Stairs. Entry group. Materials. Doors. Locks. Design

From the very beginning, the real events surrounding the storming of the Reichstag were carefully hushed up and distorted by official Soviet historiography. There were more than enough reasons for this. Firstly, the “infallible” leader Comrade Stalin himself made a mistake. He indicated the Reichstag as the main target in the enemy's capital and the place over which it was necessary to hoist the Victory Banner. There were some incidents. Babajanyan's tank corps received a combat mission to break through to the Reichstag. At the same time, the corps had to rush down the street past the Reich Chancellery, where Hitler was still alive.

By May 1945, almost nothing remained of the former splendor of the Reichstag. For more than one year, it housed the most ordinary office - a medical archive, which was forced to share living space with a hospital, the maternity ward of the Charité clinic and a kindergarten. The territory in front of the Reichstag was built up with various unsightly service and outbuildings. The once-chic Königsplatz square, lying between the Reichstag and the Opera House, was disfigured by unfinished construction. The metro line laid in an open way formed a ditch filled with rainwater, and in place of the unfinished foundation pit for the new, straightened bed of the Spree River, a whole lake was formed. Along the ditch there was a pile of rock removed during digging. The once impressive fountains had not worked for a long time and were half-buried with various debris.

Photo. You can clearly see how the square in front of the Reichstag is polluted with outbuildings.

In order not to damage the dignity of the leader, military historians had to somehow emphasize the strategic and political importance of the Reichstag. Therefore, it was told how tenaciously numerous SS men defended the Reichstag, although the defense there was held by old men and boys from the Volkssturm.

After the “Victory Banner” was closely tied to the Reichstag, the “lair of the beast,” all political agencies, military and civilian, tirelessly insisted on the great importance of storming this particular building. The “banner of Victory” could not fly over a third-rate object! Soviet writers were also tasked with solving this important ideological task.

Veterans and participants in the assault contributed their share of fog. First of all, those who received hero stars for the assault and for the banner. And even the most honest and decent veterans, who saw what was happening from one single point, from the place where they were personally, decisively refuted others, no less honest and decent, but who were in a completely different place and saw something different.

Therefore, some historians, contrary to the pointing finger of the CPSU, tried to collect information from the participants in the storming of the Reichstag while they were still alive and well. The efforts of Ivan Dmitrievich Klimov, a member of the team of authors who worked on the six-volume “History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945,” are well known. The head of the Memoir Group of the Press Department of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, Colonel A. G. Kashcheev, gave precisely this argument (as long as the direct participants can tell something), in favor of writing a detailed and scientifically substantiated version of the storming of the Reichstag.

The commander of the 150th division, General V.M. Shatilov, also collected information from the participants in the assault. He sent letters to his former soldiers and officers asking them to describe their personal impressions, indicating at least the approximate time when something happened.

For both Klimov and Kashcheev, their struggle for historical truth was costly. The nervous energy spent in the unequal struggle with the ideological overseers of the Communist Party led both historians to their premature death. General Shatilov was not in danger of this - his version fit into the Procrustean bed of the plot developed at GlavPU.

Still, be that as it may, the veterans of the storming of the Reichstag left quite a lot of memories of varying quality and varying degrees of reliability. Many managed to bypass censorship in some key episodes. And even while disciplinedly following the instructions of the Communist Party overseers, the authors of the memoirs made “mistakes” that shed the light of truth on certain events.

Let's try to reconstruct how the storming of the Reichstag developed, at least in general terms. But at the beginning it is necessary to say a few words about some of the architectural features of this extraordinary building, which significantly influenced the course of the battle.

Features of the architecture of the Reichstag.

The Reichstag in plan resembles the letter “F”, only not rounded, but “angular”. Two courtyards-wells provide natural lighting to the halls and rooms whose windows overlook these courtyards. The parliament meeting hall was located on the central axis of the “letter”, approximately in the middle. It was illuminated through a large and technically complex glazed ceiling, culminating in a grandiose dome. Also glazed. Lighting through the so-called skylights in the Reichstag was used quite widely for rooms without external walls. So you can’t run too far on a largely glass roof. Moreover, by the time of the assault the windows were broken. Still, most of the rooms had windows along the outer perimeter of the building, through which one could admire the views of the capital. When preparing the building for defense, the windows were bricked up.

The Reichstag had 4 floors: “erdgeschos” - the ground floor. By our standards, there is a full first floor with large windows and high ceilings. In the memoirs it appears as “basement premises,” for which there were reasons, as you will see later. "Hauptgeschos" - main floor. The name speaks for itself. On this floor was the meeting room of the Reichstag, the German parliament. "Obergeshos" - top floor. (Third in our opinion). Some of the large halls of the Hauptgeschos had high ceilings, ending at the level of the ceilings of the Obergeschos. And finally, the last floor is “tsvishengeshos”, which is most often translated as mezzanine. Our soldiers mistook “Tsvishengeshos” for an attic. It would be worth recalling that the Germans, like the British, call the second floor the first, the third the second, and so on. And the first floor is called “ground”. In order not to conflict with the memoirs, in which the second floor is called the first, and the third - the second, we accept German names of floors for this chapter.

The Reichstag had 3 entrances and 2 transport entrances. The main entrance was located on the western facade. A large staircase led visitors arriving from the Königsplatz side, past beautiful fountains, directly to the “Hauptgeschos” - the main floor. After passing through a vast circular lobby, in the center of which stood a huge sculpture of Bismarck, visitors entered the meeting room. Two more entrances, less pompous, although with luxurious staircases lined with figures of ancient warriors, were on the eastern and southern facades. The southern entrance was considered a parliamentary entrance. Here, in order to climb to the Hauptgeschos, there were also stairs, which, unlike the main entrance, were hidden in the depths of the building. On the north side of the building there was a transport passage to the courtyard. Our soldiers called it “arch”. Another transport passage, to another courtyard, was located on the eastern side of the building, closer to the Tiergarten.

The Reichstag employed a large number of service personnel. The design of the building was conceived in such a way that the servants, moving while performing their official duties, would not interfere with the gentlemen deputies. Therefore, the Reichstag had a large number of service stairs and ladders, along which one could reach almost any point of the building without disturbing the elected representatives of the people. And the ground floor (erdgeshos), where the bulk of plumbers, electricians, cleaners, etc. were based, was reliably isolated from the upper floors. The building contained 150-200 rooms of varying sizes and purposes.

In his memoirs, the commander of the 756th regiment F.M. Zinchenko described his thoughts before the assault:

...Of the four entrances to the Reichstag, the main one is the western one. It led, as it turned out, to an oval vestibule, from which there was an entrance to the meeting room.

In total, in addition to the large conference hall and the halls for faction meetings, the Reichstag had more than 500 different rooms and premises, and spacious basements.

...On the morning of April 30, a significant part of the city center was still in the hands of the Nazis. In the offensive zone of the 79th Corps, the most serious centers of resistance remained the Reichstag, the Krol Opera, the Brandenburg Gate area, the north-eastern part of the Tiergarten and the foreign embassy quarter. All these points still interacted quite effectively with each other.

...The most convenient way to enter the Reichstag would, of course, be through one of the four entrances it has - western, northern, southern or eastern. The southern entrance was covered by strong flanking fire from large buildings located about forty meters from this entrance and somewhat east of it. The approaches to it were also under fire from both tanks and direct fire guns. Our artillery and tanks could not suppress the firing points in these buildings, since they were covered by the walls of the Reichstag itself.

There was also no point in attacking the northern entrance. The 380th Regiment still has not reached the Reichstag from this side. In addition, enemy units that had recently counterattacked us could, with support from the foreign embassy quarter, make a new sortie at any moment..

As for the eastern entrance, it faced the opposite side of the Reichstag from us, into an area still completely in the hands of the Nazis. It is clear that this entrance was also inaccessible to our fire weapons.

All that remained was the western, main entrance, also known as the front entrance. In the proposed plan, it was supposed to break into the Reichstag through this entrance. Its location provided our units with a wide front of attack and the most complete fire support. Besides, for the reason we were here, as someone joked, only the front entrance was suitable.

Correlation of forces.

Before describing the assault, let's try to determine the balance of forces. S.A. Neustroev in his memoirs told how the surrendered Germans left the Reichstag. In total, the battalion commander counted 100-120 people. Taking as a basis the average German losses in Berlin, which reached 50%, we can assume that the Reichstag garrison numbered 200-240 people before the assault. According to a report from the chief of staff of the 79th Rifle Corps, the Reichstag was defended by the remnants of the 617th, 403rd, 407th and 421st Volkssturm battalions.

Map. A fairly approximate diagram of the storming of the Reichstag.

Photo. one of the 88 mm anti-aircraft guns at the Reichstag.

