Berlin strategic offensive operation- one of the latest strategic operations Soviet troops in the European theater of operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted from April 16 to May 8, 1945, the width of the combat front was 300 km.

By April 1945, the main offensive operations Red Army in Hungary, East Pomerania, Austria and East Prussia. This deprived Berlin of the support of industrial areas and the possibility of replenishing reserves and resources.

Soviet troops reached the line of the Oder and Neisse rivers, only a few tens of kilometers remained to Berlin.

The offensive was carried out by the forces of three fronts: the 1st Belorussian under the command of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, the 2nd Belorussian under the command of Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky and the 1st Ukrainian under the command of Marshal I.S. air army, the Dnieper military flotilla and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

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

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

On April 16, 1945, at 5 am Moscow time (2 hours before dawn), artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1500 installations of the RS BM-13 and BM-31 for 25 minutes, grinded the first line of German defense on the 27-kilometer breakthrough section. With the start of the attack, artillery fire was moved deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their dazzling light stunned the enemy, neutralized night vision devices and at the same time illuminated the path for the advancing units.

The offensive unfolded in three directions: through the Seelow Heights directly to Berlin (1st Belorussian Front), south of the city, along the left flank (1st Ukrainian Front) and north, along the right flank (2nd Belorussian Front). The largest number of enemy forces was concentrated in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, the most intense battles flared up in the area of ​​​​the Seelow Heights.

Despite fierce resistance, on April 21, the first Soviet assault detachments reached the outskirts of Berlin, and street fighting ensued. On the afternoon of March 25, units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined, closing the ring around the city. However, the assault was yet to come, and the defense of Berlin was carefully prepared and well thought out. It was a whole system of strongholds and centers of resistance, the streets were blocked by powerful barricades, many buildings were turned into firing points, underground structures and the metro were actively used. Faustpatrons became a formidable weapon in the conditions of street fighting and limited space for maneuver, they inflicted especially heavy damage on tanks. The situation was also complicated by the fact that all German units and individual groups of soldiers retreating during the fighting on the outskirts of the city concentrated in Berlin, replenishing the garrison of the city's defenders.

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

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial office was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior arrangement, the head of the 8th Guards Army arrived at the headquarters general staff German ground forces, General Krebs. He informed the commander of the army, General V. I. Chuikov, about Hitler's suicide and about the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. But the categorical demand for unconditional surrender received in response was rejected by this government. Soviet troops from new force resumed the attack. The remnants of the German troops were no longer able to continue resistance, and in the early morning of May 2, a German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, using loud-speaking installations and radio, brought to the enemy units defending in center of Berlin. As this order was brought to the attention of the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Separate units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

During the Berlin operation, from April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which 78,291 people were irretrievably lost. In terms of daily losses of personnel and equipment, the battle for Berlin surpassed all other operations of the Red Army. In terms of the intensity of losses, this operation is comparable only to the Battle of Kursk.

The losses of the German troops, according to the reports of the Soviet command, amounted to: killed - about 400 thousand people, captured about 380 thousand people. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.

The Berlin operation dealt the last crushing blow to the armed forces of the Third Reich, which, with the loss of Berlin, lost their ability to organize resistance. Six days after the fall of Berlin, on the night of May 8-9, the German leadership signed the act of Germany's unconditional surrender.

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

List of sources used:

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

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

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

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

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

Storming of the Reichstag.

The assault on the Reichstag is the final stage of the Berlin offensive operation, the task of which was to capture the building of the German parliament and hoist the Banner of Victory.

The Berlin offensive began on April 16, 1945. And the operation to storm the Reichstag lasted from April 28 to May 2, 1945. The assault was carried out by the forces of the 150th and 171st rifle divisions of the 79th rifle corps of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front. In addition, two regiments of the 207th Infantry Division were advancing in the direction of the Kroll Opera.

After artillery preparation, the troops of the 5th Guards Army began to force the river. The smoke masked the movement of troops to the river, but at the same time made it somewhat difficult for us to observe the enemy's firing points. The attack began successfully, forcing on ferries and boats was in full swing, already by 12 o'clock. 60-ton bridges were built. At 13.00 our forward detachments moved forward. The first - from the 10th Guards Tank Corps, the 62nd Guards Tank Brigade of I. I. Proshin, reinforced with heavy tanks, anti-tank artillery and motorized infantry of the 29th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade A. I. Efimov. Essentially, it was 2 brigades. The second forward detachment - from the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps - the 16th Guards Mechanized Brigade of G. M. Shcherbak with attached reinforcements. The detachments quickly crossed over the built bridges to the opposite bank and, together with the infantry, entered the battle, completing the breakthrough of the enemy's tactical defense. The brigades of I. I. Proshin and A. I. Efimov overtook the rifle chains and went ahead.
The plan outlined by us was carried out, though not quite exactly, but there is nothing surprising in this, in a war where two forces, two wills, two plans collide, opposite one another, the outlined plan can rarely be carried out in all details. There are changes dictated by the current situation, for better or for worse, in this case for the better for us. The advance detachments were advancing faster than we expected. Therefore, we decided to develop the offensive with all the forces of the army as soon as possible on the night of April 17, in order to cross the river on the next day. Spree, get out into the operational space, get ahead of the enemy's reserves and defeat them. We already had such experience during the offensive from the Sandomierz bridgehead. Then, on the night of January 13, 1945, we, in the band of the 13th Army of General N.P. Pukhov, put into action the main forces of the 10th Tank and 6th Mechanized Guards Corps, we managed to get ahead of the reserves of the Nazis - the 24th Tank Corps - and in cooperation with neighbors to defeat it.
Having received the order to put the main forces into action, E.E. Belov vigorously launched an offensive with all the forces of the 10th Guards Corps. Approximately at 22 o'clock. we, together with the commander of artillery N.F. Mentyukov, went to I.I. Proshin and A.I. Efimov, where Belov was already, to find out how things were going on the spot, and, if necessary, to help them, since the fulfillment of the task not only by the 10th Guards Tank Corps, but also by the entire army as a whole depended on their successful actions. We soon became convinced that Proshin and Yefimov were rapidly moving forward, everything was going well for them.
In the second echelon of the corps, increasing the pace of the offensive, were the 63rd brigade of M. G. Fomichev and the 61st brigade of V. I. Zaitsev.
I soon returned to my command post in order to find out how the offensive was developing on the left wing of the army, - the silence of the commander of the 6th Guards Corps, Colonel V. I. Koretsky, was somewhat disturbing. General Upman reported that there had been a hitch in Koretsky's sector, the corps was fighting with approaching enemy tanks.
At 23 o'clock. 30 minutes. April 16 Belov reported that Proshin and Efimov met some enemy tank units moving forward. After 1.5 hours, he also reported that parts of the corps had defeated up to two enemy regiments (tank and motorized) belonging to the Fuhrer's Guard tank division and the Bohemia training tank division, captured the headquarters of the Fuhrer's Guard division. A very important enemy combat order No. 676/45 dated April 16, 1945, signed by the division commander General Remer, was captured at the headquarters, from which it followed that the enemy between the Neisse and Spree rivers had a pre-prepared line called "Matilda" (which we did not know) and put forward his reserve for him: 2 tank divisions - "Fuhrer's Guard" and the training tank division "Bohemia". Here is what the order said:

1. Enemy (we are talking about us.- D. L.) 16.4 in the morning, after the strongest artillery preparation, he went on the offensive on a wide front in the Muskau-Triebel sector, formed the Neisse near Kebeln, southwest of Gross-Serchen and Zetz, and after heavy fighting with superior forces, he threw back 545 NGD (infantry division. - D. L.) from the forest in the Erishke region to the west. Enemy attacks were supported by large aviation forces. (See the intelligence report for details.) The division expects 17.4 enemy attacks to continue with the introduction of reinforced tank formations and in the direction along the Muskau-Spremberg highway.
2. The division "Protection of the Fuhrer" with the tank training division "Bohemia" subordinate to it continues defensive battles on the line "Matilda" on 17.44. The point is that the expected 17.4 new strong enemy attacks, especially supported by tanks, will crush in front of the front line ...
12. Dispatches.
Report 17.4 to 4.00 the readiness of the defense ...
Signed: Remer.

