Battle of Berlin 1

Battle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final majoroffensive of the European Theatre of World War II.[1]

Starting on 16 January 1945, the Red Army breached the German front as a result of the Vistula–Oder Offensive andadvanced westward as much as 40 kilometres a day, through East Prussia, Lower Silesia, East Pomerania, and UpperSilesia, temporarily halting on a line 60 kilometres east of Berlin along the Oder River.[2] When the offensiveresumed, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran Germanforces positioned north of Berlin. The Battle in Berlin lasted from 20 April 1945 until the morning of 2 May.The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were on 20 March, when the newly appointed commanderof the Army Group Vistula, General Gotthard Heinrici, correctly anticipated that the main Soviet thrust would bemade over the Oder River. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Soviets managed to encircle the city as aresult of the battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. During 20 April 1945, the 1st Belorussian Front led byMarshal Georgy Zhukov started shelling Berlin's city centre, while Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front hadpushed in the north through the last formations of Army Group Centre. The German defences were mainly led byHelmuth Weidling and consisted of several depleted, badly equipped, and disorganised Wehrmacht and Waffen-SSdivisions, as well as many Volkssturm and Hitler Youth members. Within the next days, the Soviets were rapidlyadvancing through the city and were reaching the city centre, conquering the Reichstag on 30 April after fiercefighting.Before the battle was over, German Führer Adolf Hitler and a number of his followers committed suicide. The city'sdefenders finally surrendered on 2 May. However, fighting continued to the north-west, west and south-west of thecity until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May (9 May in the Soviet Union) as German units fought westward sothat they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets.

BackgroundStarting on 12 January 1945, the Red Army began the Vistula–Oder Offensive across the Narew River and, fromWarsaw, a three-day operation on a broad front which incorporated four army Fronts.[3] On the fourth day, the RedArmy broke out and started moving west, up to 30 to 40 km per day, taking East Prussia, Danzig and Poznań,drawing up on a line 60 km east of Berlin along the Oder River.[2]

The newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler,[4] attempted acounter-attack, but this had failed by 24 February.[5] The Red Army then drove on to Pomerania, clearing the rightbank of the Oder River, thereby reaching into Silesia.[2]

In the south the Siege of Budapest raged. