Spring 1945. After nearly
four years of savage fighting With millions of dead on both sides, The Red Army has arrived
at the gates of Berlin. The German capital will witness some of the
Most bitter fighting of the entire war, As Hitler’s Third Reich collapses
amidst blood and fire. Red Army tank crews looked on intently
as mechanics arrived carrying steel meshes. They began to fix them
to their tank’s hull and turret. It seemed a flimsy kind of armour, but this
experiment could save the tank crew’s lives. As Soviet tanks advanced into German
towns and cities in the spring of 1945, they were regularly ambushed
by German panzerfaust teams. The Wehrmacht
was running out of trained soldier. They had been forced to conscript
teenagers and old men. But even in their hands, the Panzerfaust
could be just as lethal as a tank. The commander of a Soviet Guards
tank regiment described the aftermath: “Here’s a tank, standing
with the hatches buttoned down. There’s a small hole burnt
through the turret — just wide enough
to put your little finger in. This is a Panzerfaust’s work. We have to weld off the hatch
which is locked from inside. We pull four dead men from the turret. A hollow charge round has
burnt through the armour, and the spitting of melting metal
has killed them all.” Engineers believed steel meshes
could protect Soviet tanks, by causing the Panzerfaust warhead to
explode before it reached the tank’s armour. The report read: “The surface of the mesh
was torn and bent as a result of the impact. There was a hole in the tank’s slopping
armour plate. It went right through.” So the panzerfaust could kill a T-34 even
if it was cloaked in the protective mesh. Nonetheless, many tank crews adopted
the new measure. In this bitter fighting, they were willing to try anything that gave
them an added chance of survival. On 31st January 1945,
tanks of the 1st Byelorussian Front reached the Oder River
near Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder. They crossed without waiting
for the infantry to catch up. They had advanced
400 kilometres across Poland. 35 destroyed enemy divisions and hundreds
of thousands of prisoners lay in their wake. They were now just 100 kilometres
from Berlin, the “lair of the Nazi beast”. But now the Stavka Soviet High
Command ordered a halt. The frontline troops needed
resupply and rest, before they were ready
to begin the final assault. In March 1945, Pomerania to the north,
and Silezia to the south, were cleared of German troops. The flanks
were secure for the drive on Berlin. The Germans attempted a counterattack at
Küstrin, but it ended in complete failure. In the process, some of the last
armoured forces available for the defence of Berlin were destroyed. From his Fuhrerunker
beneath the Reich Chancellery, Hitler raged at this latest failure. He was particularly scathing of the
commander of the 9th Army, Theodor Busse. But when Chief of the General Staff,
Heinz Guderian, stood up for Busse, Hitler’s wrath fell on him instead. Guderian was sent on leave,
effectively enforced retirement. His successor was General Hans Krebs. Hans Krebs had been a military attaché
in Moscow when the war began. More recently, he’d been Chief of Staff
for Model’s Army Group B, which that winter had launched
the doomed Ardennes Offensive against the western allies. During his career Krebs had shown a talent
for planning defensive operations. Now, Hitler expected a miracle
from him in Berlin. As Guderian packed his bags,
an old acquaintance of his was preparing for the final push on Berlin. He was
the Soviet General Semyon Krivoshein. The two men had met
in September 1939 in Poland, during the Nazi-Soviet
carve-up of the country. Semyon Moiseyevich Krivoshein began his
military career in 1918 with the cavalry. In 1939, as part of the Nazi-Soviet
partition of Poland, his brigade occupied Brest,
in modern Belarus. This was when Krivoshein met Guderian,
the German general responsible for handing over control
of the city to the Soviets. In 1945, Krivoshein commanded
the 1st Mechanized Corps. It was the only unit
of the 1st Byelorussian Front to be completely equipped
with American Sherman tanks. 1st Mechanised Corps was on the eastern
bank of the Oder River. But every night, its soldiers crossed the river to help
dig emplacements for guns and tanks. On the night of 15th April, the Corps crossed the Oder
to take up these prepared positions. As Hitler ranted and raved at his generals, Commander of the 1st Byelorussian Front
Marshal Zhukov was summoned to Moscow. He and Stalin were to discuss
details of the final assault on Berlin. Zhukov had prepared two plans
for the offensive on the German capital. Plan “A” envisaged a thrust
from the Küstrin bridgehead. Plan “B” — from the bridgehead
near Frankfurt. The Germans would be kept guessing
as to which was the real line of advance, forcing them to disperse their troops. But bad news awaited Zhukov in the Kremlin. In his memoirs he described
a late night meeting with Stalin. He was told, “The German front
in the West has completely collapsed. The Germans don’t seem
to be willing to take any measures to stop the advance of the western Allies.” British and American troops
had crossed the Rhine. They had destroyed German
Army Group B on the Ruhr. Their armoured divisions were
advancing rapidly towards Berlin. Although the Allies had agreed at Yalta that Berlin would be
in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Western Allies hadn’t ruled out
entering the city before the Red Army. Winston Churchill had expressed
his opinion to the American President. “Russian armies will no doubt enter Vienna.