On April 26, 5 anti-aircraft guns were transferred to the Reichstag, which proved to be a formidable anti-tank weapon. But after the Soviet troops captured “Himmler’s house” by the morning of April 30, some of them became useless, because... their positions were too close to our infantry and the crews were not at all protected from machine-gun fire. Two guns were located behind the ditch, and one was located near the northeastern corner of the Krol Opera. According to A. Bessarab, despite their very disadvantageous position, the German artillerymen created many problems for the advancing Soviet troops.

On April 28, a team of SS men appeared in the Reichstag, who caught and shot deserters. They “inspired” the Volkssturm to defend stubbornly.

What forces did the Red Army storm the Reichstag with? The Chairman of the Council of Veterans of the 150th Division, General (junior lieutenant in 1945) V.S. Ustyugov recalled:

At this time, the infantry (70-80 soldiers and officers) lined up in the courtyard of “Himmler’s house.” They received ammunition, commanders set tasks, and accepted reinforcements. There were regiments - one name: in the 756th, in the battalion of Captain Neustroev there were 35 people, in our 674th Lieutenant Colonel Plekhodanov there were a little more - 75-80. In one of the battalions there was only battalion commander Major Logvinenko and two soldiers. The other battalions were not much better. But combat missions were set, and they had to be carried out.

However, in the memoirs of the commander of the 674th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Plekhodanov, other figures appear. According to him, there were 75 fighters in Neustroev’s badly battered battalion. And before the assault, Plekhodanov sets a task not only for Davydov, but also for Logvinenko. This means that he did not have two fighters in the battalion, as Ustyugov writes. Most likely, not all soldiers were present at the formation.

S.A. Neustroyev writes in his memoirs that on the morning of April 30, his battalion was located in three large rooms of “Himmler’s house.” And if we rely on his conclusion that the Reichstag garrison was approximately equal in number to his battalion, then Neustroyev should have had 200-250 fighters at the beginning of the assault. By 20.00 on April 30, Neustroev’s battalion received reinforcements, a whole company - 100 people. Stepan Andreevich appointed senior sergeant I.Ya. Syanov to command the company.

K. Samsonov's battalion from the 380th regiment of the 171st division also had no more people than Davydov's battalion. In addition, two well-equipped groups consisting of experienced intelligence officers, created by order of the commander of the 79th Corps, General S.N. Perevertkin, took part in the storming of the Reichstag. The groups, numbering 25 people each, were commanded by Major M.M. Bondar and Captain V.N. Makov.

Based on the above conflicting data, in total it turns out that there were approximately 350 to 600 soldiers who attacked the Reichstag on foot. But the Red Army had a colossal advantage in artillery, including heavy self-propelled guns, and tanks. There were 89 guns in direct fire alone. It would have been possible to put more, but there was not enough space. The 79th Corps had more than 1,000 guns at its disposal. If we take into account the shooting from closed positions, then the assault on the Reichstag was supported by about 130 guns.

Storm.

On the morning of April 30, after night fighting, the 674th regiment completely occupied “Himmler’s house” and the first assault on the Reichstag began almost without a pause. The artillery had not yet arrived, the people were very tired. I really wanted to sleep. The fact is that Zhukov ordered fighting in Berlin day and night. Of course, parts replaced each other, but, nevertheless, fatigue accumulated.

The great advantage for the defenders was the vast open space in front of the Reichstag. The first assault was carried out by the Davydov and Logvinenko battalions from the 674th regiment.

The start time of the first assault on the Reichstag also differs in the memories of different participants. Platoon commander L. Litvak, from P. Grechenkov’s company (Davydov’s battalion) recalled that the first assault began early in the morning. The Reichstag was practically invisible in the morning fog. Only the outlines of the transformer booth, located on this side of the ditch, were vaguely visible. But the commander of the 674th regiment, A. Plekhodanov, indicates in his article the start time of the first assault: 12.15 - 12.20. Reporting at the same time that he moved his command post to “Himmler’s house” only at 11.00.

V. Ustyugov says that the first assault was launched without any artillery preparation, at dawn. L. Litvak, on the contrary, claims that there was artillery preparation. And not one, but two! The second was carried out when his platoon lay down in the square before reaching the ditch. However, the result was the same - soldiers of two battalions of the 674th regiment lay in the square, hiding in craters and behind other shelters on the square in front of the Reichstag.

Second assault.

In the second assault, after artillery preparation, which began at 13.00 and lasted half an hour, in addition to the already mentioned battalions of Davydov and Logvinenko, Samsonov’s battalion from the 171st division and a reconnaissance platoon of the 674th regiment took part. Towards the end of the artillery preparation, A. Plekhodanov ordered his chemists to put up a smoke screen. A lucky shot knocked out the massive front doors of the Reichstag.

The first to break into the Reichstag, at 13.35-13.40, were the soldiers of two battalions who lay down in the square after the first assault. Leon Litvak recalled that he and his platoon turned from the lobby into the large hall to the right. This was what was agreed before the assault: Plekhodanov’s regiment would storm the enemy in the right (southern) part of the building. Zinchenko's regiment is advancing in the center. And the 380th regiment of the 171st division (acting commander Major V.D. Shatalin) occupies the left side of the building.

The German troops defending Berlin adhered to the following tactics: they took refuge on the lower floors of buildings so as not to suffer unnecessary losses during shelling. At the end of the artillery bombardments, they needed to quickly take up positions in order to meet our advancing infantry with fire. Therefore, the vital task of our soldiers was to break into the building as soon as possible after the artillery barrage, so that the Germans did not have time to reach their line of defense. Here's how Leon Litvak described it:

After artillery barrage we went on the attack again. Amicably, without rushing. Obviously, the Nazis there were deeply shaken. The distance to the Reichstag passed quickly. Individual pockets of resistance were unable to stop us.
Having reached the steps of the Reichstag, the battle formations of the platoons were mixed up. Having run along them, we saw that the front door had been blown out by a shell. We rushed into it. The stunned Nazis did not have time to put up decisive resistance. My platoon immediately rushed to the right side of the first floor. Pressing the Nazis with fire and grenades deeper into the building, the platoon burst into the huge hall.

And here’s how A. Bessarab, who led his anti-tank division from the command post in “Himmler’s house”, saw all this:

A whole sheaf of red rockets scattered in front of the front entrance -signalceasefire for direct fire weapons. The attackers rushed towards the wide staircase from all sides. I’ll remember this picture for the rest of my life: a Soviet officer appeared first at the columns. He turned to face the soldiers running behind him, raised his hand with the machine gun up and, dragging people along with him, disappeared into the Reichstag building.

The Red Army soldiers running up the landing, just like their commander, saluted with machine guns, then one after another disappeared through the door. Another group. And one more thing... Hurray! Ours are in the Reichstag!

Soon the first red banners appeared on the Reichstag. The combat leaflet of the army's political department wrote shortly after the assault:

"Among the attackers were M. Eremin and G. Savenko The banner, presented by battalion commander Samsonov at the Komsomol meeting, was under Eremin’s tunic. They were the first to reach the Reichstag building and at 14:25 they hoisted a red banner on one of the columns.”

Photo. Soldiers from Sorokin's platoon reenact the hoisting of the banner for photojournalists on the afternoon of May 2.

On May 3, the newspaper of the 150th Infantry Division “Warrior of the Motherland” was published, which placed in a corner, under the heading “They distinguished themselves in battle,” a small modest note entitled “The Motherland pronounces the names of heroes with deep respect.” It talked about a platoon of scouts who planted the first flag on the roof of the Reichstag at 14.25. Here is the text of this note:

“Soviet heroes, the best sons of the people. Books will be written and songs composed about their outstanding feat. They hoisted the banner of victory over the citadel of Hitlerism. LET'S REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE BRAVES: lieutenant Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev, Red Army soldier Grigory Bulatov. Other glorious warriors fought shoulder to shoulder with them Pravotorov, Lysenko, Oreshko, Pochkovsky, Bryukhovetsky, Sorokin. THEIR MOTHERLAND WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR FEAT. GLORY TO THE HEROES! (We tried to reproduce the size and boldness of the fonts in which this note was printed).

The Germans quickly came to their senses and, opening heavy fire, prevented reinforcements from entering the Reichstag. Our soldiers, who found themselves blocked in the Reichstag, held the defense in a large hall with high (two-story) ceilings and windows overlooking the courtyard. The reconnaissance platoon of Lieutenant Sorokin, including Lieutenant Koshkarbaev who joined them, after installing the banner on the sculpture towering above the main entrance, went down and repelled the German attacks along with L. Litvak’s soldiers.

