at all our publications, starting with the same old SVE and ending with the completely modern issues of Front-line Illustration. There is not a word about this “breakthrough” anywhere. It is not reflected on any map. History, as we have said more than once, loves evil things. In 1941, the Germans did not even suspect that they were participating in the great tank battle of Rovno and Brody, and in 1945, Zhukov and Rokossovsky, without noticing it themselves, repelled the attack of General Hossbach’s divisions. So such an explanation should be considered precisely as formal.

As a last resort, the German command renamed Army Group Center to Army Group North, and Army Group A was given the name Army Group Center. But even this did not help stop the Soviet tanks.

Meanwhile, the all-crushing wave of Soviet tanks continued to roll towards the Oder. The 1st Belorussian Front crossed the Warta River, bypassed the city of Poznan, which was declared another “festung,” and continued the offensive, although now only the 1st Guards Tank Army remained its vanguard. By the way, here is an excerpt from the memoirs of the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, which best characterizes the change in views Soviet commanders and the doctrine of the Red Army: “On the fifth day of the offensive, the 11th Guards Corps of A. Kh. Babajanyan, having fought about 200 kilometers, approached the Warta River - the sixth line of German defense. In the place where Gusakovsky’s advanced brigade reached, the Varta flowed strictly north. Then, near the city of Kolo, it turned sharply to the west and, having reached the Poznan meridian, again headed north. I ordered Babajanyan and Dremov to bypass the enemy reserves concentrated in the eastern bend of the river and take the Poznan-Warsaw highway in pincers. Having crossed the Warta and leaving German group on the flank across the river, both corps rushed towards Poznan. Under these conditions, the enemy group was doomed to inaction. She could no longer prevent the further advance of our troops.”

Notice the end of the quote. If only our tank generals had acted like this in 1944, without getting involved in the destruction of every isolated strong point!

Already on January 22-23, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front reached the Oder and crossed it in a number of areas. But this front also lost one of its tank armies, which had to turn south to decide the outcome of the battles in Silesia and around Krakow. By February 3, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front also reached the Oder in the Küstrin area. They also crossed the river and created a small bridgehead. The Oder also did not become a serious obstacle for Katukov’s tankers.

This is what the army commander wrote: “The brigade commanders decided to cross the river together. They pulled self-propelled guns, rocket launchers and all other artillery to the shore. After a massive fire strike on enemy positions on the opposite bank, chains of motorized riflemen descended onto the ice. Having quickly crossed the river, they, with the support of artillery from the eastern bank, knocked down small barriers of the Nazis and captured a bridgehead 5 kilometers along the front and 4 kilometers in depth. Motorized rifle battalions reached the Reitwein - Wooden line.

Having received a message that Gusakovsky and Fedorovich crossed the Oder, I ordered A. Kh. Babajanyan to transfer all the forces of the corps to help the forward detachments, establish crossings and expand the bridgehead. But on ferry crossing Only seven tanks from Gusakovsky’s brigade managed to cross over to the bridgehead. The fact is that I received a new order: the army was transferred to Eastern Pomerania, to the area north of the city of Landsberg (Gurovo-Ilawecke). She was given a new task.”

This ended the Vistula-Oder operation, which became one of the largest in scope during the entire war. As we have already said, it fully demonstrated the qualities of tank forces that Fuller, Liddell-Hart, Tukhachevsky and others dreamed of before the war. Mobility allowed tanks to cover distances unimaginable for foot armies, and firepower and armor made resistance attempts by rear units and modest reserves collected from the pine forest pointless. The steel roller crushed everything that came in its way. The infantry could only reap the benefits of the victories of the tankers and engage in the elimination of scattered centers of resistance such as Poznan, Schneidemühl and the like. The main issue remained providing the advancing tank corps with all the necessary supplies and, first of all, fuel.

This is where we come to the most interesting issue of the Vistula-Oder operation, its alternative option. Was it possible, without stopping, to continue the offensive further directly towards Berlin? After all, this would allow us to avoid bloody battles for the Seelow Heights and protracted battles in the city itself. Alas, a rather categorical answer should be given here: “No!” First of all, during the operation, Soviet troops advanced deep into enemy territory to a distance of about 400 kilometers, which was the limit for the army supply systems of that time. Even the Wehrmacht, in the ideal conditions of the blitzkriegs of 1940-1941, made stops in such cases to put the troops in order and tighten up the rear. And the rear services of the Red Army, unfortunately, even at the very end of the war did not at all resemble a well-oiled machine. Moreover, as we have seen, the offensive has lost its penetrating power. Two tank armies were diverted to other directions, and the two that reached the Oder suffered some losses and, accordingly, did not have the same power. Therefore, to make a leap another 100 kilometers and start fighting in Berlin itself was clearly beyond their capabilities.

And yet one “but” remains. Reading Katukov’s memoirs, it is impossible to escape the impression that his army and the army of General Badanov, after crossing the Oder, could have advanced a little further. After all, the width of the Seelow Heights is small, no more than 10 kilometers. At that time, there was simply no one to defend this line. Let me remind you that the 9th Army, which occupied this section of the front, the Germans had to form anew, all its divisions to the last were killed on the Vistula, and it could not provide any serious resistance. In fact, it is impossible to find anything like this in the history of war: in three weeks the composition of the entire army completely changed!

Therefore, if generals Katukov and Badanov had advanced only 15-20 kilometers further, even later handing over their sectors to the approaching infantry armies, we would have had a full-fledged bridgehead at our disposal, and not the Kyustrin patch, and the Germans would have lost their main line of defense. By the way, Zhukov understood all this, because in an order dated February 4 he demanded that the 5th Shock Army expand the bridgehead to 20 kilometers along the front and to 10 kilometers in depth. The task was made easier by the fact that the command of the German troops at the Oder line was entrusted to the great commander Heinrich Himmler. In addition, it was during these days that Hitler launched the Balaton operation, after which the Panzerwaffe finally ceased to exist. But the main thing was done - the last remnants of the German tank units and the formations were tied up on another section of the front, and the Germans could not do anything to oppose the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies.

If the Seelow Heights had been occupied by an attack on the move, the Germans simply had nothing with which to repel them. The state of the German troops at that moment is best characterized by the same Guderian: “On January 26, Hitler ordered the formation of a tank destroyer division. The name of this new compound sounded beautiful and promising. But there was nothing more. In reality, this formation should have consisted of companies of scooters under the command of brave lieutenants; The crews of these companies armed with Faustpatrons were supposed to destroy G-34s and heavy Russian tanks. The division was brought into battle in squadrons. It was a pity for the brave soldiers!” Apparently, the Fuhrer was greatly impressed by the actions of the Soviet tank armies if he gave such an order. But such improvised formations were, as they say, “one toe for the Soviet armies.” We will not even consider the German attempts to recapture the Seelow Heights, we will simply give a small excerpt from the list of the 9th Army on January 26, that is, after the end of the Vistula-Oder operation: 608th Special Division Headquarters; remnants of the 19th Panzer Division; remnants of the 25th Panzer Division; Well, there are some other little things there.

That is, the Soviet command had a real opportunity to occupy the Seelow Heights and freely obtain an excellent starting position for the subsequent assault on Berlin and avoid the colossal problems and losses that took place in reality. In addition, the opportunity arose after regrouping to strike directly at Berlin instead of a large-scale operation to encircle the capital of the Reich. Probably, in this case the war would have ended a month and a half earlier. It may seem like a small amount, but it still means thousands of soldiers’ lives.