If they also take Berlin, will not their impression — that they
have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory —
be unduly imprinted in their minds? I therefore consider that should Berlin be
in our grasp, we should certainly take it.” Zhukov understood. He put forward the plan
that could be implemented most rapidly — a single assault
from the Küstrin bridgehead. Marshal Konev,
Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, also flew to Stavka headquarters in Moscow. In his memoirs, Konev recalled:
“The Chief of Staff read aloud a telegram, the point of which was that the Western
Allies were preparing an operation to capture Berlin.
Stalin addressed Zhukov and myself: “So, who is going to take Berlin?
Are we, or are the Allies?” I was the first to answer: “WE shall take Berlin,
and we’ll take it before the Allies.” The General Staff worked night
and day as they planned the operation. One of the directives received by
the1st Byelorussian Front ran as follows: “After the German defences
have been breached, tank armies are to be introduced
on the line of the main thrust, to enable the envelopment of Berlin
from the north and north-east.” The purpose of this manoeuvre
was to block the Western Allies’ eastward advance on Berlin.
The prize was not for sharing. Zhukov planned to deliver the main
thrust through the Seelow Heights, held by General Weidling’s
56th Panzerkorps. Then the Soviet armies would race west and establish a perimeter
in the suburbs of Berlin. This cordon would prevent German
forces retreating into the city. Konev was unhappy that he was
not making the main assault on Berlin. Instead his Front would encircle
the city from the south-west. But Konev ordered his staff
to prepare two plans — one following the Stavka’s Directives…
the other planning a quick dash to Berlin. Meanwhile, in Berlin life went on. Most services continued to run,
including public transport. In reponse to the air raids, many
had volunteered to help with firefighting, or to help clear debris. There were still films and concerts. But over everything hung a sense of fear —
fear of what was to come. Berlin bore the unmistakable scars
of war — cratered streets, and scorched, ruined buildings.
Now Berliners helped to build barricades, as the city prepared to defend itself. Berlin’s barricades
were made of wood, stone and rails. They could be up to 2.5 metres high
and 4 metres thick. They made many streets
completely impassable, and the approaches to them were mined. Immobilised tanks were dug in at crossroads,
and became fixed gun emplacements. Berlin also boasted
three massive flak towers, built to defend the city
from Allied air raids. These were 40 metres high,
and bristled with anti-aircraft artillery. Many Berliners now wore
the armband of the Volksturm — the German equivalent of the Home Guard. These units were controlled
not by the army, but by the Nazi Party. The Volkssturm was formed in October 1944, after Hitler ordered
the mobilisation of all German males between the age of 16 and 60. By 1945, this meant the conscription
of the only men left — teenagers, invalids and the elderly. The Nazis hoped to create
a fanatical people’s militia, but most had little stomach
for a one-sided fight with the Red Army. There were very few weapons
available for these units. Some received Italian or Dutch rifles,
with just a few cartridges. But there were plenty of Panzerfausts.. The Panzerfaust was a one-shot, disposable
launcher that fired a hollow-charge, anti-tank warhead.