Both sides began to prepare for the next assault. The Germans restored the broken doors of the main entrance and threw down the red banners installed on the Reichstag. The Soviet command decided to conduct the third assault in the dark to reduce losses and set the time for the decisive assault at 22.00 after an intensive half-hour of artillery preparation. By this time, the 756th regiment received reinforcements (about 100 people) from which Neustroyev formed a new company and appointed senior sergeant I.Ya. Syanov to command this company of recruits. Three regiments took part in the third assault with their battalions: 674, 756 and 380, as well as two groups of reconnaissance officers: V.N. Makov and M.M. Bondar. In one of the large halls of the Reichstag, soldiers of the 674th regiment, who burst in during the second assault, held the defense. In this room, facing the courtyard, they were reliably protected from their artillery shells.

Third assault on the Reichstag.

At the command of V.N. Makov, his group rushed to the Reichstag 5 minutes before the end of the artillery preparation. They ran up the steps first and stopped at the boarded up doors. More and more fighters ran up, but the doors did not budge. Finally, with a log found nearby, they managed to knock down the doors and the soldiers rushed inside the building, carrying out their assigned tasks. Neustroev's battalion rushed through the lobby into the meeting room. Samsonov's battalion turned left from the lobby, into the northern wing of the building. The fighters of Davydov's battalion united with their comrades, who fought off the Germans for almost 8 hours in the southern wing of the Reichstag.

Four scouts from the 136th cannon brigade, on Makov’s instructions, without getting involved in battle, rushed to the roof of the Reichstag along the stairs they discovered. (Around the lobby, on the building layout, 4 service staircases are visible). And at 22.40 the banner of the 79th Corps was inserted into the crown of the giantess sculpture that personified Germany.

After a chaotic night firefight, the Germans retreated to the ground floor. Ours took up defensive positions in several rooms without trying to build on their success, because... in the pitch darkness that reigned in the Reichstag it was possible to shoot each other. The huge building began to resemble a “Wild Field” - empty and dangerous. And only the scouts of Makov’s group scurried back and forth along the stairs they had mastered. The scouts, fully understanding the significance of the established banner, not least for them personally, organized its careful protection, periodically replacing each other. The hoisting of the banner was immediately reported to General Perevertkin by radio. (The battalions did not have walkie-talkies, but the groups of Makov and Bondar had them!).

Around 3-4 o'clock in the morning (already on May 1st), by order of the commander of the 756th regiment, Lieutenant A.P. Berest led a group of soldiers to the roof of the Reichstag, including M. Egorov and M. Kantaria, who were selected by political bodies for installation of a banner made at the direction of the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army. Berest led the soldiers along the route laid out during the day by Sorokin’s reconnaissance platoon. Those. having passed through a large multifunctional hall, defended by Davydov’s battalion, they came out onto a wide staircase and had to climb it to reach the roof through southwestern corner tower. It would have been about fifty meters to walk to the “Germany” sculpture group, the central element of the front façade of the Reichstag.

But on this sculpture the flag of the 79th Corps was already flying, and it was carefully guarded. Several fighters who came from a completely different direction lay around the sculpture. In a nervous atmosphere, in complete darkness, hearing the cautious steps of a walking group of people... In general, a misfortune could happen and the history of the “Victory Banner” would look completely different today.

But fortune that day was clearly on the side of Alexei Prokopovich and his group. Berest made a mistake in complete darkness, walked an extra 60 meters and led his soldiers to the roof of the Reichstag through southeastern tower. Having looked around, they saw a large equestrian figure very close and Berest ordered the soldiers to attach the banner to this figure.

The commander of the 756th regiment, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, left the Reichstag and, taking Egorov and Kantaria with him, went to his NP in “Himmler’s house.” At 5 o'clock in the morning a command came from the headquarters of the 79th Corps for the groups of Makov and Bondar to report to Perevertkin. The banners (at about 24.00 Bondar’s fighters attached their banner to the same sculpture of the German “Motherland”) were left unguarded and soon disappeared in the most mysterious way. No one touched the banner of the Military Council and it hung safely until the morning of May 2, although no one guarded it. Great suspicion is caused by the completely unfounded urgent call of intelligence officers Makov and Bondar at 5 o'clock in the morning (!!!) to the corps headquarters, where General Perevertkin did not even invite the soldiers to personally say thank you to them. A very bad thought arises that the political department of the 3rd Shock Army was simply eliminating dangerous competitors of its “native” banner No. 5.

Fight in the Reichstag. German counterattack.

On the morning of May 1, at about 10.00, the Germans made a serious attempt to drive our troops out of the Reichstag. By 12.00 the premises of the northern wing of the building caught fire. The fire then spread to a conference room filled with shelves containing millions of medical records. There was nothing to put out the fire. Leaving the building means finding yourself under machine-gun fire almost point-blank. Nevertheless, with great difficulty we managed to repulse the counterattack and drive the enemy back to the ground floor. Besides the fire, the second big problem was thirst. Water was obtained at great risk to life. Water sources were under constant target of snipers.

The German command tried to help its battalions in the Reichstag by organizing a counter attack from the outside. But the Germans clearly did not have enough strength. After all, it was the last day of the Berlin operation. The Fuhrer was no longer alive, but the German soldiers did not know this and stubbornly fought back. Somewhere around 14.00, a soldier ran up to the platoon commander L. Litvak and reported that a German tank was creeping towards them from Tiergarten. Taking with him the crew of the PTR (anti-tank rifle), Litvak went to the windows facing south. It turned out that it was not a tank, but a self-propelled gun with a powerful cannon, but without a full-fledged turret. The crew was protected by armor only on the front and sides. They opened continuous fire on the self-propelled gun from machine guns and anti-tank guns. The self-propelled gun fired, missed and began to back away. Immediately, two shells hit it one after another and the self-propelled gun began to smoke.

Photo. Volkssturm - German people's militia.

The night from the first to the second was also nervous. The Germans, who knew the building well, used this advantage either by appearing in a completely unexpected place or by throwing grenades through the ventilation ducts. At about one o'clock in the morning, the Germans threw a thermite ball into the large hall of the southern wing. It was not possible to throw it away - it was intensively sprayed with jets of fire. By three o'clock in the morning on May 2, the fire had gained such strength that it was impossible to stay in the hall. We had to withdraw our troops from the southern wing of the building.

Goebbels has already committed suicide. The Nazi bosses, including Bormann, have already fled from the Reich Chancellery like rats. Already the SS men from the Mohnke detachment, Hitler's last guard, made an attempt to escape from the burning Berlin. But the old Volkssturm men who defended the Reichstag, where the medical archive was now located, still did not give up. Finally, as soon as dawn broke, Neustroev’s fighters saw a white flag.

Neustroev, Berest (under the guise of a colonel) and a soldier-translator went to the negotiations. After brief negotiations about surrender, the Germans said they would think about it. At 7.00, the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, signed the order to surrender. A. Bessarab wrote in his memoirs:

On May 2 at 10 o'clock in the morning everything suddenly became quiet, the fire stopped. And everyone realized that something had happened. We saw white sheets that had been “thrown away” in the Reichstag, the Chancellery building and the Royal Opera House and cellars that had not yet been taken. Entire columns fell from there. A column passed ahead of us, where there were generals, colonels, then soldiers behind them.We walked for probably three hours.

I shared with you the information that I “dug up” and systematized. At the same time, he is not at all impoverished and is ready to share further, at least twice a week.

If you find errors or inaccuracies in the article, please let us know. My e-mail address: [email protected] . I will be very grateful.

Berlin was one of the largest cities in the world, second in Europe in area (88 thousand hectares) only to Greater London. From east to west it stretches for 45 km, from north to south - more than 38 km. Most of its territory was occupied by gardens and parks. Berlin was the largest industrial center (2/3 of the country's electrical industry, 1/6 of mechanical engineering, many military enterprises), a junction of German highways and railways, and a major port of inland navigation. 15 railway lines converged on Berlin, all lines were connected by a ring road within the city. In Berlin there were up to 30 train stations, more than 120 railway stations and other railway infrastructure facilities. Berlin had a large network of underground communications, including the metro (80 km of tracks).

The city's districts were separated by large parks (Tiergarten, Treptower Park, etc.), which occupied most of Berlin. Greater Berlin was divided into 20 districts, 14 of which were external. The interior areas (within the boundaries of the ring railway) are the most densely built up. The city's layout was distinguished by straight lines, with a large number of squares. The average height of buildings is 4-5 floors, but by the beginning of the Berlin operation, most of the houses were destroyed by Allied bombing. The city has many natural and artificial obstacles. Among them is the Spree River, up to 100 meters wide, and a large number of canals, especially in the southern and northwestern parts of the capital. There are many bridges in the city. City roads ran on steel overpasses and embankments.

The city began to be prepared for defense from the beginning of 1945. In March, a special headquarters for the defense of Berlin was formed. The command of the city's defense was headed by General Reimann, and on April 24 he was replaced by the commander of the 56th Panzer Corps, Helmut Weidling. Joseph Goebbels was the Reich Commissioner for Defense of Berlin. The Minister of Propaganda was the Gauleiter of Berlin, responsible for the civil authorities and preparing the population for defense. The overall leadership of the defense was carried out by Hitler himself, he was assisted by Goebbels, Bormann, the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, General Hans Krebs, the chiefs of the personnel department of the German army, Wilhelm Burgdorf, and State Secretary Werner Naumann.