After this, we come to the second fork in the spring of 1945 - the Berlin offensive operation of the Red Army. What was she? A golden exclamation point that crowned the most difficult war in the history of our country? Or a bloody blot that casts a dark shadow over the entire victory? Like anything grandiose historical event, the assault and capture of Berlin cannot be assessed unambiguously.

Everyone understood the importance of the Küstrin bridgehead, even the Fuhrer. He therefore ordered General Busse's revived 9th Army to eliminate him. In February and March, Busse carried out a series of attacks, but their only result was the loss of 35,000 people, whom he never received again. During these attacks, one of the Vlasov divisions particularly distinguished itself, and Heinrich Himmler awarded the Iron Crosses to these warriors. Of course, there was no point in expecting that Hitler himself would reward the traitors. Thus, even before the start of the decisive battles, the German forces in the main direction were weakened. After this, Busse decided to hold the city of Küstrin itself, which blocked the direct road to Berlin, at any cost. It separated two Soviet bridgeheads, at Reitwein and Kienitz, and was a real bone in the throat of the 1st Belorussian Front. However, the Germans did not succeed in this either; on March 30, the city fell. The Soviet armies consolidated the bridgehead and could calmly prepare a decisive offensive.

But it didn’t work out calmly. Here we will completely unwittingly have to enter into a small polemic with A. Isaev, or more precisely, with his book “Georgy Zhukov. The King's Last Argument." By the way, a very interesting name. Without a doubt, the enlightened public knows the historical roots of this curious phrase, although for some reason the author did not consider it possible to decipher them, at least in the preface. But I do not exclude at all the possibility that he also knows the beautiful-sounding Latin original “Ultima ratio regis”, and he may well know that this inscription was on the barrels of the cannons of the most Christian kings of France, Louis, with rather large numbers. So whose gun should we consider Marshal Zhukov to be?

However, certain doubts still arise. When you criticize and expose others, you should be more precise yourself. The simplest example. Isaev writes that Zhukov’s troops were the first to reach the Oder, although in fact Konev was a couple of days ahead of him. And so on. By the way, Zhukov himself was never an artilleryman, so where is the connection here? On the other hand, this motto perfectly describes Zhukov’s manner of communicating with the outside world, so the name is quite appropriate.

However, we digress a little, let’s return to the events at the Seelow Heights. The roots of Zhukov’s more than controversial decisions should still be sought in his hostile relationship with Konev and his desire to please Stalin. To talk about some kind of socialist competition to capture the Reichstag is, of course, stupid, here I agree 150 percent with Isaev. But there was rivalry, and in addition to completely natural reasons (jealousy of a neighbor’s successes has always existed and will remain forever and ever), there was another one, artificially introduced. I don’t know for what purpose Stalin tried to pit the two marshals against each other before the start of the decisive offensive, but he did it. Let us turn to the memoirs of Zhukov himself, in which he describes the meetings at Headquarters preceding the Berlin operation:

"He's right there<Сталин>said to Marshal I. S. Konev:

“In the event of stubborn enemy resistance on the eastern approaches to Berlin, which will certainly happen, and a possible delay in the offensive of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 1st Ukrainian Front should be ready to strike with tank armies from the south towards Berlin.”

There are misconceptions that

The 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies were introduced into the battle for Berlin, allegedly not by the decision of J.V. Stalin, but on the initiative of the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front. In order to restore the truth, I will quote the words of Marshal I. S. Konev on this issue, which he said at a meeting of the senior command staff of the central group of forces on February 18, 1946, when everything was still so fresh in memory:

“When, at about 24 hours on April 16, I reported that the offensive was going well, Comrade Stalin gave the following instructions: “It’s going hard at Zhukov, turn Rybalko and Lelyushenko to Zehlendorf, remember how we agreed at Headquarters.”

Therefore, the maneuver that Rybalko and Lelyushenko performed is a direct order from Comrade Stalin. Consequently, all fabrications on this issue should be excluded from our literature.”

That is, the notorious race was organized by order from above. What, after Stalin’s direct order to turn the tank armies to Berlin, will Konev voluntarily give up the opportunity to be the first to capture the same Reichstag? In addition, there was another race with an imaginary opponent. But the assumption that the Soviet command was in a hurry to capture Berlin before the Allies should be discarded. After all, the plan of the operation provided for the encirclement of Berlin. Will the British or Americans really begin to fight their way to Berlin, breaking through the positions of Soviet troops?! Well, this is complete nonsense, you will agree. But we will return to the question of the storming of Berlin later.

Let us remember: Stalin had every reason to expect that the assault on Berlin would not be delayed. The Red Army had an overwhelming superiority in manpower and equipment. As usual, one should not believe either the SVE, which writes about a two- or four-fold superiority, or the memoirs of German generals, which tell tales of a twenty-fold superiority. The truth, as always, lies in the middle.

But there are many nuances that are quite capable of changing these ratios. As already noted, the entire first part of the German 9th Army, defending in the Berlin direction, died during the Vistula-Oder operation, and in front of the 1st Belorussian Front in March there were motley formations hastily assembled everywhere. By the beginning of the Berlin operation, the composition of the army had changed again, and again entirely! 9th Army December 31, 1944, January 26, March 1 and April 12, 1945 - these are four completely different armies! You yourself understand that in such a situation there can be no talk of any normal interaction of compounds. And so it happened.

The operation plan developed by Headquarters was very optimistic. On the very first day, it was planned to break through the German defenses on the Seelow Heights and introduce the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies into the breakthrough. Berlin was scheduled to be taken on the sixth day of the operation, and by the eleventh day the 3rd Shock Army was heading to the Elbe to meet with the Americans.

Marshal Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front attacked in the direction of Brandenburg, Rathenow and Dessau. In the same way, immediately after the breakthrough of the German defense, the 3rd and 4th tank armies entered the operational space. Moreover, it was initially assumed that one of the corps of General Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army was supposed to attack Berlin from the south. But there was an option in which both Konev’s tank armies could be sent to Berlin.

Moreover, this is written by SVE, and if Isaev intended to refute a certain myth, then it was necessary to do this in more detail.

Solved an auxiliary, but very important problem

2nd Belorussian Front of Marshal Rokossovsky. He was supposed to advance in the Stettin-Swedge area and defeat the German 3rd Tank Army, which, naturally, would not allow it to move its forces to help Berlin.

The offensive began early in the morning of April 16. After a 30-minute artillery barrage, 140 powerful anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on, which were supposed to blind the Germans. It looked very nice in the movie Deliverance, but in reality it did more harm than good. A word from Marshal Chuikov: “I must say that at the time when we admired the power and efficiency of the searchlights at the training ground, none of us could accurately predict what it would look like in a combat situation. It is difficult for me to judge the situation on other sectors of the front. But in the zone of our 8th Guards Army, I saw how powerful beams of light from searchlights rested on a swirling curtain of burning, smoke and dust raised above the enemy’s positions. Even searchlights could not penetrate this curtain, and it was difficult for us to observe the battlefield. As luck would have it, the wind was also blowing in the opposite direction. As a result, height 81.5, where the command post was located, was soon shrouded in impenetrable darkness. Then we stopped seeing anything at all, relying only on radiotelephone communications and messengers to control the troops.”

The infantry and some tanks advanced about 2 kilometers, after which the offensive stalled. The artillery strike was carried out on the first line of defense that the Germans had left, and now the Soviet troops had to storm the heights themselves, which were almost untouched by the artillery barrage.