I keep a copy of this order to this day as a memory of the last battles of the last war. It can be seen from the above text that the enemy did not expect our offensive at night, which is convincingly stated in the 12th paragraph of the order: since the commanders of the units were ordered to report the readiness of the defense by 4 o'clock. on the morning of April 17, which means that the Nazis did not suspect that the Soviet troops would advance at night. This is what killed the enemy. We launched the offensive not on the morning of April 17, as the enemy believed, but just on the night of April 17. with a strong blow of our 10th Guards Tank Corps, in cooperation with Zhadov's infantry, the enemy in this sector April 17 was broken.
We make a decision, following Belov's 10th Guards Corps, to introduce 5th Guards Mechanized Corps Ermakov. I immediately reported to the front commander about the defeat of the enemy at the Matilda line and about the decision I had made. The captured enemy order was sent to the front headquarters. Marshal I. S. Konev approved our actions and approved the decision.
So, our plan to buy time, get ahead of the enemy and destroy his reserves, was crowned with complete success. True, the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps lingered on the left flank of Zhadov's army, where his infantry could not immediately break through the defenses, as fresh enemy reserves approached there.
Now the tank and mechanized corps of Belov and Ermakova, i.e. main body of the army. On April 18, the 10th Tank and 5th Mechanized Guards Corps, sweeping away the enemy in their path, broke into the operational space and rushed to the west.
About 3 o'clock. On the night of April 18, we received a combat order from the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, which stated that in pursuance of the order of the Supreme High Command 4th Guards Tank Army by the end of April 20, capture the area of ​​Beelitz, Treuenbritzen, Luckenwalde, and on the night of April 21, capture Potsdam and the southwestern part of Berlin. The neighbor on the right - the 3rd Guards Tank Army - during the night of April 18 was tasked with crossing the river. Spree and rapidly develop the offensive in the general direction of Vetschau, Barut, Teltow, the southern outskirts of Berlin, and on the night of April 21, break into Berlin from the south.
This directive set a new task - an attack on Berlin, in contrast to the previous plan, which aimed to advance in the general direction of Dessau. This turn of events did not come as a surprise to us. We at army headquarters were thinking about it even before the start of the operation. Therefore, without unnecessary loss of time, new tasks were assigned: the 10th Guards Tank Corps to develop an offensive in the direction of Luckau-Dahme-Luckenwalde-Potsdam, force the Teltow Canal and take possession of the southwestern part of Berlin on the night of April 21; After capturing the city of Spremberg, the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps will go to the Nauen area and link up with the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front there, completing the complete encirclement of the Berlin enemy grouping; The 5th Guards Mechanized Corps advance in the direction of Jüterbog, on April 21, capture the Beelitz, Treuenbritzen line and gain a foothold on it, securing the left flank of the army from possible enemy attacks from the west and creating an outer front to encircle the Berlin grouping in the southwest direction.
Having received new tasks, the corps commanders energetically set about their implementation. By the end of April 18, the 10th and 5th corps had reached the Drebkau, Neu-Petershain line, this is more than 50 km from the former front line of enemy defense. Their forward detachments advanced 70 km, and the 63rd Guards Tank Brigade of M. G. Fomichev pulled ahead even 90 km. The advance proceeded at an accelerating pace. The 6th Guards Mechanized Corps, following the directive of the front, assisted the 5th Guards Army in capturing the city of Spremberg in order to quickly begin its main task - the encirclement of Berlin.
20 April received a new order from the commander of the front:
“Personally to comrades Rybalko and Lelyushenko. The troops of Marshal Zhukov are ten kilometers from the eastern outskirts of Berlin ... I order you to break into Berlin tonight ... Execution to convey. 19-40.20.4.1945. Konev. The distance to Berlin was 50-60 km, but it happens in war as well.
In accordance with this order, the tasks of the troops were specified, and first of all, the 10th Guards Corps, which was aimed at the southwestern outskirts of Berlin.
When the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front broke into the eastern outskirts of Berlin on April 21, the right-flank troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front approached the southeastern and southern outskirts of the fascist capital. on the same day she captured the cities of Calau, Luckau, Babelsberg and on April 21 reached the approaches to the southwestern suburbs of Berlin. 63rd Guards Tank Brigade under the command of Colonel M. G. Fomichev, acting as an advance detachment 4th Guards Tank Army, defeated the enemy garrison in Babelsberg (south of the outskirts of Berlin) and freed 7 thousand prisoners of various nationalities from concentration camps.
Continuing to carry out the task, the 63rd Guards Brigade soon met fierce resistance from the enemy in the village of Enikesdorf. It seemed to me that the battle was taking on a protracted character, and I decided to go to Fomichev in order to get acquainted with the situation on the spot and clarify the task for the strike in the direction of Berlin.
The brigade was given the task of rapidly advancing on the southwestern part of Berlin in the general direction of the Brandenburg Gate. From the air, we were supported by the fighters of A. I. Pokryshkin, the attack aircraft of V. G. Ryazanov and the bombers of D. T. Nikitin. The 81st Guards Bomber Regiment, under the command of V. Ya. Gavrilov, especially helped us.
April 22 Ermakov Corps, advancing south of Belov's corps, sweeping away the enemy on his way, he captured the cities of Beelitz, Treyenbritzen, Yuterbog. 1,600 Frenchmen, Englishmen, Danes, Belgians, Norwegians and prisoners of other nationalities, languishing in Nazi dungeons, were released from the fascist camp in the Treuenbritzen area.
There was an airfield not far from the camp in the Yuterbog area. More than 300 aircraft and many other military equipment fell into our hands there. The commander showed special resourcefulness and skill in leading this operation. 5th Guards Mechanized Corps Major General I.P. Ermakov.
On April 22, having reached the line Treyenbritzen, Beelitz, the 5th Guards Corps started a battle with the advanced units of the 12th German Army of General Wenck, who tried to break through to Berlin. All enemy attacks were repulsed, and his units were thrown back to their original position.
On the same day, the 10th Guards Tank Corps of E.E. Belova continued a tense battle on the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, meeting fierce resistance. Detachments of Faustniks were especially raging. Despite this, the tankers continued to move forward, storming house after house, block after block.
The 3rd Guards Tank Army fought on the southern outskirts of Berlin. On the night of April 23, the 10th Guards Tank Corps reached the Teltow Canal and prepared to force it.
Having received intelligence, Belov intensely prepared the troops of the corps to force the Teltov Canal. On the same day, Marshal I. S. Konev transferred to us the 350th Rifle Division from the 13th Army under the command of Major General G. I. Vekhin for operational subordination. This was very helpful, since infantry was urgently needed to create battle groups during the storming of Berlin. On the Teltow Canal, elite SS units fought with fanaticism that bordered on madness.
We started forcing the channel on the morning of April 23. Ahead was the 29th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of Belov's corps. A forward detachment was singled out from its composition. Soon the tankers of the 62nd guards brigade I. I. Proshin and swiftly attacked the enemy on the northern bank of the Teltov Canal.