Defense Commander and last Commandant of Berlin Helmut Weidling

Weidling received orders from Hitler to defend to the last soldier. He decided that the division of the Berlin region into 9 defense sectors was unsuitable and focused on the defense of the eastern and southeastern outskirts, where the most combat-ready parts of the garrison were located. The Munichenberg tank division was sent to reinforce the 1st and 2nd sectors (eastern part of Berlin). The 3rd defensive sector (south-eastern part of the city) was reinforced by the Nordland tank division. The 7th and 8th sectors (northern part) were reinforced by the 9th Parachute Division, and the 5th sector (southwest) by units of the 20th Panzer Division. The most preserved and combat-ready 18th Motorized Division was left in reserve. The remaining areas were defended by less combat-ready troops, militias, and various units and units.

In addition, Hitler placed great hope in outside help. Steiner's army group was supposed to break through from the north, Wenck's 12th Army would approach from the west, and the 9th Army would break through from the southeast. Grand Admiral Dönitz was supposed to bring naval forces to the rescue of Berlin. On April 25, Hitler ordered Dönitz to suspend, if necessary, all other fleet tasks, surrender strongholds to the enemy and transfer all available forces to Berlin: by air to the city itself, by sea and by land to the fronts fighting in the capital area. Air Force Commander Colonel General Hans Jürgen Stumpf received orders to commit all available air forces to the defense of the Reich capital. The directive of the German High Command of April 25, 1945 called on all forces to be thrown “against Bolshevism”, to forget about the Western Front, not paying attention to the fact that Anglo-American troops would seize a significant territory of the country. The main task of the army was to relieve Berlin. Widespread propaganda was carried out among the troops and among the population, people were intimidated with the “horrors of Bolshevism” and called upon to fight to the last opportunity, to the last bullet.

Berlin was prepared for a long defense. The most powerful part of the Berlin defensive region was the city center, where the largest government buildings, main train stations and the most massive city buildings were located. Most of the government and military bunkers, the most developed metro network and other underground communications were located here. Buildings, including those destroyed by bombing, were prepared for defense and became strongholds. Roads and intersections were closed with powerful barricades, some of which were difficult to destroy even by the fire of large-caliber guns. Streets, alleys, intersections and squares were under oblique and flanking fire.

Stone buildings were turned into strong strongholds. In the buildings, especially in the corner ones, machine gunners, machine gunners, faustniks, and guns with a caliber of 20 to 75 mm were placed. Most of the windows and doorways were sealed up, leaving only embrasures. The composition and number of garrisons of such strong points varied and depended on the tactical significance of the object. The most serious points were defended by garrisons of up to a battalion. The approaches to such a strong point were covered by fire weapons located in neighboring buildings. The upper floors usually housed observers, spotters, machine gunners and submachine gunners. The main fire weapons were placed on the first floors, in semi-basements and basements. Most of the garrison was located there, protected by thick ceilings. Several of these fortified buildings, usually uniting an entire block, formed a knot of resistance.

Most of the fire weapons were located in corner buildings, the flanks were covered with powerful barricades (3-4 meters thick), which were built from concrete blocks, bricks, trees, tram cars and other vehicles. The barricades were mined, covered with infantry and artillery fire, and trenches were prepared for the Faustians. Sometimes tanks were buried behind the barricade, then a loophole was made in the barricade, and a trench was prepared under the lower hatch for storing ammunition, connected to the nearest basement or entrance. As a result, greater survivability of the tank was achieved; in order to get to it, it was necessary to destroy the barricade. On the other hand, the tank was deprived of maneuver and could fight enemy tanks and artillery only in its own street.

Intermediate buildings of resistance centers were defended by smaller forces, but the approaches to them were covered by fire weapons. In the rear part of the resistance center, heavy tanks and self-propelled guns were often dug into the ground in order to fire at Soviet troops and stop our infantry from infiltrating into their rear. Underground communications were widely used - metro, bomb shelters, sewers, drainage canals, etc. Many strong points were connected by underground passages, when our troops broke into one object, the German garrisons could escape along them to another. The exits from the underground structures that faced our troops were mined, filled up, or posts of machine gunners and grenade launchers were set up. In some places, reinforced concrete caps were installed at the exits. They housed machine gun nests. They also had underground passages, and if there was a threat of capture or explosion of the reinforced concrete cap, its garrison could leave.

In addition, thanks to the developed network of underground communications, the Germans could attack the rear of the Soviet troops. Groups of snipers, machine gunners, machine gunners and grenade launchers were sent to ours, who, thanks to their good knowledge of the area, could cause serious harm. They set up ambushes, shot armored vehicles, vehicles, gun crews, destroyed single soldiers, officers, messengers, destroyed communication lines, and could quickly curl up and retreat through underground passages. Such groups were very dangerous.

A feature of the city center was the presence of a significant number of reinforced concrete shelters. The largest were reinforced concrete bunkers, accommodating a garrison of 300-1000 people and several thousand civilians. Luftwaffe anti-aircraft towers were large ground-based concrete bunkers that housed about 30 guns up to 150mm in caliber. The height of the combat tower reached 39 meters, the thickness of the walls was 2-2.5 meters, the thickness of the roof was 3.5 meters (this made it possible to withstand a bomb weighing up to 1000 kg). The tower had 5-6 floors, each combat platform had 4-8 anti-aircraft guns, which could also fire at ground targets. There were three such battle towers in Berlin - in Tiergarten, Friedrichshain and Humboldthain Park. In total, there were about 400 reinforced concrete bunkers in the city. The presence of a developed underground cable and telephone communication network made it possible to maintain command and control of troops even during the most difficult battles, when most of the communications equipment was disabled.

The weak point of the Berlin garrison was its provision of ammunition and food. The capital was provided with supplies for one month of the siege. However, due to the danger of air strikes, supplies were dispersed throughout the suburbs and outskirts of Berlin. There are almost no warehouses left in the city center. The rapid decline of the outskirts led to the loss of most of the warehouses. As the encirclement narrowed, supplies became scarcer. As a result, in the last days of the Battle of Berlin, the supply situation for German troops became catastrophic.

A broken German 88-mm FlaK 37 anti-aircraft gun near the fallen Reichstag

Soviet tactics

The battle in the city required special methods of combat, which differed from field conditions. The front was all around. Soviet and German troops could only be separated by a roadway, a square, a building wall, or even a floor. So, on the ground floor there could be our troops, and in the basement and on the upper floors there could be Germans. However, Soviet troops already had a wealth of successful experience in street fighting. The experience of fighting in Stalingrad and Novorossiysk, replenished in Poznan, Breslau, Budapest, Königsberg and other cities, came in handy.

The main form of urban combat, already tested in other cities, was the almost independent actions of assault groups and detachments, reinforced with firepower. They could find weak spots and gaps in the enemy’s defenses and storm buildings turned into strongholds. Soviet attack aircraft did not try to move along the main highways, which were well prepared for defense, but in the spaces between them. This reduced damage from enemy fire. The assault troops moved from building to building, through courtyards, breaks in the walls of buildings or fences. The assault troops cut the enemy's defenses into separate parts and paralyzed control. They could independently wedge themselves deeply into enemy defenses, bypassing the most powerful centers of resistance. Artillery, aviation, and additional infantry and tank forces were aimed at them. This allowed Soviet troops to maintain a high rate of attack, isolate entire urban areas, and then “cleanse” them of the Nazis.

The battle formation of an assault detachment was usually built like this: the infantry was supported by tanks and self-propelled guns; they, in turn, were guarded by riflemen who controlled attics, window and door openings, and basements; tanks and infantry were supported by self-propelled guns and artillery. The infantry fought against enemy garrisons, cleared houses and neighborhoods of Nazis, and carried out close anti-tank defense, primarily against grenade launchers. Tanks and self-propelled guns took on the task of destroying enemy fire weapons. The infantry then completed the clearing of the area, destroying the surviving enemy soldiers.

Soviet self-propelled guns SU-76M on one of the streets of Berlin

Column of Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-122 on one of the streets of Berlin

Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks on one of the streets of Berlin

The assault squad consisted of several assault groups, a fire group and a reserve. The assault groups directly stormed the buildings. The fire group included artillery, including large-caliber guns, mortars, tanks and self-propelled guns. The reserve consisted of a rifle platoon or company, replaced the active assault groups, consolidated success and repelled enemy counterattacks. When attacking a fortified building, the assault group was usually divided into several parts: one part destroyed the Nazis in basements and semi-basements with the help of flamethrowers, grenade launchers, grenades and petrol bottles; another group cleared the upper floors of enemy machine gunners and snipers. Both groups were supported by a fire team. Sometimes the situation required reconnaissance in force, when small units - 3-5 of the bravest and most trained soldiers - quietly entered a building that was defended by the Germans and caused a commotion with a sudden attack. Then the main forces of the assault group were involved.