“German prisoners could also see huge columns of Soviet equipment waiting for the troops of Chuikov’s 8th Guards Army and Berzarin’s 5th Shock Army to open the way to the west for them. However, there was very little progress that day. At his observation post, Zhukov began to lose patience. He urged the commanders on, threatening to remove them from their positions and send them to a penal company. General Chuikov also got it. Its parts are stuck in the swamp in front of German positions located on a hill."

And then Zhukov makes the most controversial of his decisions. Isaev is trying to present the matter as if both Zhukov and Konev made all changes to the strategic plans on their own initiative. Well, don't! All these changes were made only after consultation with Headquarters and approval by Stalin. The front commander could decide where and how to use the corps subordinate to him, but he could never turn several armies in a different direction! Actually, Zhukov himself writes about this, and, if you believe this passage, he is misleading Stalin just in case.

Zhukov: “At 15 o’clock I called Headquarters and reported that we had broken through the first and second positions of the enemy’s defense, the front troops advanced up to six kilometers, but met serious resistance at the line of the Seelow Heights, where, apparently, the enemy’s defenses had mostly survived. To strengthen the impact of the combined arms armies, I brought both tank armies into the battle. I believe that by the end of the day tomorrow we will break through the enemy’s defenses.”

His troops did not advance 6 kilometers and did not break through the second line of defense. This is where the January delay before the Seelow Heights came back to haunt us! Moreover, in the same conversation, Stalin thinks out loud about whether it is worth turning Konev’s army towards Berlin. Please note that Zhukov writes about all this, not Konev. And the marshal decides to break through the defenses at any cost, throwing the tank armies of Katukov and Bogdanov into battle. Apparently, the lessons Battle of Kursk Zhukov did not understand. Tank formations can break through prepared defenses, but only at the cost of absolutely monstrous losses, especially since the German anti-tank weapon-45 was better than the Soviet weapon-43.

General Katukov writes: “The rest of the day did not bring joyful messages. With great difficulty, suffering heavy losses, the tankers bit into the enemy’s defenses and did not advance beyond the positions occupied by the infantry. It wasn’t easy for V.I. Chuikov’s rifle divisions, with whom the tank corps commanders worked closely.”

On the same day, a second conversation took place with Stalin, in which Zhukov promised to break through the defenses on the Seelow Heights at any cost, and immediately the Headquarters encouraged him, informing him of the order for Konev to attack Berlin from the south, and Rokossovsky from the north. I repeat once again, so as not to be biased, I am presenting all this exclusively from the memoirs of Zhukov himself. Actually, strictly speaking, it turns out that Headquarters approved Zhukov’s decision and thus absolved him of some of the blame.

One way or another, in the afternoon of April 16, a tank battle began, which continued the next day. All this was very much reminiscent of Montgomery’s actions at El Alamein, when he pushed through the German front in the same way. He didn’t break through, but rather pushed through. Only on April 19, the Germans could not withstand the onslaught and began to retreat to Berlin. During these days, according to German data, more than 700 Soviet tanks were burned. Whether this is true or not - the question remains open. But even the book “The Classification of Secrecy Has Been Removed” reports that during the Berlin Operation the Red Army lost about 2000 tanks. That is, during the assault on the Seelow Heights, Zhukov gave a textbook example of the improper use of tanks.

Reluctantly, he is forced to admit: “The offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front developed at a faster pace from the very first day. As expected, the enemy’s defenses in the direction of his attack were weak, which made it possible to bring both tank armies into action there on the morning of April 17. On the very first day they advanced 20-25 kilometers, crossed the Spree River and on the morning of April 19 began to advance to Zossen and Luckenwalde.”

And now it is simply absolutely necessary to say a few words about what Konev supposedly had to do, linking his main forces to this task, so that, God forbid, they would not decide to attack Berlin. It's about on the liquidation of the so-called Frankfurt-Guben enemy group. What was she like? These were the remnants of the once again defeated 9th Army, which was joined by separate units

4th Tank Army. Dedicating the forces of an entire front to destroy them was, to put it mildly, unreasonable. In addition, Busse saw a categorical order from General: to hold the front on the Oder. Of course, at that time Konev could not have known about this order, but he saw very well that the Germans were not trying to move towards Berlin. Later, Busse received a new order: to retreat west to join General Wenck's 12th Army to liberate Berlin. I highly recommend paying attention to this interesting formulation. That is, General Busse did not have the strength at his disposal to somehow really threaten Konev’s front; one could not even dream of a breakthrough to Berlin in such conditions. He had no order to retreat to Berlin, and everyone knew very well what they did with those who violated orders in the last days of the Reich’s existence. For example, General Weidling, commander of the LVI Tank Corps, who suffered the main blow of Zhukov, was sentenced to death for not holding his position, but, however, he was also pardoned. Did Theodor Busse need such adventures? His path to Berlin was blocked only by the 40th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Army, but this was enough. So Konev correctly decided not to fight the ghosts, allocated a couple of corps to block the German group stuck in the forests and lakes, and went to Berlin.

At 12 noon on April 25, west of Berlin, the advanced units of the 4th Guards Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front met with units of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. On the same day, another significant event occurred. An hour and a half later, on the Elbe, the 34th Guards Corps of General Baklanov of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.

It is here that we get another historical fork in the road. There was no longer any danger of the Western Allies reaching Berlin. The breakthrough of German troops to the capital also looked like a complete chimera. So was it necessary to storm the city? It was entirely possible to limit ourselves to what Hitler intended to do with Leningrad: a tight blockade, constant artillery shelling and air bombing. Well, the situation with the latter was not very good; Soviet aviation did not have the ability to deliver powerful strikes due to the lack of strategic bombers. But the artillery of the Red Army has always been the subject of envy and hatred of both enemies and allies. Moreover, April 20 was marked by an artillery strike on Berlin, delivered by long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army. The Red Army gave the Fuhrer a birthday present.

But in this case we will be forced to give a negative answer. It was necessary to storm Berlin, although not at all for the reasons that were voiced

Soviet historiography. It's just that the process of slowly strangling such a huge city would take too long. Civilian casualties? Sorry, this is war, and it was not the Soviet army that invaded Germany in 1941, but quite the opposite. After all, the Germans themselves came up with the concept of "Kriegsraison" - "Military necessity" which always and unconditionally prevails over "Kriegsmanier" - "Method of warfare."

The strangulation of Berlin led to an unjustifiable prolongation of the war, because Hitler should not have even dreamed of any surrender, unless his own guards would have crushed him in the bunker like a rat... And it is likely that there would have been protests from the Western allies about “unjustified sacrifices” " Of course, one could remind them about the bombings of Hamburg and Dresden, but there was no point in starting political discussions. Not the time and not the place. That is, an assault!

But with the assault, not everything is clear either. It began on April 20, 1945 (by the way, Hitler’s birthday), the artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front opened fire on the city center. After the war, our historians claimed that our guns dropped more explosives on the city than Allied heavy bombers. Zhukov writes: “11 thousand guns of different calibers opened simultaneous fire at certain intervals. From April 21 to May 2, one million eight hundred thousand artillery shots were fired at Berlin. In total, more than 36 thousand tons of metal were rained down on enemy defenses in the city.”