Storming Berlin

The 10th Guards Tank Corps of E. E. Belova, reinforced by the 350th Infantry Division of G. I. Vekhin, April 23 continued to storm the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, the 3rd Guards Tank Army of PS Rybalko - the neighbor on the right - fought in the southern part of Berlin. The tank brigades of this army, which interacted directly with us, were led by the formation commander, General V. V. Novikov. Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front from April 21 continued to storm the fascist capital from the east and northeast.
The battles were distinguished by exceptional intensity and were of a fierce nature in all sectors of the front. The Nazis fought for every quarter, for every house, floor, room. Our 5th Guards Mechanized Corps of I.P. Ermakov continued a stubborn battle at the Treyenbritzen, Beelitz line, holding back the strongest pressure from the west of the enemy divisions of the 12th Army of Wenck - Scharnhorst, Hutten, Theodor Kerner and other formations , striving to break through to Berlin at all costs. Hitler appealed to them with a plea for salvation.
Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of Nazi Germany, came to Wenck's troops. He demanded that the commanders and all troops of the 12th Army "fanatize" the fight, arguing that if the army breaks through to Berlin, the entire military-political situation will change radically and that Busse's 9th Army is moving towards Wenck. But it did not help. Wenk's army suffered colossal casualties from the strikes of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps.
In order to prevent the 12th army of the enemy from reaching Berlin, we strengthened the defense in this direction and sent 5th Guards Corps to the Treuenbritzen, Beelitz line, the 70th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Brigade of Lieutenant Colonel N.F. Kornyushkin and artillery units of army subordination, in particular the 71st Separate Guards Light Artillery Brigade of Colonel I.N. Kozubenko.
As a result of the efforts of the guards 4th Panzer Army with the assistance of the troops of the 13th Army, the enemy attacks were repulsed and the Treyenbritzen, Beelitz line was held. Repeated enemy attacks were broken here against the unparalleled stamina of Soviet soldiers and officers.
The 6th Guards Mechanized Corps, which was delayed to assist the 5th Guards Army of A. S. Zhadov, after capturing the city of Spremberg, quickly pulled ahead and rushed to Potsdam. On the morning of April 23 he broke through the enemy defenses on the outer contour of Berlin in the Fresdorf area, where the Nazis again closed the gap, and defeated parts of the enemy infantry division "Friedrich Ludwig Jahn" there. The 35th Guards Mechanized Brigade, Colonel P. N. Turkin, distinguished himself here, and the commander of the subdivision of this brigade, Lieutenant V. V. Kuzovkov, captured the commander of the enemy division, Colonel Klein.
Soon I drove up to the corps to clarify the situation and assist the young commander Colonel V. I. Koretsky in the fastest advance to encircle Berlin. A captured colonel was brought to us, he showed that the division was formed in the first days of April from young men of 15-16 years old. I could not stand it and said to him: “Why are you on the eve of an inevitable catastrophe driving innocent teenage boys to slaughter?” But what could he say to that? His lips only moved convulsively, the eyelid of his right eye twitched convulsively, and his legs trembled. The appearance of this Hitlerite warrior was miserable and disgusting.
On April 24, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and the right-flank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Fronts united southeast of Berlin, surrounding the 9th German Army.
4th Guards Tank Army rapidly went to connect with the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, closing the encirclement ring around Berlin from the west. To accomplish this task, the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of V.I. Koretsky was intended. As an advanced detachment, the 35th Guards Mechanized Brigade of Colonel P. N. Turkin came from him. Having overcome 6 serious water barriers, several lanes minefields, scarps, counterscarps, anti-tank ditches, the brigade destroyed 9 Nazi detachments and separate parts, covering barriers and crossings southwest and west of Berlin. Here she captured many staff officers of units and units serving Hitler's headquarters. A powerful radio communication center of the fascist high command fell into our hands - more than 300 different radio devices of the latest type. With their help, the Nazi command maintained contact with the troops in all theaters of military operations.
On the night of April 25 P. N. Turkin captured the city of Ketzin, 22 km west of Berlin, where he joined up with the 328th Rifle Division of the 77th Rifle Corps of General V. G. Poznyak and with the 65th Guards Tank Brigade of the 1st Belorussian Front. Soon the main forces of our 6th Guards Mechanized Corps also approached here. This act ended an important stage of the Berlin operation - the fascist lair with a 200,000-strong garrison led by Hitler was completely surrounded. The sappers, led by the head of the engineering service of the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps, Lieutenant Colonel A.F. Romanenko, acted boldly and energetically. It should be noted the excellent combat work soldiers of the 22nd separate guards three times decorated sapper battalion of Major E. I. Pivovarov. Under enemy fire, they quickly cleared the paths of movement, built ferry and bridge crossings, and removed obstacles.
The pilots supported the offensive 4th Guards Tank Army throughout her battle path. These were the fighters of Colonel A. I. Pokryshkin and Lieutenant Colonel L. I. Goreglyad, attack aircraft of the 1st Guards Air Corps of General V. G. Ryazanov. We were helped by the neighboring part of I. N. Kozhedub. I would like to mention the brave pilot G.I. Remez, who rammed enemy aircraft, and the commander of the 22nd Guards Fighter Aviation Division N.I. Glotov, who became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
In honor of this victory, which announced to the world the imminent end of the war, on April 25 Moscow saluted the valiant soldiers of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts with 20 artillery volleys from 224 guns.
25th of April a very significant event took place. In the area of ​​the city of Torgau on the Elbe, the advanced units of the 5th Guards Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front met with patrols of the 1st American Army. Now the front of the Nazi troops was torn apart - northern and southern, separated from each other. In honor of this great victory, Moscow again saluted the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front with 24 artillery salvos from 324 guns.
Hitler's headquarters, which had lost control of its troops, was in its death throes. In the diary of the Nazi General Staff on April 25, 1945, it is written: “Fierce battles are going on in the eastern and northern parts of the city ... The city of Potsdam is completely surrounded. In the area of ​​Torgau on the Elbe, for the first time, Soviet and American troops are united.
Events, meanwhile, developed with cinematic speed. 26 April 6th Guards Mechanized Corps 4th Guards Tank Army seizes the center of Potsdam and, on its northeastern outskirts, reconnects with units of the 9th Guards Tank Corps of General N. D. Vedeneev of the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. On the connection of the corps, N. D. Vedeneev and V. I. Koretsky drew up and signed an act, sending it to the appropriate headquarters. This closed the encirclement of the Berlin grouping for the second time. The soldiers of the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps showed high combat skill and heroism.
The capture of Potsdam was a blow to the very heart of reactionary Prussian militarism. After all, this city - a suburb of Berlin - since 1416 was the residence of the Prussian kings, the place of countless military parades and reviews. Here in 1933 in the garrison church last president Field Marshal Hindenburg of the Weimar Republic blessed Hitler as the new ruler of Germany.
But, when we were planning an attack on Potsdam, we were not so much interested in these data about it, but in the position of the city, which was actually located on an island, on one side, washed by the river. Havel, into which the Spree flows, and on the other - lakes. An assault by tanks on such a center of resistance, located on a wooded island, was not an easy task.
When setting the task for the 6th Guards Corps, the military council of the army took into account all this and, most importantly, the importance that the Nazis attached to the defense of the fortress city. The capture of Potsdam, despite stubborn resistance, was carried out by a very skillful maneuver, thanks to which many buildings of historical value were preserved, including the castles of Sanssouci, Bebelsberg, Zitzilienhof.
It must be said that by April 25-26 The 9th German Army, surrounded in the area of ​​Cottbus and southeast of Berlin, was actually paralyzed, most of it was destroyed. She no longer went to the rescue of Berlin and Hitler himself, but sought to go west at all costs in order to surrender to the Americans. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought fierce battles against the breaking through grouping from the north and northeast, and the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front - from the southeast, south and southwest.
Here the 3rd Guards Army of General V.N. Gordov, formations of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, parts of the 28th army of A. A. Luchinsky and the 13th army of General Pukhov.
The battles were bloody. Attacks and counterattacks, as a rule, ended in hand-to-hand combat. The doomed enemy rushed to the west. His groups were dissected by our troops into separate parts, blocked and destroyed in the Barut region, in the forest to the north of it and in other points.
A small group of Nazis managed to break through in the city of Luckenwalde, just to the rear of the 4th Guards Tank Army and, above all, the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps of I.P. to the west.
Now Ermakov had to fight with an inverted front, still directing his main forces to the west against Wenck's army and part of his forces to the east against the breaking group of Busse's 9th army. To help Ermakov, I urgently sent the 63rd Guards to the Luckenwalde area. tank brigade M. G. Fomichev with the 72nd Guards Heavy Tank Regiment of Major A. A. Dementiev and a separate self-propelled artillery regiment. The 68th Guards Tank Brigade of army subordination, Colonel K. T. Khmylov, was also advanced there.
AT last days April the battle for Berlin reached its climax. The soldiers of the Red Army with the utmost tension, sparing neither blood nor life itself, went into the last and decisive battle. Tankers V. I. Zaitsev, I. I. Proshin, P. N. Turkin and N. Ya. Selivanchik, motorized riflemen A. I. Efimov, infantrymen of General G. I. Vekhin under the leadership of E. E. Belov and V. I. Koretsky in a fierce, bloody battle, storming Berlin, in cooperation with their neighbors, captured the southwestern part of the city and advanced in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate. Ermakov's warriors reliably held the outer front at the Treuenbritzen-Beelitz line, repelling the onslaught of the 12th enemy army.
April 27 in the diary of the Nazi General Staff it is written: “Fierce battles are going on in Berlin. Despite all the orders and measures to assist Berlin, this day clearly indicates that the denouement of the battle for the capital of Germany is approaching ... ".
On this day, our troops were approaching the lair of the fascist beast like an unstoppable avalanche. The enemy sought to break through to the west, to the Americans. Its pressure was especially strong in the sector of our 10th Guards Tank Corps, reinforced by the 350th Rifle Division of General G. I. Vekhin. 18 enemy attacks were repulsed here during April 26 and 27, but the enemy was not released from Berlin.
5th Guards Mechanized Corps I. P. Ermakov, in which there were many sailors of the Pacific Fleet, stood invincibly at the line of Treyenbritzen, Beelitz, continuously repelling the attacks of the Wenck army. Exceptional stamina was shown by the soldiers of this corps - 10th Guards Mechanized Brigade V. N. Buslaev, the 11th Guards Mechanized Brigade of I. T. Noskov and the 12th Guards Mechanized Brigade of G. Ya. Borisenko. Day and night on April 29, a bloody battle continued in all areas.
The command of the army and all the soldiers understood that the troops 4th Guards Tank Army these days they carried out a responsible task: firstly, it was necessary to reliably close the enemy’s exit routes from Berlin to the southwest, and secondly, prevent Wenck's 12th Army from reaching Berlin, which had the main task of releasing Berlin with a 200,000-strong garrison, and, thirdly, not releasing the remnants of the enemy 9th army, breaking through the rear of our army in the Luckenwalde region to the west, in American zone. Troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts stormed Berlin.
But the Nazis still continued to resist, although there was already panic and confusion at the top of the Wehrmacht. Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide, other fascist thugs fled in all directions. On the morning of May 1 a scarlet banner was already fluttering over the Reichstag, installed by the soldiers of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Division of General V.M. Shatilov, Sergeant M.A. Egorov and Private M.V. Kantaria.
On May 1, we received a report from the commander of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, I.P. Ermakov, that the enemy was exerting strong pressure from the west and east. It was Wenck's 12th Army, which received reinforcements, straining its last forces to save the Nazis who remained in Berlin. At the same time, the remnants of the enemy's 9th Army sought to break through to the Americans. We urgently send the 71st Separate Guards Light Artillery Brigade of I.N. Kozubenko, the 3rd Guards Motor Engineering Brigade of A.F. Sharuda, the 379th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment with 100-mm guns under the command of Major P.F. Sidorenko, the 312th Katyusha Guards Mortar Regiment, V.I. Zaitsev’s 61st Guards Tank Brigade and Lieutenant Colonel V.P.
In order to finally defeat the enemy in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bactions of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, i.e. near Treyenbritzen, Beelitz and Luckenwalde, I ordered at 15 o'clock. On May 1, the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps, which had already captured Brandenburg, turn east and strike at the rear of Wenck's army, defeat it and prevent the remnants of the enemy's 9th Army from breaking through into the American zone.
The results were not long in coming. The decisive blow of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps to the west and the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps to the east and southeast, in cooperation with units of the 13th Army of General Pukhov, completely defeated the formations of the 12th and the remnants of the 9th armies of the enemy.
In the same May days, when we fought with superior enemy forces on two fronts, Belov's 10th Guards Tank Corps, together with the 350th Vekhin Rifle Division attached to it and other army formations, continued to persistently storm the southwestern part of Berlin, pressing the enemy to Brandenburg Gate.
From the air, we were reliably provided by the fearless pilots of the fighter division, headed by three times Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin.
The ring around Berlin was shrinking. Hitler's leaders were facing an imminent catastrophe.
On May 2, Berlin fell. The 200,000-strong Nazi group surrounded in it capitulated. The long-awaited victory has come, in the name of which millions of Soviet people gave their lives.
During the Berlin operation, the troops of our 4th Guards Tank Army destroyed 42,850 enemy soldiers and officers, 31,350 were taken prisoner, 556 tanks and armored personnel carriers, 1,178 guns and mortars were burned and captured.