It was very cheap and easy to make. The Germans produced
more than 6 million of them between 1943 and the end of the war. The most common version,
the Panzerfaust 60, had an effective tank-killing
range of 60 metres. Its warhead travelled
at 45 metres per second, and was able to penetrate
200 millimetres of armour. This was very bad news
for Soviet tank crews. The front armou of a T-34 was
just 45mm and of an IS-2, 120mm. Standing between Zhukov and the capital
of the Third Reich were 4 German armies. They consisted of nearly
a million soldiers, more than 1,000 armoured vehicles,
and almost 10,000 guns and mortars. More than 200 Volkssturm battalions were formed into the Berlin
Army Command reserve. The Berlin garrison itself totalled
more than 200,000 men. Busse was extremely cynical
about their prospects. “We will consider
our task fulfilled”, he wrote, “if American tanks strike us in our back.” The German general staff
believed the fate of Berlin would be decided on the Seelow Heights. Therefore most troops
were committed to the front, rather than held back inside the city. On 15th April, a proclamation from
the Fuehrer was read out to the troops: “Berlin will remain German, Vienna will remain German
and Europe will never be Russian. Form a single community to defend
not the empty word “Fatherland”, but your families, your wives,
your children and, hence, your own future.” The slogan “Berlin will remain German”
appeared daubed on walls around the city. Many still believed that somehow
the city could be saved. Troops of the 1st Byelorussian Front
were addressed by their Commissar: “Our troops have travelled
a difficult but glorious road. Our battle standards
are covered with glorious victories won at Stalingrad and Kursk,
on the Dnieper and in Byelorussia, at Warsaw and in Pomerania,
in Brandenburg and at the Oder. With our own sweat and blood,
we have earned the right to assault Berlin, to be first to enter the city. To Berlin!” At 3 a.m. on 16th April 1945,
more than 7,000 guns, mortars and Katyusha rocket-launchers began an earth-shaking
bombardment of the German line. It was one of the greatest concentrations
of firepower ever seen. In Berlin, the bombardment was heard
like the sound of distant thunder. In houses closer to the front, pictures
fell off walls, and windows shattered. In Müncheberg, the cross tumbled
from the church spire. Amongst the guns were six,
massive, 280 millimetre mortars, from the 34th Independent
Battalion of Heavy Artillery. When the bombardment stopped,
150 giant searchlights were switched on, pointed straight at the German lines. The searchlights were Zhukov’s idea. They were supposed to light the way,
and dazzle the German defenders. But they struggled to penetrate
the thick morning mist, and the smoke and dust
thrown up by the barrage. The searchlights proved just
as effective at dazzling their own men. And many were silhouetted by the lights,
becoming easy targets for the Germans. The Germans had known the initial
bombardment would be massive. So most of their troops had already
been withdrawn to the second line. This allowed Soviet troops to advance the
first few kilometres with relative ease. As the sun rose,
the searchlights were turned off. Despite the early success, it was clear by afternoon that there
had be no immediate breakthrough. The Seelow Heights were defended
by a network of machine-gun nests and gun emplacements.
It was a slow and bloody process for the Soviet infantry
to fight their way through. The advance of the 1st Byelorussian
Front was supported by 800 Soviet aircraft. Unchallenged by the Luftwaffe, they arrived
overhead to batter the German positions. “By 1pm”, Zhukov explained, “I clearly understood that the enemy’s
defensive fire system was intact… so to reinforce the attacking troops
and ensure a breakthrough, we decided to feed both
tank armies into the battle.” His decision created huge traffic jams
on the approaches to the Seelow Heights. Tanks, artillery tractors, and supply
trucks all struggled to get forward. By committing his tank
armies to the battle, Zhukov had altered the plan
that he’d agreed with the Stavka. It showed desperation.
And Stalin was not happy. He rang Zhukov to reprimand him for
this unauthorised use of the tank reserve. And he demanded to know
when the breakthrough would be made. Zhukov tried to remain calm.