The Germans did not have a single chance to defend the capital of the Reich. The garrison of the city by this time consisted of approximately 45,000 soldiers from scattered, battered units and approximately 40,000 of all sorts of rabble from the Volkssturm, police, and so on. The main force of the garrison was considered to be the LVI Corps of General Weidling: Panzer Division "Munchenberg" (formed on March 8, 1945!), 9th Parachute Division, 18th and 20th Panzer Grenadiers, 11th SS Panzer " Norland" and the 503rd heavy tank battalion. Everything would be great if at least one of these divisions had more than 400 soldiers. By the way, it was the first two divisions that defended the Seelow Heights, so their condition is not at all difficult to imagine.

Well, purely for educational purposes, we will list others who had to save the capital of the Third Reich. French volunteer assault battalion "Charlemagne"; a naval battalion sent by Grand Admiral Doenitz; 15th Lithuanian fusilier battalion; 57th Fortress Regiment; 1st Anti-Aircraft Division "Berlin", Hitler's personal guard; the Hitler Youth regiment, hastily formed from Berlin boys and had nothing to do with the SS division of the same name. Oddly enough, Himmler’s personal guards were also stuck right there. That's all...

They were opposed by approximately one and a half million seasoned soldiers of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. For the first time, the Germans had every right to talk about the enemy’s tenfold superiority. There is probably no point in describing in detail the course of the battles for the city, since this has been done in several works

A. Isaev, although everyone preaches one simple truth: Berlin was taken by Zhukov, once again by Zhukov and again by Zhukov. And the rest were just present.

In reality, of course, everything was more complicated. Let's start with the fact that the race to Berlin did take place. As proof, I will cite two orders given two hours apart. Let the participants in the events speak for themselves, and the reader can draw his own conclusions.

BATTLE ORDER OF THE COMMANDER OF THE 1ST UKRAINIAN FRONT TO THE COMMANDER OF THE 3RD AND 4TH GUARDS TANK ARMIES ON THE NECESSITY TO ENTER BERLIN BEFORE THE TROOPS

1ST BELARUSIAN FRONT

Marshal Zhukov's troops are 10 km from the eastern outskirts of Berlin. I order you to be the first to break into Berlin tonight. Deliver the execution.

Krainyukov

RF. F. 236. Op. 2712. D. 359. L. 36. Original.

BATTLE ORDER FROM THE COMMANDER OF THE 1ST BELARUSIAN FRONT TO THE COMMANDER OF THE 2ND GUARDS TANK ARMY WITH THE DEMAND TO BE THE FIRST TO BREAK INTO BERLIN

The 2nd Guards Tank Army is entrusted with the historical task of being the first to break into Berlin and hoist the Victory Banner. I personally instruct you to organize the execution.

Send one of the best brigades from each corps to Berlin and give them the task: no later than 4 o’clock in the morning on April 21, 1945, to break through to the outskirts of Berlin at any cost and immediately report to Comrade Stalin and advertise in the press.

RF. F. 233. Op. 2307. D. 193. L. 88. Original.

Moreover, note that Zhukov perfectly understands the importance of the report “on the authorities” and newspaper PR. It is interesting that General Lelyushenko in his memoirs slightly corrected Konev’s order, cutting out the word “first” from it, or the editors did it for him.

Meanwhile, the fever of changing commanders could not stop in the German command. On April 22, Hitler removes General Reimann, replacing him with Colonel Ernst Koether, promoting him first to major general and then to lieutenant general in one day. On the same day, he gives the order to shoot the commander of the LVI tank corps, General Weidling, who failed to hold the line of defense on the Oder, and immediately cancels his order. After this, the Fuhrer decides to personally take command of the Berlin garrison, and then appoints Weidling to this position. This series of events clearly shows that the Fuhrer's headquarters has simply turned into a madhouse. Despite the complexity of the situation at the height of the battle for Moscow, with the panic that arose in the Soviet capital (it happened, it happened!), our command did not reach such insanity.

Weidding divided the city into eight defensive sectors to make the defense easier to manage. However, nothing could stop the Soviet troops. On April 23, Chuikov's 8th Guards Army crossed the Spree and, with the support of General Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Army, began to advance in the direction of Neukölln. On April 24, General Berzarin's 5th Shock Army also crossed the Spree in the Treptower Park area. The remnants of the LVI Panzer Corps, still partly commanded by Weidling, attempted to counterattack but were simply destroyed. On the same day, after a powerful artillery barrage - 650 guns per kilometer! Never before in history has such a density of artillery been seen! - Soviet troops launched a decisive offensive. By evening Treptower Park was busy.

This text is an introductory fragment.

From the book The First World War author Utkin Anatoly Ivanovich

Berlin's chance The nightmare of a war on two fronts ended for Berlin, and a chance to win the war appeared. Leaving forty secondary infantry and three cavalry divisions in the East, the Germans turned to the West. On the Eastern Front they reaped a bountiful "harvest" in the form of a huge

From the book “Damned Questions” of the Great Patriotic War. Lost victories, missed opportunities author Bolnykh Alexander Gennadievich

STORMING OF BERLIN The last operation of the Great Patriotic War, upon closer examination, turns into a real tangle of mysteries and contradictions, and the threads from this tangle stretch into the distant future and into the past. Within the framework of historical alternatives, we should

From the book History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages author Gregorovius Ferdinand

2. General assault. - Attack on the porta praenestina. - murus ruptus. - Assault on Hadrian's Mausoleum. - The Greeks destroy the statues in it. - The widespread failure of the assault On the nineteenth day of the siege, in the morning, Vitiges began the assault. With a common onslaught, the Gothic heroes hoped to overcome the walls of Rome and at once lay down

From the book Doctors Who Changed the World author Sukhomlinov Kirill

The Fall of Berlin The echoes of the cannonade, blood, fire and hatred that was literally felt in the air - crippled Berlin took hundreds of soldiers of the German and enemy armies into oblivion. The dull rumble of exploding shells reached the staff of the famous Charité clinic

From the book Tanks are marching on Berlin author Getman Andrey Lavrentievich

Chapter Twelve The Assault on Berlin It was the end of March 1945 when the 11th Guards Tank Corps, having completed a 400-kilometer march, concentrated southeast of Landsberg. Here he had to prepare to participate in the Berlin operation of the Red Army troops. However, personal

by Baggott Jim

From the book The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb by Baggott Jim

From the book The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb by Baggott Jim

In the ruins of Berlin, Berlin was surrounded by Soviet troops of the First Belarusian and First Ukrainian Fronts. On April 20 - Hitler's birthday - the shelling of the city began. On April 29, the Soviet Third Shock Army crossed the Moltke Bridge, located near

From the book The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb by Baggott Jim

Berlin Blockade The democratically elected government of Czechoslovakia petitioned for Marshall Plan assistance in July 1947. In post-war Eastern Europe it was the only democratic coalition government led by a prime minister

From the book Flagship of Attack Aviation author Donchenko Semyon

To storm Berlin, the Lower Silesian offensive operation, carried out on February 8-24, was essentially a continuation of the Vistula-Oder operation. Its goal is to reach the Neisse River line in order to take advantageous starting positions for subsequent attacks on Berlin, Dresden and Prague

From the book Beyond Takeoff, Takeoff author Glushanin Evgeniy Pavlovich

From the Caucasus to Berlin, Otar Chechelashvili from an early age watched the flights of mountain eagles and envied their ability to soar in the sky for a long time. “How can a person gain wings?” the boy thought. When Otar grew up, he gained wings and learned to fly. First at the flying club. Then within the walls

The war was ending. Everyone understood this - both the Wehrmacht generals and their opponents. Only one person - Adolf Hitler - despite everything, continued to hope for the strength of the German spirit, for a “miracle weapon”, and most importantly - for a split between his enemies. There were reasons for this - despite the agreements reached in Yalta, England and the United States did not particularly want to cede Berlin to Soviet troops. Their armies advanced almost unhindered. In April 1945, they broke through into the center of Germany, depriving the Wehrmacht of its “forge” - the Ruhr Basin - and gaining the opportunity to rush to Berlin. At the same time, Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front and Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front froze in front of the powerful German defense line on the Oder. Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front finished off the remnants of enemy troops in Pomerania, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts advanced towards Vienna.