The Berlin offensive is last operation forces of the Red Army against the forces of the Third Reich. The operation did not stop from April 16 to May 8, 1945 - 23 days. As a result, it led to the unconditional surrender of Germany in World War II.

Purpose and essence of the operation

Germany

The Nazis tried to drag out the fighting as long as possible, while they wanted to achieve peace with the United States and Britain - that is, the split of the anti-Hitler coalition. This would make it possible to keep the Eastern Front against the SRSR with the aim of further counter-offensive with the subsequent defeat of the Soviet Union.

SRSR

The Soviet army was supposed to destroy the Reich forces in the Berlin direction, capture Berlin and unite with the Allied forces on the Elbe River - this would have destroyed all German plans to prolong the war.

Side forces

The SRSR had at its disposal 1.9 million people in this direction, in addition to this, the Polish troops numbered 156 thousand people. In total, the army consisted of 6250 tanks and about 42 thousand guns, as well as mortar guns, more than 7500 military aircraft.

Germany had one million men, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and 3,300 combat aircraft.
Thus, one can notice a clear superiority of numbers towards the Red Army, which had 2 times more soldiers, 4 times more mortar guns, as well as more than 2 times more aircraft and 4 times large quantity tanks.

Now it would be wise to analyze in detail the entire course of the Berlin offensive.

Operation progress

The first hours of the operation were more than successful for the soldiers of the Red Army, as in a short time it easily broke through the first line of defense. However, later it met with very fierce resistance from the Nazis.

The Red Army received the greatest resistance at the Zelov Heights. As it turned out, the infantry could not break through the defense either, since the German fortifications were well prepared and they gave this position special importance. Then Zhukov decides to use tank armies.

April 17 began a decisive assault on the heights. Fierce battles were fought all night and day, as a result of which, on the morning of April 18, they nevertheless managed to take defensive positions.

By the end of April 19, the Red Army repulsed the fierce German counterattacks and was already able to develop an offensive against Berlin. Hitler ordered to hold the defense at any cost.

On April 20, the first air strikes were carried out on the city of Berlin. On April 21, paramilitary units of the Red Army invaded the outskirts of the city of Berlin. Already on April 23 and 24, the actions acquired a particularly fierce character, as the Germans stood resolutely to the death. On April 24, the pace of the offensive practically stopped, but the Germans failed to stop it completely. The 5th Army, waging fierce, bloody battles, broke through to the center of Berlin.

The offensive in this direction developed more successfully than that of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front.

The Red Army successfully crossed the Neisse River and transported troops for further advance.

Already on April 18, an order was given to send the 3rd and 4th Panzer Army to the aid of the Belorussian Front, which met with determined resistance.

On April 20, the forces of the Red Army divided the forces of the armies "Vistula" and "Center". Already on April 21, a battle began for the outer defensive positions of Berlin. And on April 22, the defensive positions were broken through, but then the Red Army met strong resistance, and the attack was stopped.

On April 22, the ring around Berlin was practically closed. On this day, Hitler makes the last decision that could have an impact on the course of military operations. He considered Berlin's last hope to be W. Wenck's 12th Army, which was obliged to transfer from the Western Front and break through the ring.

On April 24, the Red Army was able to capture the defensive positions of the southern bank of the Teltow Canal, where the Germans decisively fortified and only the most powerful artillery salvos made it possible to force.

Also on April 24, Wenck's army launched an offensive with tank armies, but the Red Army managed to hold them back.

On April 25, Soviet soldiers met with the Americans on the Elbe.

(April 20 - May 8) 2nd Belorussian Front

On April 20, the crossing of the Oder began, which took place with varying success. As a result, the Red Army forces froze the 3rd Panzer Army in action, which could help Berlin.

On April 24, the power of the 1st Ukrainian and 2nd Belorussian fronts surrounded Busse's army and cut it off from Berlin. So more than 200 thousand German soldiers were surrounded. However, the Germans not only organized a powerful defense, but also tried to carry out counterattacks right up to May 2 in order to unite with Berlin. They even managed to break through the ring, but only a small part of the army was able to reach Berlin.

On April 25, the ring around the capital of Nazism, Berlin, finally closed. The defense of the capital was carefully prepared and consisted of a garrison of at least 200 thousand people. The closer the Red Army advanced to the center of the city, the denser the defense became. The streets became barricades - serious fortifications with thick walls, behind which the Germans fought to the death. Numerous tanks of the Soviet Union in urban conditions suffered from German faustpatrons. Before launching the next offensive, the Soviet army carried out heavy artillery shelling of the enemy’s combat positions.

The fighting went on continuously, both during the day and at night. Already on April 28, the soldiers of the Red Army reached the Reichstag area. And on April 30, the path to it was completely open.

On April 30, his decisive assault began. In a short time, almost the entire building was captured. However, the Germans stood on the defensive so stubbornly that they had to fight fierce battles for rooms, corridors, etc. On May 1, the flag was raised over the Reichstag, but the battles for it continued right up to May 2, only at night the garrison capitulated.