Usually, at the beginning of each day, before an attack by assault troops and groups, there was artillery preparation lasting up to 20-30 minutes. Divisional and corps guns took part in it. They fired from closed positions at previously reconnoitred targets, enemy firing positions and possible concentrations of troops. Artillery fire was applied throughout the entire block. Directly during the assault on strong points, volleys of M-31 and M-13 rocket launchers were used. "Katyushas" also hit enemy targets deep in their defense. During urban battles, direct fire rocket launchers were widely used. This was done directly from the ground, from simple devices, or even from window openings and breaks. This is how they destroyed barricades or destroyed the defenses of buildings. With a short firing range of 100-150 meters, the M-31 projectile pierced a brick wall up to 80 cm thick and exploded inside the building. When several rockets hit the building, the house was severely destroyed and the garrison was killed.

The artillery as part of the assault detachments fired at enemy buildings with direct fire. Under the cover of artillery and mortar fire, attack aircraft approached enemy strongholds, broke into them, and went to the rear. Artillery played a huge role in street battles. In addition, tanks and self-propelled guns were used in assaults on enemy targets, which suppressed enemy firepower. Heavy self-propelled guns could destroy barricades and create breaches in buildings and walls. A major role was played by sappers who, under the cover of fire, brought up explosives, destroyed obstacles, created gaps, removed mines, etc. During the assault on some objects they could put up a smoke screen.

When a barricade appeared on the path of the assault detachment, Soviet soldiers first captured the buildings that were adjacent to the obstacle, then large-caliber guns, including self-propelled guns, destroyed the blockage. If the artillery failed to do this, then the sappers, under the cover of fire and a smoke screen, brought in explosive charges and blew up the obstacle. Tanks broke through the passages, followed by guns.

It is also worth noting that flamethrowers and incendiaries were widely used in street battles. When storming houses, Soviet soldiers widely used Molotov cocktails. Units of high-explosive flamethrowers were used. Flamethrowers were a very effective means of fighting when it was necessary to “smoke out” the enemy from the basement or set fire to a building and force the Nazis to retreat. Infantry smoke devices were also widely used to set up small camouflage and blinding smoke screens.

Soviet artillerymen prepare a BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher for a salvo in Berlin

Guards rocket mortar BM-31-12 in Berlin

Soviet tanks and other equipment near the bridge over the Spree River in the Reichstag area. On this bridge, Soviet troops, under fire from the defending Germans, marched to storm the Reichstag. Pictured are IS-2 and T-34-85 tanks, ISU-152 self-propelled guns, guns

Fighting in other directions. Breakthrough to the city center

The Battle of Berlin was brutal. The Soviet troops suffered heavy losses; only 20-30 soldiers remained in the rifle companies. It was often necessary to reduce three companies into two in battalions in order to increase their combat effectiveness. In many regiments, three battalions were combined into two. The advantage in manpower of the Soviet troops during the assault on the German capital was insignificant - about 460 thousand people against 300 thousand German troops, but there was an overwhelming superiority in artillery and armored vehicles (12.7 thousand mortar guns, 2.1 thousand " Katyusha", up to 1.5 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns), which made it possible to destroy enemy defenses. With the support of artillery and tanks, the Red Army marched step by step towards victory.

Before the start of the battle for the central part of the city, bombers of the 14th and 16th Air Armies launched powerful attacks on the complex of government buildings and the main centers of resistance in Berlin. During Operation Salyut on April 25, aircraft of the 16th Air Army carried out two massive raids on the capital of the Reich, involving 1,486 aircraft that dropped 569 tons of bombs. The city was heavily shelled by artillery: from April 21 to May 2, about 1,800 thousand artillery shots were fired at the German capital. After strong air and artillery strikes, the assault on the central areas of Berlin began. Our troops crossed water barriers - the Teltow Canal, the Berlin-Spandauer Canal, the Spree and Dame rivers.

On April 26, the Berlin group was divided into two separate parts: in the city itself and a smaller part in the area of ​​​​the suburbs of Wannsee and Potsdam. On this day, the last telephone conversation between Hitler and Jodl took place. Hitler still hoped to “save” the situation south of Berlin and ordered the 12th Army, together with the troops of the 9th Army, to sharply turn the offensive front to the north in order to ease the situation in Berlin.

Soviet 203 mm howitzer B-4 fires in Berlin at night

The crew of the Soviet 100-mm BS-3 cannon fires at the enemy in Berlin

The Germans fought fiercely. On the night of April 26, the command of the encircled Frankfurt-Guben group, surrounded southeast of the capital, following the order of the Fuhrer, formed a strong group of several divisions to break through the battle formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front and connect in the Luckenwalde area with the 12th advancing from the west army. On the morning of April 26, the Germans launched a counteroffensive, delivering a strong blow to the junction of the 28th and 3rd Guards Armies. The Germans made a breach and reached the city of Barut. But here the enemy was stopped by the 395th Division of the 13th Army, and then the Germans were attacked by units of the 28th, 3rd Guards and 3rd Guards Tank Armies. Aviation played a major role in defeating the enemy. Bombers and attack aircraft almost non-stop attacked the battle formations of the German group. The Germans suffered great losses in manpower and equipment.

At the same time, our troops repelled the attack of Wenck’s 12th Army, which attacked in the Belitz-Tröyenbritzen zone. Units of the 4th Guards Tank Army and the 13th Army parried all enemy attacks and even advanced to the west. Our troops captured part of Wittenberg, crossed the Elbe to the south and captured the city of Pratau. Intense battles with the 12th Army and the remnants of the 9th Army, who were trying to escape from the encirclement, continued for several more days. The troops of the 9th Army were able to advance a little further to the west, but only small scattered groups were able to break out of the “cauldron”. By the beginning of May, the surrounded enemy group was completely destroyed.

The Görlitz group did not achieve success either. She was unable to overturn the left flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front and break through to Spremberg. By the end of April, all attacks by enemy troops were repulsed. German troops went on the defensive. The left wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front was able to go on the offensive. The offensive of the 2nd Belorussian Front also developed successfully.

On April 27, our troops continued their offensive. The enemy's Potsdam group was destroyed and Potsdam was taken. Soviet troops captured the central railway junction and began a battle for the 9th sector of the Berlin defensive region. At 3 o'clock. On the night of April 28, Keitel spoke with Krebs, who said that Hitler was demanding immediate assistance to Berlin; according to the Fuhrer, “at most 48 hours of time” remained. At 5 o'clock. In the morning, communication with the imperial office was broken. On April 28, the territory occupied by German troops was reduced to 10 km from north to south and to 14 km from east to west.

In Berlin, the Germans especially stubbornly defended the 9th sector (central). From the north this sector was covered by the Spree River, and in the south there was the Landwehr Canal. The Germans destroyed most of the bridges. The Moltke Bridge was covered with anti-tank obstacles and was well protected. The banks of the Spree and Landwehr Canal were dressed in granite and rose 3 meters, providing additional protection for German troops. In the central sector there were several powerful defense centers: the Reichstag, the Krol Opera (the building of the imperial theater), the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Gestapo). The walls of the buildings were very powerful; they were not pierced by shells from large-caliber guns. The walls of the lower floors and basements reached 2 meters in thickness, and were additionally reinforced with earthen embankments, reinforced concrete and steel rails. The area in front of the Reichstag (Königsplatz) was also prepared for defense. There were three trenches with machine gun nests here; they connected to the communication passages with the Reichstag. The approaches to the square were covered with anti-tank ditches filled with water. The defense system included 15 reinforced concrete pillboxes. Anti-aircraft guns were located on the roofs of buildings, and field artillery positions were located on the platforms and in the Tiergarten park. Houses on the left bank of the Spree were turned into strongholds that protected garrisons from platoon to company. The streets leading to the German parliament were blocked with barricades, rubble and mined. A powerful defense was created in Tiergarten. Adjacent to the southwest of the central sector was a defense center in the Zoological Garden.

The central region was defended by soldiers from various elite SS units and a Volkssturm battalion. On the night of April 28, three companies of sailors from a naval school in Rostock were dropped from transport aircraft into the central sector. A garrison of 5 thousand soldiers and officers, supported by three artillery divisions, defended the Reichstag area.

The beginning of the storming of the Reichstag

Fighting stubbornly, Soviet troops cleared most of the city from the Nazis by April 29. In some areas, Soviet troops broke through the defenses of the central sector. Units of the 79th Rifle Corps of S.N. Perevertkin of the 3rd Shock Army were advancing from the north. By the evening of April 28, the troops of the 3rd Shock Army, having captured the Moabit area, broke through to the Reichstag area, at the Moltke Bridge. Here was the shortest route to the Reichstag.