On April 1, Stalin convened a meeting of the State Defense Committee in the Kremlin. The audience was asked one question: “Who will take Berlin - us or the Anglo-Americans?” “The Soviet Army will take Berlin,” Konev was the first to respond. He, Zhukov’s constant rival, was also not taken by surprise by the Supreme Commander’s question - he showed the members of the State Defense Committee a huge model of Berlin, where the targets of future strikes were precisely indicated. The Reichstag, the Imperial Chancellery, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - all these were powerful centers of defense with a network of bomb shelters and secret passages. The capital of the Third Reich was surrounded by three lines of fortifications. The first took place 10 km from the city, the second - on its outskirts, the third - in the center. Berlin was defended by selected units of the Wehrmacht and SS troops, to whose aid the last reserves were urgently mobilized - 15-year-old members of the Hitler Youth, women and old men from the Volkssturm (people's militia). Around Berlin in the Vistula and Center army groups there were up to 1 million people, 10.4 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, the superiority of Soviet troops in manpower and equipment was not just significant, but overwhelming. 2.5 million soldiers and officers, 41.6 thousand guns, more than 6.3 thousand tanks, 7.5 thousand aircraft were supposed to attack Berlin. The main role in the offensive plan approved by Stalin was assigned to the 1st Belorussian Front. From the Küstrinsky bridgehead, Zhukov was supposed to storm the defense line head-on on the Seelow Heights, which towered above the Oder, closing the road to Berlin. Konev’s front had to cross the Neisse and strike the capital of the Reich with the forces of the tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko. It was planned that in the west it would reach the Elbe and, together with Rokossovsky’s front, would link up with the Anglo-American troops. The Allies were informed of the Soviet plans and agreed to halt their armies on the Elbe. The Yalta agreements had to be implemented, and this also made it possible to avoid unnecessary losses.

The offensive was scheduled for April 16. To make it unexpected for the enemy, Zhukov ordered an attack early in the morning, in the dark, blinding the Germans with the light of powerful searchlights. At five in the morning, three red rockets gave the signal to attack, and a second later thousands of guns and Katyushas opened hurricane fire of such force that an eight-kilometer space was plowed up overnight. “Hitler’s troops were literally sunk in a continuous sea of ​​fire and metal,” Zhukov wrote in his memoirs. Alas, the day before, a captured Soviet soldier revealed to the Germans the date of the future offensive, and they managed to withdraw their troops to the Seelow Heights. From there, targeted shooting began at Soviet tanks, which, wave after wave, made a breakthrough and died in a completely shot through field. While the enemy's attention was focused on them, the soldiers of Chuikov's 8th Guards Army managed to move forward and occupy lines near the outskirts of the village of Zelov. By evening it became clear: the planned pace of the offensive was being disrupted.

At the same time, Hitler addressed the Germans with an appeal, promising them: “Berlin will remain in German hands,” and the Russian offensive “will drown in blood.” But few people believed in this anymore. People listened with fear to the sounds of cannon fire, which were added to the already familiar bomb explosions. The remaining residents - there were at least 2.5 million of them - were forbidden to leave the city. The Fuhrer, losing his sense of reality, decided: if the Third Reich perishes, all Germans must share its fate. Goebbels' propaganda frightened the people of Berlin with the atrocities of the "Bolshevik hordes", convincing them to fight to the end. A Berlin defense headquarters was created, which ordered the population to prepare for fierce battles on the streets, in houses and underground communications. Each house was planned to be turned into a fortress, for which all remaining residents were forced to dig trenches and equip firing positions.

At the end of the day on April 16, Zhukov received a call from the Supreme Commander. He dryly reported that Konev overcame Neisse “happened without any difficulties.” Two tank armies broke through the front at Cottbus and rushed forward, continuing the offensive even at night. Zhukov had to promise that during April 17 he would take the ill-fated heights. In the morning, General Katukov's 1st Tank Army moved forward again. And again the “thirty-four”, which passed from Kursk to Berlin, burned out like candles from the fire of “Faust cartridges”. By evening, Zhukov's units had advanced only a couple of kilometers. Meanwhile, Konev reported to Stalin about new successes, announcing his readiness to take part in the storming of Berlin. Silence on the phone - and the dull voice of the Supreme: “I agree. Turn your tank armies towards Berlin." On the morning of April 18, the armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko rushed north to Teltow and Potsdam. Zhukov, whose pride suffered severely, threw his units into a last desperate attack. In the morning, the 9th German Army, which received the main blow, could not stand it and began to roll back to the west. The Germans still tried to launch a counterattack, but the next day they retreated along the entire front. From that moment on, nothing could delay the denouement.

Last birthday

On April 19, another participant appeared in the race for Berlin. Rokossovsky reported to Stalin that the 2nd Belorussian Front was ready to storm the city from the north. On the morning of this day, the 65th Army of General Batov crossed the wide channel of the Western Oder and moved towards Prenzlau, cutting into pieces the German Army Group Vistula. At this time, Konev’s tanks moved north easily, as if in a parade, meeting almost no resistance and leaving the main forces far behind. The Marshal consciously took risks, rushing to approach Berlin before Zhukov. But the troops of the 1st Belorussian were already approaching the city. His formidable commander issued an order: “No later than 4 o’clock in the morning on April 21, break into the suburbs of Berlin at any cost and immediately convey a message about this for Stalin and the press.”

On April 20, Hitler celebrated his last birthday. Selected guests gathered in a bunker 15 meters into the ground under the imperial chancellery: Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann, the top of the army and, of course, Eva Braun, who was listed as the Fuhrer’s “secretary”. His comrades suggested that their leader leave doomed Berlin and move to the Alps, where a secret refuge had already been prepared. Hitler refused: “I am destined to conquer or perish with the Reich.” However, he agreed to withdraw the command of the troops from the capital, dividing it into two parts. The north found itself under the control of Grand Admiral Dönitz, to whom Himmler and his staff went to help. The south of Germany had to be defended by Goering. At the same time, a plan arose to defeat the Soviet offensive by the armies of Steiner from the north and Wenck from the west. However, this plan was doomed from the very beginning. Both Wenck's 12th Army and the remnants of SS General Steiner's units were exhausted in battle and incapable of active action. Army Group Center, on which hopes were also pinned, fought heavy battles in the Czech Republic. Zhukov prepared a “gift” for the German leader - in the evening his armies approached the city border of Berlin. The first shells from long-range guns hit the city center. The next morning, General Kuznetsov's 3rd Army entered Berlin from the northeast, and Berzarin's 5th Army from the north. Katukov and Chuikov attacked from the east. The streets of the dull Berlin suburbs were blocked by barricades, and “Faustniks” fired at the attackers from the gateways and windows of houses.