As of May 1, only the state quarter and the Tiergarten remained in the clutches of the German soldiers. Here was Hitler's headquarters. An offer of surrender reached Zhukov as Hitler committed suicide in the bunker. However, Stalin refused and the offensive continued.

On May 2, the last commander of the defense of Berlin surrendered and signed a surrender pact. However, not all units decided to surrender and continued to fight to the death.

Losses

Both warring camps suffered colossal losses in human strength. According to the data, the Red Army lost over 350 thousand people, wounded and killed, more than 2 thousand tanks, about 1 thousand aircraft and 2 thousand guns. However, these data should not be trusted blindly, since the SRSR kept silent about the real numbers and gave false data. The same applies to the assessment of German losses by Soviet analysts.
Germany, on the other hand, lost (according to Soviet data, which may have greatly exceeded real losses) 400 thousand soldiers killed and wounded. 380 thousand people were taken prisoner.

Results of the Berlin operation

- The Red Army defeated the largest grouping of German troops, and also captured the top leadership (military and political) of Germany.
- The capture of Berlin, which finally broke the spirit of the German troops and influenced their decision to end the resistance.
– Hundreds of thousands of people were released from German captivity.
The battle for Berlin went down in history as the largest battle in history, in which more than 3.5 million people took part.

Many books have been written about the capture of Berlin in the spring of 1945 by the Red Army and many films have been made. Unfortunately, in many of them the ideological cliches of the Soviet and post-Soviet times prevail, and the least attention is paid to history.

Berlin offensive operation

Magazine: Great Victory (Mysteries of history, special issue 16/C)
Category: Last Frontier

The "maneuver" of Marshal Konev almost destroyed the Red Army!

At first, Marshal Zhukov, who commanded the 1st Belorussian Front, was going to take Berlin back in February 1945. Then the troops of the front, having brilliantly carried out the Vistula-Oder operation, immediately seized a bridgehead on the Oder in the Kustrin area.

February false start

On February 10, Zhukov even sent a report to Stalin on the plan for the upcoming Berlin offensive. Zhukov intended to "break through the defenses on west bank R. Oder and capture the city of Berlin.
However, the front commander was still smart enough to abandon the idea of ​​ending the war with one blow. Zhukov was informed that the troops were tired and suffered heavy losses. Rear left behind. In addition, on the flanks, the Germans were preparing counterattacks, as a result of which the troops rushing to Berlin could be surrounded.
While the troops of several Soviet fronts liquidated German groups aimed at the flanks of the 1st Belorussian Front, and destroyed the German "festungs" remaining in the rear - cities turned into fortresses, the Wehrmacht command made desperate attempts to eliminate the Kyustrinsky bridgehead. The Germans failed to do this. Realizing that the upcoming Soviet offensive would begin here, the Germans began to build on this sector of the front fortifications. The Seelow Heights were to become the main node of resistance.

Castle of the capital of the Reich

The Germans themselves called the Seelow Heights, located 90 km east of Berlin, "the castle of the capital of the Reich." They were a real fortress, the defensive fortifications of which were built within two years. The garrison of the fortress consisted of the 9th Wehrmacht Army, commanded by General Busse. In addition, the 4th Panzer Army of General Greser could launch a counterattack against the advancing Soviet troops.
Zhukov, planning the Berlin operation, decided to strike from the Kustrinsky bridgehead. In order to cut off the troops concentrated in the area of ​​​​the Seelow Heights from the enemy capital and prevent them from retreating to Berlin, Zhukov planned “Simultaneous cutting of the entire encircled Berlin grouping into two parts ... this facilitated the task of capturing Berlin, for the period of decisive battles directly for Berlin, a significant part of the forces the enemy (i.e. the main forces of the 9th German army) would not be able to take part in the struggle for the city, since it would be surrounded and isolated in the forests southeast of Berlin.
At 5 am on April 16, 1945, the 1st Belorussian Front began the Berlin operation. It began unusually - after artillery preparation, which involved 9,000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1,500 rocket launchers. Within 25 minutes, they destroyed the first line of German defenses. With the beginning of the attack, the artillery shifted its fire deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their light stunned the enemy and at the same time illuminated the path for the advancing units.
But the Seelow Heights proved to be a hard nut to crack. Breaking the German defenses, despite the fact that 1,236,000 shells, or 17,000 tons of metal, were rained down on the enemy's head, was not easy. In addition, 1514 tons of bombs were dropped on the German defense center by front aviation, which carried out 6550 sorties.
To break through the German fortified area, two tank armies had to be brought into battle. The battle for the Seelow Heights lasted only two days. Considering that the Germans had been building fortifications for almost two years, the breakthrough of the defense could be considered a great success.

Do you know that…

"And we'll go north..."

Soldiers are ambitious people. Each of them dreams of a victory that will immortalize his name. The commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Konev, was just such an ambitious commander.
Initially, his front was not assigned the task of taking Berlin. It was assumed that the troops of the front, having struck south of Berlin, were supposed to cover the advancing troops of Zhukov. Even the dividing line between the two fronts was marked. It passed 65 km southeast of Berlin. But Konev, having learned that Zhukov had a hitch with the Seelow Heights, tried to play all-in. Of course, this violated the plan of the operation approved by the Headquarters, but, as they say, the winner is not judged. Konev’s idea was simple: the 1st Belorussian Front was fighting on the Seelow Heights, and in Berlin itself only Volkssturmists and scattered units in need of reorganization remained, you can try to break through with a mobile detachment to the city and capture the Reich Chancellery and the Reichstag, raising the banner of the 1st Ukrainian front. And then, having taken up the defense, wait for the approach of the main forces of the two fronts. All the laurels of the winner, of course, in this case will go not to Zhukov, but to Konev.
The commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front did just that. At first, the advance of Konev's troops was relatively easy. But soon the 12th German Army of General Wenck, rushing to join the remnants of Busse's 9th Army, hit the flank of the 4th Guards Tank Army, and the advance of the 1st Ukrainian Front on Berlin slowed down.

The myth of "faustniks"

One of the most common myths about street fighting in Berlin is the myth of terrible losses. Soviet tanks th troops from the German "faustniks". But the numbers tell a different story. The Faustniks account for about 10% of all losses of armored vehicles. Basically, our tanks were knocked out by artillery.
By that time, the Red Army had already worked out the tactics of action in large settlements. The basis of this tactic is assault groups, where the infantry covers their armored vehicles, and that, in turn, paves the way for the infantry.
On April 25, troops from two fronts closed the encirclement around Berlin. The assault on the city began. The fighting did not stop day or night. Block by block, Soviet troops "gnawed through" the enemy's defenses. I had to tinker with the so-called "anti-aircraft towers" - square structures with side dimensions of 70.5 meters and a height of 39 meters, the walls and roofs of which were made of fortified reinforced concrete. The thickness of the walls was 2.5 meters. These towers were armed with heavy anti-aircraft guns that pierced the armor of Soviet tanks of all types. Each such fortress had to be taken by storm.
On April 28, Konev made his last attempt to break through to the Reichstag. He sent Zhukov a request to change the direction of the offensive: “According to the report of Comrade Rybalko, the armies of Comrade Chuikov and Comrade Katukov of the 1st Belorussian Front received the task of advancing to the northwest along the southern coast of the Landwehr Canal. So they cut battle formations troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front advancing north. I ask for orders to change the direction of the offensive of the armies of comrade Chuikov and comrade Katukov. But on the same evening, the troops of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front came to the Reichstag.
On April 30, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. In the early morning of May 1, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was raised over the Reichstag, but the battle for the building itself continued all day. Only on May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison capitulated.
By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the entire center of Berlin from the enemy. Separate units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or dispersed.

In the spring of 1945 the war in Europe was drawing to a close. The armed forces of the four great powers - the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France - were fighting on the territory of Nazi Germany. Covered with glory, the Soviet troops were already 60 kilometers from Berlin and were preparing to deliver their last crushing blow to it. The liberation mission of the Red Army in Europe was approaching its successful completion. For nearly four years each soviet warrior realized that the path to complete and final victory lay across Berlin. Here was the nest of world fascism, this mortal enemy of mankind. Here was the stronghold of the notorious "new order" in Europe.