At the same time, units of the 5th Shock, 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front made their way to the center from the east and southeast. The 5th Shock Army captured Karlhorst, crossed the Spree, and cleared the Anhalt station and the state printing house of Germans. Her troops broke through to Alexanderplatz, Wilhelm's Palace, the town hall and the imperial chancellery. The 8th Guards Army moved along the southern bank of the Landwehr Canal, approaching the southern part of Tiergarten Park. The 2nd Guards Tank Army, having captured the Charlottenburg area, advanced from the northwest. Troops of the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front made their way to the 9th sector from the south. The 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, part of the forces of the 4th Guards Tank and 13th Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front firmly secured the external front of the encirclement of Berlin from the west.

Berlin's situation became completely hopeless, ammunition was running out. The commander of the defense of the Berlin region, General Weidling, proposed saving the troops and gathering the remaining forces for a breakthrough to the west. General Krebs supported the breakthrough plan. Hitler was also repeatedly asked to leave the city himself. However, Hitler did not agree with this and ordered the defense to continue until the last bullet. He considered that there was no point in troops breaking through from one “cauldron” to another.

The troops of the 79th Rifle Corps were unable to take the Moltke Bridge on the move. However, on the night of April 29, the decisive actions of the advanced battalions of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Major General Vasily Shatilov (the battalion was commanded by Captain Semyon Neustroyev) and the 380th Infantry Regiment of the 171st Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Alexei Negoda (the battalion was commanded by senior lieutenant Konstantin Samsonov) the bridge was occupied. The Germans fired heavily and launched counterattacks. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the right bank of the Spree River had not yet been completely cleared of German troops. Soviet soldiers occupied only Alt-Moabit-Strasse, which led to the bridge and the surrounding neighborhoods. At night, the Germans launched a counterattack, trying to encircle and destroy our troops, who crossed to the left bank of the river and destroy the Moltke Bridge. However, enemy attacks were successfully repulsed.

Units of the 380th Regiment, the 525th Regiment of the 171st Division, the 756th Regiment of the 150th Division, as well as tanks and escort guns, flamethrowers of the 10th separate motorized flamethrower battalion were transferred to the left bank of the Spree. On the morning of April 29, after a short fire raid, our troops continued the offensive. All day our soldiers fought stubborn battles for the buildings adjacent to the Spree, it was especially difficult to take the Ministry of Internal Affairs building (our soldiers called it “Himmler’s house”). Only after the second echelon of the 150th Division, the 674th Infantry Regiment, was brought into battle, was it possible to turn the situation in our favor. "Himmler's House" was taken. Several more buildings were captured, and Soviet soldiers found themselves 300-500 meters from the Reichstag. But it was not possible to immediately develop the success and take the Reichstag.

Soviet troops made preliminary preparations for the storming of the Reichstag. Intelligence studied the approaches to the building and the enemy's fire system. New fire weapons were brought into the fighting area. More and more tanks, self-propelled guns and guns were transported to the left bank of the river. Several dozen guns, including 152- and 203-mm howitzers, were brought up to a close distance of 200-300 meters from the building. We prepared the rocket launchers. Ammunition was delivered. From the best warriors, assault groups were formed to hoist the banner over the Reichstag.

Early in the morning of April 30, bloody fighting resumed. The Nazis repelled the first attack of our troops. Selected SS units fought to the death. At 11 o'clock 30 min. after artillery preparation, our troops launched a new assault. A particularly stubborn battle took place in the offensive zone of the 380th regiment, which was led by the chief of staff, Major V.D. Shatalin. The Germans repeatedly launched violent counterattacks that turned into hand-to-hand combat. Our troops suffered serious losses. Only towards the end of the day did the regiment make its way to the anti-tank ditch near the Reichstag. A heavy battle also took place in the offensive zone of the 150th Infantry Division. Units of the 756th and 674th Infantry Regiments made their way to the canal in front of the Reichstag and lay there under heavy fire. There was a pause, which was used to prepare a decisive assault on the building.

At 6 p.m. 30 min. under the cover of artillery fire, our soldiers launched a new attack. The Germans could not stand it, and our soldiers broke through to the building itself. Immediately, red banners of various shapes and sizes appeared on the building. One of the first to appear was the flag of a soldier of the 1st battalion of the 756th regiment, junior sergeant Pyotr Pyatnitsky. An enemy bullet hit a Soviet soldier on the steps of the building. But his flag was picked up and placed above one of the columns of the main entrance. Here the flags of Lieutenant R. Koshkarbaev and Private G. Bulatov from the 674th Regiment, Sergeant M. Eremin and Private G. Savenko from the 380th Regiment, Sergeant P. S. Smirnov and Privates N. Belenkov and L. Somov from 525th Regiment, etc. Soviet soldiers once again showed massive heroism.

Soviet assault group with a banner moves towards the Reichstag

The battle for the interior began. The Germans continued to put up stubborn resistance, defending every room, every corridor, stairwell, floors and basements. The Germans even launched counterattacks. However, it was no longer possible to stop our fighters. There is very little left until Victory. Captain Neustroev’s headquarters was deployed in one of the rooms. An assault group under the command of sergeants G. Zagitov, A. Lisimenko and M. Minin broke through to the roof and fixed the flag there. On the night of May 1, a group of soldiers under the command of Lieutenant A.P. Berest received the task of hoisting a banner on the Reichstag, which was presented by the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army. Early in the morning, Alexey Berest, Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria hoisted the Victory Banner - the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division. The assault on the Reichstag continued until May 2.

On the same day that Soviet banners appeared on the Reichstag (April 30), Adolf Hitler committed suicide.

Victory Banner over the Reichstag

Assault flag of the 150th Order of Kutuzov, II degree, Idritsa Rifle Division
Author Samsonov Alexander

From April 28 to May 2, 1945, forces The 150th and 171st rifle divisions of the 79th rifle corps of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front carried out an operation to capture the Reichstag. To this event, my friends, I dedicate this photo collection.
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1. View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

2. Fireworks in honor of the Victory on the roof of the Reichstag. Soldiers of the battalion under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union S. Neustroyev.

3. Soviet trucks and cars on a destroyed street in Berlin. The Reichstag building can be seen behind the ruins.

4. The head of the River Emergency Rescue Department of the USSR Navy, Rear Admiral Fotiy Ivanovich Krylov (1896-1948), awards a diver with an order for clearing mines from the Spree River in Berlin. In the background is the Reichstag building.

6. View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

7. A group of Soviet officers inside the Reichstag.

8. Soviet soldiers with a banner on the roof of the Reichstag.

9. The Soviet assault group with a banner is moving towards the Reichstag.

10. The Soviet assault group with a banner is moving towards the Reichstag.

11. Commander of the 23rd Guards Rifle Division, Major General P.M. Shafarenko in the Reichstag with colleagues.

12. Heavy tank IS-2 against the backdrop of the Reichstag

13. Soldiers of the 150th Idritsko-Berlin Rifle, Order of Kutuzov 2nd degree division on the steps of the Reichstag (among those depicted are scouts M. Kantaria, M. Egorov and the division’s Komsomol organizer Captain M. Zholudev). In the foreground is the 14-year-old son of the regiment, Zhora Artemenkov.

14. The Reichstag building in July 1945.

15. Interior of the Reichstag building after Germany’s defeat in the war. On the walls and columns are inscriptions left by Soviet soldiers.

16. Interior of the Reichstag building after Germany's defeat in the war. On the walls and columns are inscriptions left by Soviet soldiers. The photo shows the southern entrance of the building.

17. Soviet photojournalists and cameramen near the Reichstag building.

18. The wreckage of an inverted German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter with the Reichstag in the background.

19. Autograph of Soviet soldiers on the Reichstag column: “We are in Berlin! Nikolai, Peter, Nina and Sashka. 11.05.45.”

20. A group of political workers of the 385th Infantry Division, led by the head of the political department, Colonel Mikhailov, at the Reichstag.

21. German anti-aircraft guns and a dead German soldier at the Reichstag.

23. Soviet soldiers on the square near the Reichstag.

24. Red Army signalman Mikhail Usachev leaves his autograph on the wall of the Reichstag.

25. A British soldier leaves his autograph among the autographs of Soviet soldiers inside the Reichstag.

26. Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria come out with a banner onto the roof of the Reichstag.

27. Soviet soldiers hoist the banner over the Reichstag on May 2, 1945. This is one of the banners installed on the Reistag in addition to the official hoisting of the banner by Egorov and Kantaria.

28. The famous Soviet singer Lydia Ruslanova performs “Katyusha” against the backdrop of the destroyed Reichstag.

29. The son of the regiment, Volodya Tarnovsky, signs an autograph on a Reichstag column.

30. Heavy tank IS-2 against the backdrop of the Reichstag.

31. Captured German soldier at the Reichstag. A famous photograph, often published in books and on posters in the USSR under the title "Ende" (German: "The End").