Zhukov ordered not to waste time suppressing individual firing points and to hurry forward. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the headquarters of the German command in Zossen. Most of the officers fled to Potsdam, and the chief of staff, General Krebs, went to Berlin, where on April 22 at 15.00 Hitler held his last military meeting. Only then did they decide to tell the Fuhrer that no one could save the besieged capital. The reaction was violent: the leader burst into threats against the “traitors,” then collapsed on a chair and groaned: “It’s over... the war is lost...”

And yet the Nazi leadership was not going to give up. It was decided to completely stop resistance to the Anglo-American troops and throw all forces against the Russians. All military personnel capable of holding weapons were to be sent to Berlin. The Fuhrer still pinned his hopes on Wenck's 12th Army, which was supposed to link up with Busse's 9th Army. To coordinate their actions, the command led by Keitel and Jodl was withdrawn from Berlin to the town of Kramnitz. In the capital, besides Hitler himself, the only leaders of the Reich left were General Krebs, Bormann and Goebbels, who was appointed head of defense.

City on fire

On April 22, 1945, Zhukov appeared in Berlin. His armies - five rifle and four tank - destroyed the German capital with all types of weapons. Meanwhile, Rybalko’s tanks approached the city limits, occupying a bridgehead in the Teltow area. Zhukov gave his vanguard - the armies of Chuikov and Katukov - the order to cross the Spree, no later than the 24th to be in Tempelhof and Marienfeld - the central regions of the city. For street fighting, assault detachments were hastily formed from fighters from different units. In the north, the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich crossed the Havel River along a bridge that had accidentally survived and headed west, preparing to connect there with Konev’s units and close the encirclement. Having occupied the northern districts of the city, Zhukov finally excluded Rokossovsky from among the participants in the operation. From this moment until the end of the war, the 2nd Belorussian Front was engaged in the defeat of the Germans in the north, drawing over a significant part of the Berlin group.

The glory of the winner of Berlin has passed by Rokossovsky, and it has passed by Konev as well. Stalin's directive, received on the morning of April 23, ordered the troops of the 1st Ukrainian to stop at the Anhalter station - literally a hundred meters from the Reichstag. The Supreme Commander entrusted Zhukov with occupying the center of the enemy capital, noting his invaluable contribution to the victory. But we still had to get to Anhalter. Rybalko with his tanks froze on the bank of the deep Teltow Canal. Only with the approach of artillery, which suppressed the German firing points, were the vehicles able to cross the water barrier. On April 24, Chuikov’s scouts made their way west through the Schönefeld airfield and met Rybalko’s tankers there. This meeting split the German forces in half - about 200 thousand soldiers were surrounded in a wooded area southeast of Berlin. Until May 1, this group tried to break through to the west, but was cut into pieces and almost completely destroyed.

And Zhukov’s strike forces continued to rush towards the city center. Many fighters and commanders had no experience of fighting in a big city, which led to huge losses. The tanks moved in columns, and as soon as the front one was knocked out, the entire column became easy prey for the German Faustians. We had to resort to merciless but effective combat tactics: first, the artillery fired hurricane fire at the target of the future offensive, then volleys of Katyusha rockets drove everyone alive into shelters. After this, tanks moved forward, destroying barricades and destroying houses from which shots were fired. Only then did the infantry get involved. During the battle, the city was hit by almost two million gun shots - 36 thousand tons of deadly metal. Fortress guns were delivered from Pomerania by rail, firing shells weighing half a ton into the center of Berlin.

SU-76, Berlin, 1945

But even this firepower could not always cope with the thick walls of buildings built back in the 18th century. Chuikov recalled: “Our guns sometimes fired up to a thousand shots at one square, at a group of houses, even at a small garden.” It is clear that no one thought about the civilian population, trembling with fear in bomb shelters and flimsy basements. However, the main blame for his suffering lay not with the Soviet troops, but with Hitler and his entourage, who, with the help of propaganda and violence, did not allow residents to leave the city, which had turned into a sea of ​​​​fire. After the victory, it was estimated that 20% of the houses in Berlin were completely destroyed, and another 30% - partially. On April 22, for the first time in history, the city telegraph office closed, having received the last message from the Japanese allies - “we wish you good luck.” Water and gas were cut off, transport stopped running, and food distribution stopped. Starving Berliners, not paying attention to the continuous shelling, robbed freight trains and shops. They were more afraid not of Russian shells, but of SS patrols, which grabbed men and hung them from trees as deserters.

The police and Nazi officials began to flee. Many tried to get to the west to surrender to the Anglo-Americans. But the Soviet units were already there. On April 25 at 13.30 they reached the Elbe and met with tank crews of the 1st American Army near the town of Torgau.

On this day, Hitler entrusted the defense of Berlin to tank general Weidling. Under his command there were 60 thousand soldiers who were opposed by 464 thousand Soviet troops. The armies of Zhukov and Konev met not only in the east, but also in the west of Berlin, in the Ketzin area, and now they were separated from the city center by only 7–8 kilometers. On April 26, the Germans made a last-ditch attempt to stop the attackers. Fulfilling the Fuhrer's order, Wenck's 12th Army, which consisted of up to 200 thousand people, struck from the west at Konev's 3rd and 28th armies. The fighting, unprecedentedly fierce even for this brutal battle, continued for two days, and by the evening of the 27th, Wenck had to retreat to his previous positions.

The day before, Chuikov’s soldiers occupied the Gatov and Tempelhof airfields, carrying out Stalin’s order to prevent Hitler from leaving Berlin at any cost. The Supreme Commander was not going to let the one who treacherously deceived him in 1941 escape or surrender to the Allies. Corresponding orders were also given to other Nazi leaders. There was another category of Germans who were intensively searched for - specialists in nuclear research. Stalin knew about the Americans’ work on the atomic bomb and was going to create “his own” as quickly as possible. It was already necessary to think about the world after the war, where the Soviet Union had to take a worthy place, paid for in blood.

Meanwhile, Berlin continued to suffocate in the smoke of fires. Volkssturmov soldier Edmund Heckscher recalled: “There were so many fires that night turned into day. You could read a newspaper, but newspapers were no longer published in Berlin.” The roar of guns, shooting, explosions of bombs and shells did not stop for a minute. Clouds of smoke and brick dust blanketed the city center, where, deep under the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery, Hitler again and again tormented his subordinates with the question: “Where is Wenck?”

On April 27, three-quarters of Berlin was in Soviet hands. In the evening, Chuikov’s strike forces reached the Landwehr Canal, one and a half kilometers from the Reichstag. However, their path was blocked by selected SS units, who fought with special fanaticism. Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army was stuck in the Tiergarten area, whose parks were dotted with German trenches. Every step here was taken with difficulty and a lot of blood. Chances again appeared for Rybalko’s tankers, who on that day made an unprecedented rush from the west to the center of Berlin through Wilmersdorf.

By nightfall, a strip 2–3 kilometers wide and up to 16 kilometers long remained in the hands of the Germans. The first batches of prisoners, still small, came out with raised hands from the basements and entrances of houses to the rear. Many were deaf from the incessant roar, others, gone crazy, laughed wildly. The civilian population continued to hide, fearing the revenge of the victors. The Avengers, of course, were - they could not help but be after what the Nazis did on Soviet soil. But there were also those who, risking their lives, pulled German elderly people and children out of the fire, who shared their soldiers’ rations with them. The feat of Sergeant Nikolai Masalov, who saved a three-year-old German girl from a destroyed house on the Landwehr Canal, went down in history. It is he who is depicted by the famous statue in Treptower Park - a memory of Soviet soldiers who preserved humanity in the fire of the most terrible of wars.