Berlin continued to be the administrative center. From here came the orders of the fascist government, straining its last efforts to prolong its existence. The capital of Germany played the role of an organizing center in the fight against the armies of the anti-fascist coalition. This city was the largest economic center of the country, as it concentrated numerous enterprises of the most important industries - engineering, electrical, chemical. Berlin ranked first in Germany in the production of military products. Every seventh resident of the city worked at one of the military enterprises. All this determined the military and political significance of the German capital, the capture of which became the immediate task of the Red Army.

As a result of the offensive operations of the Soviet Armed Forces carried out during January-March, conditions were created for inflicting a decisive blow on the enemy. By mid-April, Soviet troops occupied the following position. The Leningrad Front conducted combat operations against the Courland grouping of the enemy pressed to the sea. The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front were completing the liquidation of the East Prussian grouping. Part of the forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front completed the destruction of the remnants of the enemy grouping in the Gdynia area. The main forces of the front came to the coast Baltic Sea northwest of Danzig and on the Oder from the mouth to the city of Schwedt, replacing the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front here. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Oder, captured a bridgehead in the Kustrin area and completed the regrouping, taking the line from Schwedt to Gros-Gastrose.

The 1st Ukrainian Front reached the Neisse River from Gros-Gastrose to Pentsikh and the Czechoslovak border in the Neustadt-Ratibor section. The 4th Ukrainian Front reached the line Ratibor - Zhilina. Troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts captured Vienna on April 13.

Thus, as a result of the winter offensive, the Red Army completed the liberation of Poland, Hungary, part of Czechoslovakia, captured East Prussia, Eastern Pomerania and Silesia and, having occupied Vienna, opened the way to South Germany.

Simultaneously with the offensive of the Red Army, by the end of March, the American-British troops reached the Rhine along its entire length and captured two bridgeheads on the right bank of the river near the cities of Remagen and Oppenheim. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, the Anglo-American command decided to launch an offensive on the entire front deep into Germany.

The general plan of the Allied offensive, developed by the headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Europe, provided primarily for the encirclement and defeat of the enemy's Ruhr grouping. This task was supposed to be carried out by covering the Ruhr from the north and striking from Frankfurt am Main through Kassel until the encirclement closes. Eisenhower expected to carry out this operation during April. Further task Allied troops was to dismember the enemy forces during the offensive on Dresden and meet with the Red Army troops at the Erfurt-Leipzig-Dresden line. In a favorable situation, an offensive was also planned on the southern wing of the western front in order to meet with Soviet troops in the Regensburg-Linz region and thereby deprive the enemy of the opportunity to defend the regions of southern Germany.

A characteristic feature of the American offensive plan was the main attack on the enemy through the central regions of Germany on Dresden. The American-British command at the final stage of the war was well aware of the enormous military and political significance of Berlin. Eisenhower, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in Europe, and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff took into account the moral and political significance of the capture of Berlin before the Soviet troops arrived there. In a letter to Field Marshal Montgomery on September 15, 1944, Eisenhower wrote: “It is clear that Berlin is the main target. In my opinion, the fact that we must concentrate all our energy and forces with the aim of a quick throw at Berlin is beyond doubt.

The desire to be the first to enter the German capital did not leave either the political or military leaders of the allied countries throughout the final stage of the war in Europe. The allied command did not abandon the idea of ​​capturing Berlin. However, in the March plan, the capture of Berlin was not mentioned as a priority for the upcoming offensive. On April 14, 1945, Eisenhower, clarifying the plan of action for his troops, wrote in a report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that it would be highly desirable to strike in the direction of Berlin, but, "given the urgent need to urgently open offensive operations in the north and south, it should be withdrawn attack on Berlin in second place and expect further developments."

Consequently, the “second place for Berlin” in the offensive plans of the allies was due not to the fact that the allied command ceased to recognize the important military and political significance of the German capital or did not want to take it, but to the fact that by that time the situation in Europe had changed dramatically. Eisenhower took into account, above all, the development of events on the Soviet-German front. At the end of March, when the Western Allies were planning their offensive operations, their troops were on the Rhine, more than 400 kilometers from Berlin. Soviet troops were stationed on the Oder, only 60 kilometers from the German capital. Under these conditions, it was difficult to get ahead of the Red Army in capturing Berlin. In such a situation, the Western Allies' offensive against Berlin could lead, in the words of Eisenhower, to "unfortunate incidents" with the Soviet troops. The commander-in-chief of the allied armies at this crucial moment of the war was forced to exercise caution in relations with Soviet Union. The prestige of the USSR and its Armed Forces throughout the world was too great for the provocative demands of reactionary figures, and Churchill in particular, for a more "firm" anti-Soviet course of Anglo-American policy to triumph at that time. In addition, the common interests of all allies in the struggle not only against Nazi Germany, but also against Japan were still preserved.

In addition, with all the desire to take Berlin, the Western allies of the USSR could not at that moment neglect just decisions taken Crimean Conference on the German question, in particular on the question of the occupation zones. According to these decisions, the capital of Germany was part of Soviet zone, which was taken into account by the allied command. “The zones were already on our headquarters maps,” writes the American journalist R. Ingersoll, who at that time served at the headquarters of the 12th American group armies. We received a special map for their study two months before the end of the war ”This is also confirmed by General O. Bradley, commander of the American 12th Army Group, which operated in the central direction. Disagreeing with Churchill's proposal to attack the Baltic and Berlin, Bradley writes: “We were guided by completely different considerations. If the zones of occupation were not already defined, I could still agree that this offensive is worth the candle in terms of politics. But I did not see any justification for our losses in the battles for the city, which we will still have to hand over to the Russians.

Another consideration that guided the allied high command in their plans was that a strike in the direction of Dresden would allow the Americans to cut off all communications of the Germans between Berlin and southern Germany. "It was clear," Eisenhower wrote, "that the enemy intended to make an attempt to establish a fortified area in the south, and I decided to deprive him of the opportunity to do so." General Eisenhower believed that if the Germans could create in the south. Germany a so-called "national fortress", then this will allow them to intensify their political maneuvers in order to avoid unconditional surrender. Indeed, the Nazis made such attempts. In the southern regions of Germany, in the territory of Czechoslovakia and in the north-west of Austria, they concentrated a large grouping of their troops under the command of General F. Schörner.

The American plan of attack for the Allied forces was sharply criticized by the leaders of Great Britain. The main drawback of the plan, according to Churchill, was that the offensive was supposed to be carried out on Dresden, and not on Berlin. The British leaders did not attach much importance to the Americans' assertion that the Nazis could create a "national fortress" in southern Germany. Churchill, ignoring the decisions of the Crimean Conference on occupation zones, demanded that the Western powers occupy as much German territory as possible. “I believe,” Churchill wrote to Roosevelt on April 1, 1945, “that from a political point of view we should move as far east as possible in Germany ...”. Although Churchill argued that the disputes that had flared up at that moment over the direction of the main attack of the Western Allies in Germany were not of a "principled nature", nevertheless, one cannot fail to notice that the situation was exactly the opposite. These disputes revealed the American-British imperialist rivalry. The British were interested in the industrial regions of Northwestern and Northern Germany, which were of great strategic importance. The Americans showed particular interest in the southern regions of Germany.

Despite the objections of the British, the American plan was approved, and in accordance with it, subsequent offensive operations of the allied armed forces were launched. With access to the Rhine, the Anglo-American command began preparations for the offensive. It carried out a regrouping of troops, outlined areas convenient for crossing the Rhine. In parts, the necessary material reserves were created, especially pontoon-bridge property. A few days before the offensive, Allied aviation carried out powerful massed daily raids on industrial facilities, enemy communications, on his defenses and grouping of troops. Only US aviation during the week made more than 50 thousand sorties.

By the beginning of the offensive, the Allies had 80 divisions, of which 23 were armored and 5 were airborne. The fascist German command had 60 divisions, the total strength of which, as noted by the American historian F. S. Pugyu, was equivalent to 26 divisions at full strength. Allied aircraft dominated the air.

The offensive began on March 23. Late in the evening, the 21st Army Group under the command of B. Montgomery began crossing the Rhine near the city of Wesel. The advanced units in amphibious vehicles crossed to the opposite shore and, without encountering enemy resistance, captured the bridgehead. In fact, it was not a forcing, but an almost ordinary crossing. According to General Eisenhower, the 9th US Army lost only 31 people during the crossing and the battle for the bridgehead.