32. Fellow soldiers of the 88th Separate Guards Heavy Tank Regiment near the Reichstag wall, in the assault of which the regiment took part.

33. Banner of Victory over the Reichstag.

34. Two Soviet officers on the steps of the Reichstag.

35. Two Soviet officers on the square in front of the Reichstag building.

April 30, 1945. The storming of the German parliament building began. For any Russian, this phrase looks even shorter - the storming of the Reichstag. It means the end of the war, Victory. And, although complete victory came a little later, it was this assault that became the climax of the entire long war...

The storming of the Reichstag is a military operation of Red Army units against German troops to capture the building of the German parliament. It was carried out at the final stage of the Berlin offensive operation from April 28 to May 2, 1945 by the 150th and 171st Rifle Divisions of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.

In preparation for repelling the Soviet offensive, Berlin was divided into 9 defense sectors. The central sector, which included government buildings including the Reich Chancellery, the Gestapo building and the Reichstag, was heavily fortified and defended by selected SS units.

It was to the central sector that the armies of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts sought to break through. As the Soviet troops approached specific institutions, the command of the front and armies set tasks for the capture of these objects.

On the afternoon of April 27, the task of capturing the Reichstag was assigned to the 11th Guards Tank Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army. However, in the next 24 hours, the tankers were unable to complete it due to strong resistance from German troops.

The 3rd Shock Army, operating as part of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of V.I. Kuznetsov, was not initially intended to storm the central part of the city. However, as a result of seven days of fierce fighting, it was she who, on April 28, found herself closest to the Reichstag area.

It should be said about the aspect ratio in this operation:

The Soviet group included:
79th Rifle Corps (Major General S. N. Perevertkin) consisting of:
150th Rifle Division (Major General V. M. Shatilov)
756th Infantry Regiment (Colonel Zinchenko F.M.)
1st Battalion (Captain Neustroev S.A.)
2nd Battalion (Captain Klimenkov)
469th Rifle Regiment (Colonel Mochalov M.A.)
674th Infantry Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Plekhodanov)
1st Battalion (Captain Davydov V.I.)
2nd battalion (Major Logvinenko Ya. I.)
328th Artillery Regiment (Major G. G. Gladkikh)
1957th Anti-Tank Regiment
171st Rifle Division (Colonel Negoda A.I.)
380th Infantry Regiment (Major Shatalin V.D.)
1st battalion (senior lieutenant Samsonov K. Ya.)
525th Infantry Regiment
713th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel M. G. Mukhtarov)
357th Artillery Regiment
207th Infantry Division (Colonel Asafov V.M.)
597th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel I. D. Kovyazin)
598th Infantry Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel A. A. Voznesensky)

Attached parts:

86th heavy howitzer artillery brigade (Colonel Sazonov N.P.)
104th high-power howitzer brigade (Colonel P. M. Solomienko)
124th High Power Howitzer Brigade (Colonel Gutin G.L.)
136th Cannon Artillery Brigade (Colonel Pisarev A.P.)
1203rd self-propelled artillery regiment
351st Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
23rd Tank Brigade (Colonel S.V. Kuznetsov)
tank battalion (Major I. L. Yartsev)
tank battalion (captain Krasovsky S.V.)
88th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel P. G. Mzhachikh)
85th Tank Regiment

The Reichstag was defended by:

Part of the forces of the 9th Berlin Defense Sector.
Combined battalion of naval school cadets from Rostock
In total, the Reichstag area was defended by about 5,000 people. Of these, the Reichstag garrison was about 1000 people

We can talk about the capture of the Reichstag in minutes, since each of them was carried out by soldiers who accomplished a feat! I'll try to restore the chronology by day...

So:

By the evening of April 28, units of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army occupied the Moabit area and from the northwest approached the area where, in addition to the Reichstag, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Krol-Opera theater, the Swiss embassy and a number of other buildings were located. Well fortified and adapted for long-term defense, together they represented a powerful unit of resistance.

The task of capturing the Reichstag was set on April 28 in the combat order of the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, Major General S. N. Perevertkin:

... 3. 150th Infantry Division - one rifle regiment - defense on the river. Spree. Two rifle regiments continue the offensive with the task of crossing the river. Spree and take possession of the western part of the Reichstag...

4. The 171st Infantry Division to continue the offensive within its borders with the task of crossing the river. Spree and take possession of the eastern part of the Reichstag...

In front of the advancing troops lay another water barrier - the Spree River. Its three-meter reinforced concrete banks excluded the possibility of crossing using available means. The only way to the southern bank was through the Moltke Bridge, which, when Soviet units approached, was blown up by German sappers, but did not collapse, but was only deformed.

At both ends the bridge was covered with reinforced concrete walls one meter thick and about one and a half meters high. It was not possible to capture the bridge on the move, since all approaches to it were shot through with multi-layered machine gun and artillery fire. It was decided to undertake a second assault on the bridge after careful preparation. Powerful artillery fire destroyed the firing points in the buildings on the Kronprinzen-Ufer and Schlieffen-Ufer embankments and suppressed the German batteries that were shelling the bridge.

By the morning of April 29, the advanced battalions of the 150th and 171st rifle divisions under the command of Captain S.A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K.Ya. Samsonov crossed to the opposite bank of the Spree. After the crossing, Soviet units began fighting for the block located southeast of the Moltke Bridge.

Among other buildings in the quarter there was the building of the Swiss embassy, ​​which faced the square in front of the Reichstag and was an important element in the overall system of German defense. That same morning, the Swiss embassy building was cleared of the enemy by the companies of Senior Lieutenant Pankratov and Lieutenant M.F. Grankin. The next goal on the way to the Reichstag was the building

Ministry of the Interior, nicknamed "Himmler's House" by Soviet soldiers. It was a huge six-story building that occupied an entire block. The solid stone building was additionally adapted for defense. To capture Himmler's house at 7 o'clock in the morning, powerful artillery preparation was carried out, immediately after which Soviet soldiers rushed to storm the building.

Over the next 24 hours, units of the 150th Infantry Division fought for the building and captured it by dawn on April 30. The path to the Reichstag was open.

The assault on the Reichstag began before dawn on April 30. The 150th and 171st rifle divisions, commanded by General V.M. Shatilov, rushed to the building of the German parliament. and Colonel Negoda A.I. The attackers were met with a sea of ​​fire from various types of weapons, and the attack soon fizzled out.

The first attempt to take possession of the building on the move ended in failure. Careful preparations for the assault began. To support the infantry attack, 135 guns, tanks and self-propelled artillery units were concentrated for direct fire alone. Dozens more guns, howitzers and rocket launchers fired from indirect positions. The attackers were supported from the air by the squadrons of the 283rd Fighter Aviation Division of Colonel S.N. Chirva.

At 12 o'clock artillery preparation began. Half an hour later the infantry launched an assault. She had only 250 m left to reach her intended goal, and it seemed that success was already assured.

“Everything around was roaring and rumbling,” recalled Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, whose regiment was part of the 150th Infantry Division. “It might have seemed to some of the commanders that his fighters, if they had not yet reached, were about to reach their cherished goals... So the reports flew on command. After all, everyone so wanted to be the first!.."

General Shatilov V.M. first by telephone, and then in writing, he informed the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, General S.N. Perevertkin, that at 14:25 the rifle battalions under the command of captains S.A. Neustroev. and Davydov V.I. stormed the Reichstag and hoisted a banner on it. At this time, units continue to clear the building of Germans.

Such long-awaited news spread further - to the headquarters of the 3rd Shock Army and the 1st Belorussian Front. This was reported by Soviet radio, and then by foreign radio stations. The Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front, by order of April 30, had already congratulated the soldiers on their victory, expressed gratitude to all soldiers, sergeants, officers of the 171st and 150th rifle divisions and, of course, General S.N. Perevertkin. and ordered the Army Military Council to nominate the most distinguished for awards.

After receiving the news of the fall of the Reichstag, military cameramen, photojournalists, and journalists rushed to him, among them the famous writer B.L. Gorbatov. What he saw was disappointing: the assault battalions were still fighting on the outskirts of the building, where there was not a single Soviet soldier and not a single flag.

The third attack began at 18:00. Together with the attacking battalions of the 674th and 380th rifle regiments, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Plekhanov, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, two groups of volunteers, led by the adjutant of the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, Major M.M. Bondar, advanced. and the commander of the control battery of the corps artillery commander, Captain Makovetsky V.N. On the initiative of the command and the political department of the corps, these groups were created specifically to hoist flags made in the corps over the Reistag.

“This attack was a success: battalions of captains Neustroev S.A., Davydov V.I., senior lieutenant Samsonov K.Ya. and groups of volunteers broke into the building, which Zinchenko F.M. reported to General Shatilov V.M. the second half of the day he repeatedly demanded to break into the Reichstag and, what worried him most, to hoist a banner on it.