Even before the end of the fighting, the Soviet command took measures to restore normal life in the city. On April 28, General Berzarin, appointed commandant of Berlin, issued an order to dissolve the National Socialist Party and all its organizations and transfer all power to the military commandant's office. In areas cleared of the enemy, soldiers were already beginning to put out fires, clear buildings, and bury numerous corpses. However, it was possible to establish a normal life only with the assistance of the local population. Therefore, on April 20, the Headquarters demanded that the commanders of the troops change their attitude towards German prisoners and civilians. The directive put forward a simple rationale for such a step: “A more humane attitude towards the Germans will reduce their stubbornness in defense.”

Reich convulsions

The fascist empire was disintegrating before our eyes. On April 28, Italian partisans caught dictator Mussolini trying to escape and shot him. The next day, General von Wietinghof signed the act of surrender of the Germans in Italy. Hitler learned of the execution of the Duce simultaneously with other bad news: his closest associates Himmler and Goering began separate negotiations with the Western allies, bargaining for their lives. The Fuhrer was beside himself with rage: he demanded that the traitors be immediately arrested and executed, but this was no longer in his power. They managed to get even on Himmler’s deputy, General Fegelein, who fled from the bunker - a detachment of SS men grabbed him and shot him. The general was not saved even by the fact that he was the husband of Eva Braun’s sister. On the evening of the same day, Commandant Weidling reported that there was only enough ammunition left in the city for two days, and there was no fuel at all.

General Chuikov received from Zhukov the task of connecting from the east with the forces advancing from the west, through the Tiergarten. The Potsdamer Bridge, leading to the Anhalter train station and Wilhelmstrasse, became an obstacle to the soldiers. The sappers managed to save him from the explosion, but the tanks that entered the bridge were hit by well-aimed shots from Faust cartridges. Then the tank crews tied sandbags around one of the tanks, doused it with diesel fuel and sent it forward. The first shots caused the fuel to burst into flames, but the tank continued to move forward. A few minutes of enemy confusion were enough for the rest to follow the first tank. By the evening of the 28th, Chuikov approached Tiergarten from the southeast, while Rybalko's tanks were entering the area from the south. In the north of Tiergarten, Perepelkin's 3rd Army liberated the Moabit prison, from where 7 thousand prisoners were released.

The city center has turned into a real hell. The heat made it impossible to breathe, the stones of buildings were cracking, and water was boiling in ponds and canals. There was no front line - a desperate battle went on for every street, every house. In dark rooms and on staircases - the electricity in Berlin had long gone out - hand-to-hand fighting broke out. Early in the morning of April 29, soldiers of General Perevertkin’s 79th Rifle Corps approached the huge building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - “Himmler’s house.” Having shot the barricades at the entrance with cannons, they managed to break into the building and capture it, which made it possible to get close to the Reichstag.

Meanwhile, nearby, in his bunker, Hitler was dictating his political will. He expelled the "traitors" Goering and Himmler from the Nazi Party and accused the entire German army of failing to maintain "commitment to duty until death." Power over Germany was transferred to “President” Dönitz and “Chancellor” Goebbels, and command of the army to Field Marshal Scherner. Towards evening, the official Wagner, brought by the SS men from the city, performed the civil wedding ceremony of the Fuhrer and Eva Braun. The witnesses were Goebbels and Bormann, who stayed for breakfast. During the meal, Hitler was depressed, muttering something about the death of Germany and the triumph of the “Jewish Bolsheviks.” During breakfast, he gave two secretaries ampoules of poison and ordered them to poison his beloved shepherd Blondie. Behind the walls of his office, the wedding quickly turned into a drinking party. One of the few sober employees remained Hitler’s personal pilot Hans Bauer, who offered to take his boss to any part of the world. The Fuhrer once again refused.

On the evening of April 29, General Weidling reported the situation to Hitler for the last time. The old warrior was frank - tomorrow the Russians will be at the entrance to the office. Ammunition is running out, there is nowhere to wait for reinforcements. Wenck's army was thrown back to the Elbe, and nothing is known about most other units. We need to capitulate. This opinion was confirmed by SS Colonel Mohnke, who had previously fanatically carried out all the Fuhrer’s orders. Hitler prohibited surrender, but allowed soldiers in “small groups” to leave the encirclement and make their way to the west.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops occupied one building after another in the city center. The commanders had difficulty finding their way on the maps - the pile of stones and twisted metal that was previously called Berlin was not indicated there. After taking the “Himmler House” and the town hall, the attackers had two main targets - the Imperial Chancellery and the Reichstag. If the first was the real center of power, then the second was its symbol, the tallest building of the German capital, where the Victory Banner was to be hoisted. The banner was already ready - it was handed over to one of the best units of the 3rd Army, the battalion of Captain Neustroev. On the morning of April 30, the units approached the Reichstag. As for the office, they decided to break through to it through the zoo in Tiergarten. In the devastated park, soldiers rescued several animals, including a mountain goat, which had the German Iron Cross hung around its neck for its bravery. Only in the evening the center of defense was taken - a seven-story reinforced concrete bunker.

Near the zoo, Soviet assault troops came under attack from the SS from the torn up metro tunnels. Chasing them, the fighters penetrated underground and discovered passages leading towards the office. A plan arose right away to “finish off the fascist beast in its lair.” The scouts went deeper into the tunnels, but after a couple of hours water rushed towards them. According to one version, upon learning that the Russians were approaching the office, Hitler ordered to open the floodgates and let the Spree water flow into the metro, where, in addition to Soviet soldiers, there were tens of thousands of wounded, women and children. Berliners who survived the war recalled that they heard an order to urgently leave the metro, but due to the resulting crush, few were able to get out. Another version refutes the existence of the order: water could have broken into the subway due to continuous bombing that destroyed the walls of the tunnels.

If the Fuhrer ordered the drowning of his fellow citizens, this was the last of his criminal orders. On the afternoon of April 30, he was informed that the Russians were on Potsdamerplatz, a block from the bunker. Soon after this, Hitler and Eva Braun said goodbye to their comrades and retired to their room. At 15.30 a shot was heard from there, after which Goebbels, Bormann and several other people entered the room. The Fuhrer, pistol in hand, lay on the sofa with his face covered in blood. Eva Braun did not disfigure herself - she took poison. Their corpses were taken into the garden, where they were placed in a shell crater, doused with gasoline and set on fire. The funeral ceremony did not last long - Soviet artillery opened fire, and the Nazis hid in a bunker. Later, the burnt bodies of Hitler and his girlfriend were discovered and transported to Moscow. For some reason, Stalin did not show the world evidence of the death of his worst enemy, which gave rise to many versions of his salvation. Only in 1991, Hitler's skull and his ceremonial uniform were discovered in the archive and demonstrated to everyone who wanted to see these dark evidence of the past.

last fight

The assault on the Reichstag was led by the 79th Rifle Corps of General Perevertkin, reinforced by shock groups of other units. The first onslaught on the morning of the 30th was repulsed - up to one and a half thousand SS men dug in in the huge building. At 18.00 a new assault followed. For five hours, the fighters moved forward and upward, meter by meter, to the roof decorated with giant bronze horses. Sergeants Egorov and Kantaria were assigned to hoist the flag - they decided that Stalin would be pleased to have his fellow countryman participate in this symbolic act. Only at 22.50 two sergeants reached the roof and, risking their lives, inserted the flagpole into the shell hole right next to the horse's hooves. This was immediately reported to front headquarters, and Zhukov called the Supreme Commander in Moscow.