On the morning of March 24, a airborne assault with a total number of about 14,000 people. Having safely landed, the paratroopers launched an offensive towards the units that had crossed the Rhine. By the end of March 28, the American-British troops already had a bridgehead, which had 50 kilometers along the front and 20-25 kilometers in depth. This allowed the allied command to quickly transport troops across the river and military equipment. Subsequently, part of the forces of the 9th American Army, which at that time was part of the 21st Army Group, turned to the southeast in order, in cooperation with the 1st American Army, to surround the Nazi troops in the Ruhr. The 2nd Armored Division reached the city of Lipstadt on the evening of April 1, where it joined up with the 3rd Armored Division of the 1st American Army, advancing from the south. The enemy grouping in the Ruhr was surrounded.

The 1st and 3rd American armies, which were part of the 12th Army Group, launched an offensive in a northeasterly direction on March 25, using the Remagen and Oppenheim bridgeheads. The 6th group advanced on Nuremberg and Munich. Thus, the Allies launched an offensive along the entire front.

In the Ruhr, the main forces of Army Group B (15th and 5th Panzer Armies), commanded by Field Marshal V. Model, were blocked. The troops of the encircled group felt an acute shortage of food, weapons and ammunition. The morale of the soldiers and officers was depressed. To eliminate the enemy in the Ruhr "sack", the American command allocated 18 divisions. With the support of artillery and aviation, the Anglo-American troops from the very first days began to destroy the encircled grouping. True, American aviation was instructed not to be particularly active in the Ruhr. “In early April, US Secretary of War G. Stimson,” according to Pogue, “took steps to save the industry of the Ruhr from further destruction ...” . Therefore, the American-British command tried "to avoid causing useless or unnecessary harm to existing industrial facilities." Air combat operations were initially limited, and soon completely stopped. This was explained not by some humane considerations of the allied command, but by the interest of the American-British monopolists in preserving the industrial facilities of the Ruhr.

On April 14, the encircled grouping was cut into two parts. Over the next four days, first the eastern and then the western groups were eliminated. At the same time, the bulk of the enemy troops surrendered. In total, 325 thousand people were captured. Field Marshal Model committed suicide.

The capture of such a large enemy grouping was, of course, a significant victory. However, it must be taken into account that the Ruhr operation took place in exceptionally favorable conditions. Nazi Germany was living its last days. All the attention of the fascist German command was drawn to the Eastern Front; there it concentrated its main forces. The encircled troops did not put up stubborn resistance, and the enemy command was not in a position to take any measures to provide assistance from outside, as was the case on the Soviet-German front. And despite this, American troops conducted the operation for 18 days.

While fighting was going on to eliminate the Ruhr grouping of the enemy, the main forces of the American-British troops rushed east, to the Elbe. In the north, part of the forces of the 21st Army Group cleared the territory of Holland from the enemy, and the main forces continued to develop the offensive, trying to reach the Elbe and the Baltic coast in the Lübeck region in order to reach Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark before the Red Army. But progress was slow. During the retreat, the Nazis blew up bridges and resisted in some areas.

On April 11, the advanced armored units of the 9th American Army in the area south of Magdeburg crossed the Elbe and captured a small bridgehead on its right bank. On April 13, southeast of the city of Wittenberg, they occupied a second bridgehead and ended up 100 kilometers from Berlin. However, they failed to develop success here, since the main forces were far behind the advanced units. Leaving far behind the infantry, artillery and rear, armored troops failed to repel the counterattacks of the units of the hastily formed 12th Nazi Army. The bridgehead south of Magdeburg was soon abandoned, and southeast of Wittenberg it was significantly narrowed.

In mid-April, the American-British armies reached the Oldenburg-Bremen-Celle-Magdeburg-Dessau-Chemnitz-Hof-Nuremberg-Strasbourg line. If at the beginning of April Vostochny and Western fronts separated by a distance of 375 kilometers, now this band has been reduced to 150-200 kilometers. Closest to Berlin - less than 100 kilometers - the Allied front line passed near Magdeburg. But there was no time left to prepare a breakthrough to the German capital even from this line: the Red Army went on the offensive against Berlin.

The commander of the 9th American Army, General W. Simpson, proposed to launch an offensive against Berlin from the line of the Elbe River, but was ordered to remain in place. Eisenhower believed that it was impossible to attack Berlin under these conditions. “It is true that we captured a small bridgehead across the Elbe,” he wrote, “but it should be remembered that only our advanced units reached this river; our main forces are far behind."

Consequently, the American-British troops could not capture the capital of Germany. "... We would take Berlin if we could do it," said Harry Hopkins. "It would be a big victory for our army ...".

Such was the strategic situation on the Western European front in the first half of April 1945 before the decisive assault on Berlin by the Red Army.

Fascist Germany, on the eve of complete collapse, was still a strong and dangerous adversary. Despite their doom, the Nazis made desperate efforts to carry out the so-called "emergency program" in the field of armaments. The fascist German command had large stocks of weapons and ammunition. All this made it possible for the enemy troops to stubbornly defend themselves. In an effort to drag out the war and inflict maximum losses on the Red Army, the Nazis carefully prepared defensive lines east of Berlin and concentrated a strong group of troops there. The terrain on the outskirts of the city favored the organization of a long defense. Several rivers flow here: Oder, Neisse, Dame, Spree. The interfluve of the Oder and the Elbe is replete with small rivers and canals (irrigation and navigable). There are relatively few forests, and they are located in separate pockets, mainly southeast of Berlin. The area of ​​forthcoming hostilities is covered with a dense network of good highways and railways, densely populated, and has many cities. The largest of them are Berlin, Stettin, Rostock, Schwerin, Frankfurt an der Oder, Cottbus, Bautzen. All buildings, not only in cities, but also in settlements, were made of stone.

The fascist German command began the direct creation of defenses on the outskirts of Berlin in February 1945, after the Soviet troops had broken through the defenses on the Vistula. By the beginning of April, the enemy had created three defensive zones: the first, or main, second and third, or rear. The best in terms of engineering was equipped with the first lane, which ran along the left bank of the Oder and Neisse rivers. She had three positions with continuous trenches, pillboxes and bunkers. Approaches to the front line in most areas were covered with barbed wire and minefields. In the most threatened areas between the main positions, intermediate and cut-off were equipped. The depth of the main strip reached 5-10 kilometers. The second line of defense ran 10-20 kilometers from the front edge of the first line and consisted of one or two trenches. Its depth was from 1 to 5 kilometers. The Nazis prepared the third lane 10-20 kilometers from the second, mainly from separate strongholds. Her equipment was not completed by the beginning of the offensive of the Red Army.

Of great importance in the enemy's defense system were strongholds and nodes of resistance, into which he turned not only cities and towns, but also individual buildings. The tasks of the garrisons of the strongholds were determined by special instructions, according to which the garrisons were to even if the Russians were wedged into Front edge defense to hold the stronghold by any means. The largest centers of resistance in the main zone were Stettin, Hartz, Frankfurt an der Oder, Guben, and Forst.

The total depth of the Oder-Neissen defensive system reached 20-40 kilometers. At the same time, not only the front line of defense of the main strip was covered by water lines. Often, some of its positions, as well as the second and third lines of defense, relied on them.

The fascist German command paid special attention to the creation of a solid defense against the Red Army troops stationed at the Kustra bridgehead. Here the first lane had two - three positions, each of which consisted of three - four trenches, interconnected by a dense network of communication passages. The front line was covered by minefields and barbed wire. The Zelovsky heights also contributed to the increase in the stability of the defense, along which the front edge of the second line of enemy defense passed. The creation of such a strong defense was due to many circumstances. The Kyustrinsky bridgehead, due to its significant size (45 kilometers along the front and 10 kilometers in depth), was of great operational importance. Here the Soviet troops came closest to Berlin. Taking into account the experience of previous operations, in which the command of the Red Army used such bridgeheads to concentrate their strike groups, the Nazis expected the main blow of the Soviet troops from here. Having pulled large forces here, the enemy reached a high density of troops in this sector.

Berlin occupied an important place in the German defense system. Here was the headquarters of the defense of the fortified area, which in early March 1945 developed the "Basic Order on Preparations for the Defense of the Imperial Capital." In accordance with this order, three defensive bypasses were built around Berlin - external, internal and urban.

The outer defensive bypass passed 25-40 kilometers from the city center along the shores of lakes, rivers, canals and along forest areas. By the beginning of the offensive of the Red Army, fortification work on this bypass had not been completed. Only in the main directions and around the strongholds did the Nazis manage to dig trenches equipped with separate cells, machine-gun platforms and firing positions for mortars. The roads leading to the city were covered by barricades. There were blockages on the forest roads. Most of the bridges were undermined or prepared for an explosion.