The report pleased the division commander and at the same time saddened him: the banner was still not installed. The general ordered to clear the building of the enemy and “immediately install the banner of the Army Military Council on its dome”! To speed up the task, the division commander appointed F.M. Zinchenko. commandant of the Reichstag." (R. Portuguese V. Runov “Boilers of the 45th”, M., “Eksmo”, 2010, p. 234).

However, Colonel Zinchenko F.M. understood, as he wrote after the war, “that the Reichstag cannot be completely cleared either in the evening or during the night, but the banner must be installed at any cost!..”. He ordered to recapture as many rooms as possible from the enemy before dark, and then give the personnel a rest.

The banner of the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army was instructed to hoist the regiment's scouts - M.V. Kantaria and M.A. Egorov. They, together with a group of fighters led by Lieutenant Brest, with the support of Syanov’s company, climbed onto the roof of the building and at 21:50 on April 30, 1945, hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.

M.V.Kantaria

Two days later the banner was replaced by a large red banner. On June 20, the removed flag was sent to Moscow on a special flight with military honors.

On June 24, 1945, the first parade of troops of the active army, the Navy and the Moscow garrison took place on Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War. After participating in the parade, the Victory Banner is kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces to this day.

It should also be noted that in addition to the banner of the Military Council of the Army, many other flags were mounted on the Reichstag building. The first flag was hoisted by the group of Captain V.N. Makov, who attacked together with Neustroev’s battalion. Headed by the captain, the volunteers are senior sergeants A.P. Bobrov, G.K. Zagitov, A.F. Lisimenko. and Sergeant Minin M.P. They immediately rushed to the roof of the Reichstag and planted a flag on one of the sculptures of the right tower of the house. This happened at 10:40 pm, which was two to three hours earlier than the hoisting of the flag, which was destined by history to become the Banner of Victory.

For skillful leadership of the battle and heroism, V.I. Davydov, S.A. Neustroev, K.Ya. Samsonov, as well as M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria, who hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The battle inside the Reichstag continued with great tension until the morning of May 1, and individual groups of fascists holed up in the Reichstag basements continued to resist until May 2, until the Soviet fighters finally put an end to them. In the battles for the Reichstag, up to 2,500 enemy soldiers were killed and wounded, and 2,604 prisoners were captured.

Storm of Berlin- the final part of the Berlin offensive operation of 1945, during which the Red Army captured the capital of Nazi Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted from April 25 to May 2.

Storm of Berlin

The “Zoobunker” - a huge reinforced concrete fortress with anti-aircraft batteries on the towers and extensive underground shelter - also served as the largest bomb shelter in the city.

Early in the morning of May 2, the Berlin metro was flooded - a group of sappers from the SS Nordland division blew up a tunnel passing under the Landwehr Canal in the Trebbiner Strasse area. The explosion led to the destruction of the tunnel and filling it with water along a 25-km section. Water rushed into the tunnels, where a large number of civilians and wounded were taking refuge. The number of victims is still unknown.

Information about the number of victims... varies - from fifty to fifteen thousand people... The data that about a hundred people died under water seems more reliable. Of course, there were many thousands of people in the tunnels, including the wounded, children, women and old people, but the water did not spread through the underground communications too quickly. Moreover, it spread underground in various directions. Of course, the picture of advancing water caused genuine horror in people. And some of the wounded, as well as drunken soldiers, as well as civilians, became its inevitable victims. But talking about thousands of deaths would be a gross exaggeration. In most places the water barely reached a depth of one and a half meters, and the inhabitants of the tunnels had enough time to evacuate themselves and save the numerous wounded who were in the “hospital cars” near the Stadtmitte station. It is likely that many of the dead, whose bodies were subsequently brought to the surface, actually died not from water, but from wounds and illnesses even before the destruction of the tunnel.

At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “We ask you to cease fire. We are sending envoys to the Potsdam Bridge.” A German officer who arrived at the appointed place, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance. At 6 a.m. on May 2, Artillery General Weidling, accompanied by three German generals, crossed the front line and surrendered. An hour later, while at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army, he wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, delivered to enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was communicated to the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Individual units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

On May 2 at 10 o'clock in the morning everything suddenly became quiet, the fire stopped. And everyone realized that something had happened. We saw white sheets that had been “thrown away” in the Reichstag, the Chancellery building and the Royal Opera House and cellars that had not yet been taken. Entire columns fell from there. A column passed ahead of us, where there were generals, colonels, then soldiers behind them. We walked for probably three hours.

Alexander Bessarab, participant in the Battle of Berlin and the capture of the Reichstag

Results of the operation

Soviet troops defeated the Berlin group of enemy troops and stormed the capital of Germany, Berlin. Developing a further offensive, they reached the Elbe River, where they linked up with American and British troops. With the fall of Berlin and the loss of vital areas, Germany lost the opportunity for organized resistance and soon capitulated. With the completion of the Berlin operation, favorable conditions were created for encircling and destroying the last large enemy groups on the territory of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The losses of the German armed forces in killed and wounded are unknown. Of the approximately 2 million Berliners, about 125 thousand died. The city was heavily destroyed by bombing even before the arrival of Soviet troops. The bombing continued during the battles near Berlin - the last American bombing on April 20 (Adolph Hitler's birthday) led to food problems. The destruction intensified as a result of Soviet artillery attacks.

Indeed, it is unthinkable that such a huge fortified city could be taken so quickly. We know of no other such examples in the history of World War II.

Alexander Orlov, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

Two Guards IS-2 heavy tank brigades and at least nine Guards heavy self-propelled artillery self-propelled artillery regiments took part in the battles in Berlin, including:

• 1st Belorussian Front
  • 7th Guards Ttbr - 69th Army
  • 11th Guards ttbr - front-line subordination
  • 334 Guards tsap - 47th Army
  • 351 Guards tsap - 3rd shock army, front-line subordination
  • 396 Guards tsap - 5th shock army
  • 394 Guards tsap - 8th Guards Army
  • 362, 399 guards tsap - 1st Guards Tank Army
  • 347 Guards tsap - 2nd Guards Tank Army
• 1st Ukrainian Front
  • 383, 384 guards tsap - 3rd Guards Tank Army

Situation of the civilian population

Fear and despair

A significant part of Berlin, even before the assault, was destroyed as a result of Anglo-American air raids, from which the population hid in basements and bomb shelters. There were not enough bomb shelters and therefore they were constantly overcrowded. In Berlin by that time, in addition to the three million local population (consisting mainly of women, old people and children), there were up to three hundred thousand foreign workers, including “ostarbeiters”, most of whom were forcibly taken to Germany. Entry into bomb shelters and basements was prohibited for them.

Although the war had long been lost for Germany, Hitler ordered resistance to the last. Thousands of teenagers and old men were conscripted into the Volkssturm. From the beginning of March, on the orders of Reichskommissar Goebbels, responsible for the defense of Berlin, tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women, were sent to dig anti-tank ditches around the German capital.

Civilians who violated government orders even in the last days of the war faced execution.

There is no exact information about the number of civilian casualties. Different sources indicate different numbers of people who died directly during the Battle of Berlin. Even decades after the war, previously unknown mass graves are found during construction work.

Violence against civilians

In Western sources, especially recently, a significant number of materials have appeared concerning mass violence by Soviet troops against the civilian population of Berlin and Germany in general - a topic that was practically not raised for many decades after the end of the war.

There are two opposing approaches to this extremely painful problem. On the one hand, there are artistic and documentary works by two English-speaking researchers - “The Last Battle” by Cornelius Ryan and “The Fall of Berlin. 1945" by Anthony Beevor, which are more or less a reconstruction of the events of half a century ago based on the testimony of participants in the events (overwhelmingly representatives of the German side) and memoirs of Soviet commanders. The claims made by Ryan and Beevor are regularly reproduced by the Western press, which presents them as scientifically proven truth.

On the other hand, there are the opinions of Russian representatives (officials and historians), who acknowledge numerous facts of violence, but question the validity of statements about its extreme mass character, as well as the possibility, after so many years, of verifying the shocking digital data provided in the West . Russian authors also draw attention to the fact that such publications, which focus on hyper-emotional descriptions of scenes of violence that were allegedly committed by Soviet troops on German territory, follow the standards of Goebbels propaganda of the beginning of 1945 and are aimed at belittling the role of the Red Army as the liberator of Eastern and Central Europe from fascism and denigrate the image of the Soviet soldier. In addition, the materials distributed in the West provide virtually no information about the measures taken by the Soviet command to combat violence and looting - crimes against civilians, which, as has been repeatedly pointed out, not only lead to tougher resistance of the defending enemy, but also undermine the combat effectiveness and discipline of the advancing army.