A little later, another news came - Hitler's heirs decided to negotiate. This was reported by General Krebs, who appeared at Chuikov’s headquarters at 3.50 am on May 1. He began by saying: “Today is the First of May, a great holiday for both our nations.” To which Chuikov replied without unnecessary diplomacy: “Today is our holiday. It’s hard to say how things are going for you.” Krebs spoke about Hitler's suicide and the desire of his successor Goebbels to conclude a truce. A number of historians believe that these negotiations were supposed to prolong time in anticipation of a separate agreement between the “government” of Dönitz and the Western powers. But they did not achieve their goal - Chuikov immediately reported to Zhukov, who called Moscow, waking Stalin on the eve of the May Day parade. The reaction to Hitler’s death was predictable: “I’ve done it, you scoundrel!” It's a shame we didn't take him alive." The answer to the proposal for a truce was: only complete surrender. This was conveyed to Krebs, who objected: “Then you will have to destroy all the Germans.” The response silence was more eloquent than words.

At 10.30, Krebs left headquarters, having had time to drink cognac with Chuikov and exchange memories - both commanded units at Stalingrad. Having received the final “no” from the Soviet side, the German general returned to his troops. In pursuit of him, Zhukov sent an ultimatum: if Goebbels and Bormann’s consent to unconditional surrender is not given by 10 o’clock, Soviet troops will strike such a blow that “there will be nothing left in Berlin but ruins.” The Reich leadership did not give an answer, and at 10.40 Soviet artillery opened hurricane fire on the center of the capital.

The shooting did not stop all day - Soviet units suppressed pockets of German resistance, which weakened a little, but was still fierce. Tens of thousands of soldiers and Volkssturm troops were still fighting in different parts of the huge city. Others, throwing down their weapons and tearing off their insignia, tried to escape to the west. Among the latter was Martin Bormann. Having learned of Chuikov’s refusal to negotiate, he and a group of SS men fled from the office through an underground tunnel leading to the Friedrichstrasse metro station. There he got out into the street and tried to hide from the fire behind a German tank, but it was hit. The leader of the Hitler Youth, Axman, who happened to be there and shamefully abandoned his young charges, later stated that he saw the dead body of “Nazi No. 2” under the railway bridge.

Soviet soldier Ivan Kichigin at the grave of a friend in Berlin. Ivan Aleksandrovich Kichigin at the grave of his friend Grigory Afanasyevich Kozlov in Berlin in early May 1945. Signature on the back of the photo: “Sasha! This is the grave of Kozlov Gregory.”
There were such graves all over Berlin - friends buried their comrades near the place of their death. About six months later, reburial from such graves to memorial cemeteries in Treptower Park and Tiergarten began.

At 18.30, soldiers of the 5th Army of General Berzarin stormed the last stronghold of Nazism - the Imperial Chancellery. Before this, they managed to storm the post office, several ministries and a heavily fortified Gestapo building. Two hours later, when the first groups of attackers had already approached the building, Goebbels and his wife Magda followed their idol by taking poison. Before this, they asked the doctor to administer a lethal injection to their six children - they were told that they would give an injection that would never make them sick. The children were left in the room, and the corpses of Goebbels and his wife were taken out into the garden and burned. Soon everyone who remained below - about 600 adjutants and SS men - rushed out: the bunker began to burn. Somewhere in its depths only General Krebs, who fired a bullet in the forehead, remained. Another Nazi commander, General Weidling, took responsibility and radioed Chuikov agreeing to unconditional surrender. At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, German officers with white flags appeared on the Potsdam Bridge. Their request was reported to Zhukov, who gave his consent. At 6.00 Weidling signed the order to surrender addressed to all German troops, and he himself set an example to his subordinates. After this, the shooting in the city began to subside. From the basements of the Reichstag, from under the ruins of houses and shelters, the Germans came out, silently putting their weapons on the ground and forming columns. They were observed by the writer Vasily Grossman, who accompanied the Soviet commandant Berzarin. Among the prisoners, he saw old men, boys and women who did not want to part with their husbands. The day was cold, and a light rain fell on the smoldering ruins. Hundreds of corpses lay on the streets, crushed by tanks. There were also flags with swastikas and party cards lying around - Hitler's supporters were in a hurry to get rid of the evidence. In Tiergarten, Grossman saw a German soldier and a nurse on a bench - they were sitting hugging each other and not paying any attention to what was happening around them.

In the afternoon, Soviet tanks began driving through the streets, broadcasting the order of surrender through loudspeakers. Around 15.00 the fighting finally stopped, and only in the western regions did explosions roar - there they were chasing SS men who were trying to escape. An unusual, tense silence hung over Berlin. And then it was torn apart by a new barrage of shots. Soviet soldiers crowded on the steps of the Reichstag, on the ruins of the Imperial Chancellery and fired again and again - this time into the air. Strangers threw themselves into each other's arms and danced right on the pavement. They couldn't believe that the war was over. Many of them had new wars, hard work, difficult problems ahead, but they had already accomplished the most important thing in their lives.

In the last battle of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army crushed 95 enemy divisions. Up to 150 thousand German soldiers and officers died, 300 thousand were captured. The victory came at a heavy price - in two weeks of the offensive, three Soviet fronts lost from 100 thousand to 200 thousand people killed. The senseless resistance claimed the lives of approximately 150 thousand Berlin civilians, and a significant part of the city was destroyed.

Chronicle of the operation

April 16, 5.00.
Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov), after powerful artillery bombardment, begin an offensive on the Seelow Heights near the Oder.
April 16, 8.00.
Units of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) cross the Neisse River and move west.
April 18, morning.
The tank armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko turn north, towards Berlin.
April 18, evening.
The German defense on the Seelow Heights was broken through. Zhukov's units begin to advance towards Berlin.
April 19, morning.
Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) cross the Oder, cutting apart the German defenses north of Berlin.
April 20, evening.
Zhukov's armies are approaching Berlin from the west and northwest.
April 21, day.
Rybalko's tanks occupy the German military headquarters in Zossen, south of Berlin.
April 22, morning.
Rybalko's army occupies the southern outskirts of Berlin, and Perkhorovich's army occupies the northern areas of the city.
April 24, day.
Meeting of the advancing troops of Zhukov and Konev in the south of Berlin. The Frankfurt-Gubensky group of Germans is surrounded by Soviet units, and its destruction has begun.
April 25, 13.30.
Konev's units reached the Elbe near the city of Torgau and met there with the 1st American Army.
April 26, morning.
Wenck's German army launches a counterattack on the advancing Soviet units.
April 27, evening.
After stubborn fighting, Wenck's army was driven back.
April 28.
Soviet units surround the city center.
April 29, day.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs building and the town hall were stormed.
April 30, day.
The Tiergarten area with its zoo is busy.
April 30, 15.30.
Hitler committed suicide in a bunker under the Imperial Chancellery.
April 30, 22.50.
The assault on the Reichstag, which had lasted since the morning, was completed.
May 1, 3.50.
The beginning of unsuccessful negotiations between the German General Krebs and the Soviet command.
May 1, 10.40.
After the failure of negotiations, Soviet troops begin storming the buildings of the ministries and the imperial chancellery.
May 1, 22.00.
The Imperial Chancellery is stormed.
May 2, 6.00.
General Weidling gives the order to surrender.
May 2, 15.00.
The fighting in the city finally stopped.

Anatoly Utkin, doctor historical sciences, Ivan Izmailov