According to the order, the inner contour was supposed to be an "irresistible defensive line." It passed mainly along the outskirts of the suburbs of Berlin, turned into centers of resistance, which were connected to each other by three, and in some places five trenches with machine-gun and artillery firing positions. Settlements the enemy adapted it to all-round defense, creating reinforced concrete firing points in the factory areas. Anti-tank obstacles were arranged everywhere - forest blockages, gouges, ditches, scarps, as well as various barbed wire. All this was echeloned in depth.

The boundaries of the city bypass almost coincided with the district line railway. The streets leading to the center of Berlin were barricaded.

For the convenience of defense management, the city was divided into nine sectors. Eight sectors were located around the circumference, and the ninth - in the center. The central sector was the main one in the defense system of Berlin. it housed the state, political and administrative institutions of the country. Therefore, in terms of engineering, the ninth sector was especially carefully prepared for defense. The Nazis turned most of its quarters into battalion resistance centers, which consisted of platoon and company strongholds. They were located in separate buildings, interconnected by communication passages. Fire weapons in them (machine guns, faustpatrons) were placed in embrasures made in the walls, windows, doors of the first floors, as well as in basements and semi-basements, in which most of soldiers and officers.

The upper floors of buildings, as the most vulnerable, almost did not adapt to the defense; they were occupied by snipers (singles and pairs). There were also separate heavy machine guns. Most fire weapons were in buildings adjacent to parks and boulevards. Artillery guns were installed on wide streets, small-caliber artillery - in buildings. The flanks of the quarters were covered by strong barricades, the barricades by the fire of guns set up for direct fire.

Tanks were dug in at the crossroads of streets. The destroyed quarters also adapted to the defense, since the basements and semi-basements in them usually remained intact. In addition, reinforced concrete caps were installed in some places, which made it possible to conduct circular fire.

Reinforced concrete long-term structures were of great importance in the system of the Berlin fortified area. There were more than 400 of them in the city. The largest of them, bunkers, were located in the parks of Humbold-Hein, Friedrichs-Hein and in the Zoological Garden. They had six floors (height - 36.9 meters, thickness of coatings - 3.5, walls - 2.5 meters) and accommodated from 300 to 1000 people. All these structures had filter-ventilation installations, power stations, mine elevators and special elevators for supplying shells directly to the guns. On the roof of each bunker, four to nine anti-aircraft guns 128 mm caliber. In the Tiergarten, the guns were placed in armored turrets. On the industrial enterprises cities were built reinforced concrete ground structures with embrasures, designed for one person. Their height is 2.5 meters, diameter - up to 1.5 meters.

Creating a defense in depth, the Nazi command continuously increased the size of the garrison, hastily formed new units, intensively prepared troops for the upcoming battles. “The imperial capital,” the “Basic Order” said, “must defend to the last man and to the last bullet.” In their blind, unrestrained striving to resist to the end, the fascist rulers were ready to endanger the younger generation of Germany in danger of annihilation. In January - March 1945, 16 - 17-year-old boys were taken into military service. The formation of Volkssturm detachments, detachments of tank destroyers from the youth organization "Hitler Youth", which were armed with faustpatrons, went on a wide front. Units and formations, bloodless in previous battles, military schools and schools were disbanded, and their personnel transferred to the replenishment of active troops. Various security and police formations were also involved in the defense of the city.

The grouping defending in the Berlin direction consisted of two armies (3rd Panzer and 9th Field) of the Vistula Army Group and two armies (4th Panzer and 17th Field) of the Center Army Group. This grouping consisted of 85 divisions, including 48 infantry, 4 tank, 10 motorized and several dozen separate regiments and battalions. In addition, there were strong garrisons in Berlin and other cities. In Berlin alone, more than 200 Volkssturm battalions were formed, and the total number of the garrison exceeded 200 thousand people. There were eight divisions in the reserve of the main command of the enemy ground forces.

The enemy aviation was preparing for stubborn resistance in the air. All the most combat-ready squadrons were pulled into the Berlin area. The air force was dominated by fighters, which by mid-April 1945 accounted for 72 percent total strength aviation. The best personnel of the flight crew were sent to replenish the fighter aviation units. Availability a large number fighters concentrated in the Berlin area, significantly increased air defense. In the Berlin direction, the Nazis deployed a wide network of radar posts, which made it possible to continuously monitor flights Soviet aircraft and point their fighters at them.

The formations focused on the Berlin direction consisted of: infantry division- 7-8 thousand, tank - up to And thousand people. In total, the enemy had 1 million people here, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 3 million faustpatrons, 3300 combat aircraft.

The fascist German command succeeded in creating rather high operational densities in the defense: one division per 9 kilometers of front. The density of guns and mortars was 17.3 units per kilometer of the front. In the direction of the expected main attack of the Soviet troops (Kyustrin - Berlin), the enemy had one division for three kilometers of the front. For every kilometer of the front there were 66 guns and mortars and 17 tanks. The bulk of the troops occupied the main and second lines of defense, that is, the tactical zone. On the third lane and behind it were operational reserves. The defense of the Berlin direction was distinguished by the fact that all prepared defensive zones, including the city area, were occupied in advance by troops. This created favorable conditions for a long and stubborn struggle.

The Nazis launched a big campaign to indoctrinate the troops. Fascist propaganda intimidated the German people with the fact that the Bolsheviks allegedly brought death and enslavement to all Germans, and called for a struggle to the end as the only means of salvation. Hitler issued a special appeal to the troops of the Eastern Front, in which he called on soldiers and officers to work closely to protect "their destiny", to show courage, perseverance and fanaticism "in the fight against the enemy." These calls were interspersed with threats. “Whoever does not fulfill his duty at this moment,” the Fuhrer declared, “will be a traitor to his people.”

The special instructions of the National Socialist Party of April 3 on holding conversations in units said: “The war is being decided not in the West, but in the East ... The upcoming big offensive of the Bolsheviks must be repulsed under all circumstances. There are prerequisites for this - we have people and equipment. Our eyes must be turned only to the East, regardless of what happens in the West. Holding the Eastern Front is a prerequisite for a turning point in the course of the war. On April 14, Goebbels, the Imperial Commissar for the Defense of Berlin, visited the 9th Army and appealed to the soldiers to be steadfast and prevent the Russians from advancing a single step.

But the matter was not limited to appeals and threats. Punitive measures were also widely used. Hitler's order was read in all fascist German units and formations, demanding that everyone who was ready to retreat, regardless of rank and position, be shot on the spot. The High Command also issued an order for reprisals against the families of those soldiers and officers who would surrender to the Soviet troops. Several orders were issued to deal with defectors and deserters. A special purge of the army from "unreliable" elements was carried out. Divisions that contained non-German soldiers were withdrawn from the first line of defense and replaced by purely German ones. The Nazis tried to create special units("werewolf") from the population to fight in the rear of the Red Army and the troops of the Western Allies. But this idea did not find any support among the German people.

Before last days of its existence, Hitler and his entourage, with the stubbornness of maniacs, consoled themselves with hopes for the collapse of the anti-fascist coalition. The death of Roosevelt - one of the active champions of the principle of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany - was perceived by them as a miracle that could save them. The upcoming meeting of Soviet and Anglo-American troops on German territory, in their opinion, should have resulted in an armed clash.

Thus, the ruling circles of fascist Germany did everything to hold out in the East, hold back the offensive of the Red Army and, in the meantime, try to enter into a deal with the United States and England, avoiding unconditional surrender.

However military-political situation, which took shape in Europe in April 1945, excluded any possibility of a successful outcome of the struggle for Germany. The armed forces of the anti-fascist coalition had overwhelming superiority over the enemy. The territory under the rule of the Nazis was constantly decreasing, so the high command of fascist Germany could not widely maneuver with its forces. This contributed to the speedy and final defeat of the enemy. The establishment of direct contact between the High Command of the Western Allies and the Supreme High Command of the Soviet Armed Forces greatly facilitated the achievement of this goal.

The only thing that met the national interests of the German people was the cessation of the armed struggle and the acceptance of the terms of unconditional surrender. But in Nazi Germany there were no forces at that time that would stand at the head of the people and save them from unnecessary sacrifices and destruction. Hitler and his cabal continued to betray Germany's national interests. At the cost of the blood and lives of their compatriots, they sought to prolong their existence and delay the hour of reckoning for the atrocities committed.