“The enemy’s defences at the Seelow Heights will be breached tomorrow”, he told Stalin. Now Zhukov had to make it happen. Zhukov’s advance,
led by Chuikov’s 8th Guards Army and Katukov’s 1st Guards Tank Army,
was faltering on the Seelow Heights. Meanwhile Marhsal
Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front was advancing towards the Neisse River
and the forests south-east of Berlin. The Germans had no forces here
able to withstand his assault. On the evening of 17th April, Konev informed Stalin that he was ready
to send two tank armies to help Zhukov. Stalin thought about it for a moment.
Then he agreed. “Very good” he said,
“Direct the tank armies towards Berlin.” Konev immediately issued orders
to Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army, and Lelyushenko’s 4th Guards Tank Army,
to turn towards Berlin. At the Niesse River, Rybalko’s troops found
a ford no more than a metre deep. Rather than wait for bridging equipment, his tank crews made their vehicles
water-tight, and drove straight across. By the third day of the offensive,
tanks of the 1st Ukrainian Front were poised to breakthrough
the German defences. At the same moment,
Zhukov’s troops were at last about to breakthrough German positions
on the Seelow Heights. General Krivoshein’s motorised
infantry had managed to capture an intact bridge at the town of Platkov. Now his 1st Mechanised Corps
was advancing unchecked. Behind them, rolled the T-34s
of Bogdanov’s 2nd Guards Tank Army. “On 20th April”, wrote General Weidling,
commanding the German defence, “our units, having suffered huge losses
and exhausted to extremity, could no longer withstand
the pressure of the Russian assault.” Weidling’s corps
was outflanked on both sides. That evening Zhukov entrusted General
Semen Bogdanov with a historic mission — to lead his 2nd Guards
Tank Army into Berlin, and to become the first Soviet
troops to enter the enemy capital. The next day Krivoshein’s 1st Mechanised
Corps, part of 2nd Guards Tank Army, reached the Berlin suburb of Weissensee,
and fulfilled the mission. For this, Krivoshein received
his nation’s highest award, the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’. The main force
of the 1st Byelorussian front was now sweeping
around Weidling’s shattered corps, and arriving en masse
at the outskirts of Berlin. Konev’s dream of conquering
Berlin had been thwarted. Forests and lakes, minefields
and pillboxes had slowed his advance. There was hard fighting around Zossen, from where the Wehrmacht High
Command had recently fled. But his advance had trapped
20,000 men of the German 9th and 4th Panzer Army
in the forests south of Berlin. These men could no longer
reach the city to help in its defence. Hitler faced a dilemma: stay in the
capital or flee to his “Alpine Fortress”. He pinned his hopes on the army
detachment of SS General Felix Steiner. Hitler telegraphed the general: “The primary task before Army Detachment
Steiner is to attack from the north… The fate of the capital of the Third Reich depends on how successfully
you execute this mission.” It was an impossible order
that could not be carried out. When Hitler was told this
he flew into a rage, accusing the army of cowardice and treason.
“It’s all over.” he at last recognised. The Fuhrer would stay in Berlin. But he clutched at one last straw,
General Wenck’s 12th Army, facing the Americans on the Elbe River. On 23rd April Wenck
was ordered to relieve Berlin. But neither Steiner nor Wenck
could save the capital. The Berlin garrison was formed from
a host of shattered army and SS divisions, supplemented by Volkssturm battalions,
police and air defence units — about 120,000 men in total.
It was not enough, although many of the SS men
were prepared to fight until the end. The Soviets outnumbered the Germans
by more than four to one. And many Red Army soldiers
were now battle-hardened veterans — graduates of the Stalingrad
academy of street fighting. Soviet tanks advanced on both sides
of the street, in a staggered double file. They kept 30 metres behind the infantry,
and used their main gun to take out defensive strongpoints
that were holding up the advance. Infantry squads and snipers worked
to flush out the German panzerfausters. The Soviets knew that the Panzerfaust
had a short range, about 60 metres. So tanks would pull up 150 metres
from an enemy-held building, and shell it from a safe range. When assault teams captured a building, they used smoke grenades
to fill the street with smoke, allowing more troops to move up in safety. General Krivoshein’s mechanised corps
was redeployed to the north-western suburbs. After crossing the River Spree, it joined
up with Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army to complete the encirclement of Berlin. The River Spree curled
through the German defences. In places the river was 200 metres wide.
The Germans considered this an impenetrable barrier,
and so the south bank was lightly defended. The appearance of Soviet motorboats was therefore an unpleasant
surprise for the Germans. These boats of the Dnieper fleet
had been transported by road, and were now launched onto the Spree. The amphibious assault succeeded in
establishing a foothold across the river. Reinforcements were then quickly
ferried in to shore up the position. This sudden advance,
where it was least expected, threw the German defensive plan into chaos. Several blocks were gievn up
without a fight, as units raced back to avoid being cut off. The Red Army troops were all aiming
for one spot — the Reichstag building. The Reichstag building
was completed in 1894. In the interwar period
of the Weimar Republic, it was where the lower chamber
of the German parliament met. In 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power,
it caught fire in suspicous circumstances. Hitler accused the communists
of starting the fire as part of a plot against the government. The next day, the Reichstag
Fire Decree gave the Nazi party emergency powers to deal
with its political opponents. In effect, it was the death
of democracy in Germany. The Reichstag building
no longer had a purpose. The centre of government
was now located somewhere else entirely — inside the Führerbunker, 25 feet beneat
the garden of the old Reich Chancellery. The bunker had been built during
the war in complete secrecy. By April 1945, it had become
Adolf Hitler’s permanent residence, and the site of his military headquarters. According to those who experienced
life inside the bunker, the place smelled of wet cement,
and there was a constant drone from the ventilation system. It was claustrophobic,
but impervious to bombs and shells. The Red Army didn’t know
about the Führerbunker, even as their tanks fired on
the Reich Chancellery itself. The observation point
of the 34th Battalion of Heavy Artillery was located in an elevator
tower on Schlesinger Strasse. They couldn’t see the Reichstag —
only flames and smoke. On 27th April their unit
was ordered forward. As the artillery spotters looked for
a new vantage point, their telephone rang. A voice demanded to speak
to the senior officer. Sergeant Pavel Larin, commander
of the scout section, was given the phone. “18th orders you to fire
on Target 21.” said the voice. Target 21 was the Reichstag building.
Sergeant Larin acknowledged the order. His battery hadn’t fired on
the Reichstag before. And Larin knew that there were Red Army
troops just 300 metres from it. Firing from a range of 3 miles,
the smallest mistake in their calculations could end up killing their own comrades. Larin also knew that any delay
in the fire mission would not be forgiven. The BR-5 heavy mortar fired
an anti-concrete round that weighed 246 kilograms
and carried 58 kilograms of explosive. This shell made a crater
10 metres wide and 6 metres deep. The battery fired 42 shells, one
after another. Then the phone rang again. At the other end of the line
they were shouting to cease fire. They’d been hitting their own positions. The new order was to fire on Target 20. Target 20 was the Reich Chancellery.
The battery fired 18 rounds. The forward unit came back on the phone. “Good shooting. I officially thank you
on behalf of the assaulting units!” Pavel Larin had just played
his small part in the fall of Berlin. The Soviet 3rd Shock Army
was leading the race to the Reichstag. Its commander was Vasiliy Kuznetsov. The same Kuznetsov who’d faced
the Germans on the first day of the war, near the Byelorussian town of Grodno, as he struggled to save
his 3rd Army from encirclement. His war looked like it
would finish in the Baltic, where he’d been a Deputy Front Commander.
Then in March 1945, Zhukov clashed with Nikolai Simonyak,
commanding the 3rd Shock Army. It was just two weeks
before the Berlin Operation. The experienced Kuznetsov
was flown in as a replacement. The 3rd Shock Army had fought its way
through the northern suburbs of Berlin. Now Kuznetsov’s men were just 800
metres from the Reichstag building. The first attempt on the Reichstag
took place on 29th April. But the attacking troops
were fired on from the rear, by Germans in the Kroll Opera House. So first the Opera House had to be cleared. Soviet infantry attacked again
at 11.30 a.m. on 30th April. They were supported by artillery fire falling directly
onto the Reichstag building. At 10.30 p.m. the Victory Banner finally
flew above the Reichstag building. The previous morning, Hitler
had spoken with Major General Mohnke, commanding the defence of the Berlin
Central Sector. He asked him, “How long will you be able to hold out?”.
“20 to 24 hours maximum” came the reply. That evening, Hitler ordered a report
on the status of Wenck’s 12th Army. The answer came at 1am — Wenck had been forced to abandon
his attempt to relieve Berlin. 14 hours later, Hitler shot himself. His body was carried to a shell hole
outside the entrance to the Fuhrerbunker, covered in petrol, and burned. Under a white flag, a delegation led
by Chief of the General Staff Hans Krebs approached the Soviet lines. They were taken to see General Chuikov
at 8th Guards Army headquarters. Krebs informed Chuikov of Hitler’s death, and the formation of a new German
government under Grandadmiral Dönitz. But Chuikov refused to negotiate. His demands were simple and to the point: He wanted the immediate and unconditional
surrender of the Berlin Garrison. The Germans refused. The fighting went on. After returning from
his failed negotations, General Krebs committed suicide
in the Fuhrerbunker on 1st May. It fell to General Weidling to surrender
the Berlin garrison, and end the fighting. Weidling contacted the Soviets by radio:
“Please cease fire. We will send truce envoys to the Potsdam
Bridge at 12.50 p.m., Berlin Time” The arrangements of the surrender
were agreed at these brief negotiations. At about 6am the next day, 2nd May, the headquarters of the Berlin Garrison
crossed the frontline and surrendered. From captivity,
Weidling issued his last order: “On 30th April the Fuehrer
committed suicide, thus abandoning those
who had sworn loyalty to him. The situation makes
further resistance meaningless. I order the immediate
cessation of resistance.” This order was relayed
through loudspeakers. The Germans began
to put down their weapons. The Battle of Berlin was one
of the largest battles in history. About 3.5 million men fought on both sides.
During the campaign, Red Army soldiers liberated
hundreds of thousands of prisoners from German concentration camps. Amongst them were more
than 200,000 foreign nationals. They included Edouard Herriot,
the former Prime Minister of France, and General Otto Ruge,
Commander of the Norwegian Army. On 7th May, the German Instrument of
Surrender was signed at Rheims in France. The signatories were the German
General Alfred Jodl, US General Walter Smith,
Soviet General Ivan Susloparov, and French General François Sevez,
as the official witness. But the Soviet Union decided Susloparov
did not have proper authority to sign the surrender.
It would have to be done again. And so on 8th May,
10.43 pm Central European Time, Field Marshal Keitel,
representing the German army, General Stumpff, of the Luftwaffe, and
Admiral von Friedeburg of the Kriegsmarine, signed another Act of Surrender in Berlin, in the presence of Marshal Georgi Zhukov
and Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder. On 9th May the Red Army entered Prague. On 10th May the Red Army occupied
the Hel peninsula in the Danzig Bay. And on 11th May, German Army Group
Courland finally surrendered. In these last days of the war, 1.2 million
German soldiers were taken prisoner, including 101 generals. On 24th June 1945, a Victory Parade
was held in Moscow’s Red Square. Marshal Rokossovsky commanded the parade.
Marshal Zhukov inspected the troops. Thus ended the Great Patriotic War
of the Soviet People. Sergeant Pavel Larin never
found out who “18th” was, the voice who’d ordered him to fire on
the Reichstag and Reich Chancellery. He was just thankful
to have survived the war. On the morning of 3rd May, Larin
was ordered to go to the Reich Chancellery and document the effects
of their bombardment. The Berlin Garrison had surrendered, but suddenly they came under fire
from a machine-gunner on a rooftop. Luckily he missed. Larin wasn’t allowed
to enter the Reich Chancellery — it was being visited by Zhukov
and the front commanders. The artillerymen made his notes
and headed towards the Reichstag. It was difficult to get in there too — the building was crowded with thousands
of soldiers celebrating their victory. Then, standing on his comrade’s shoulders, he wrote on the wall:
“Sergeant Pavel Larin”.
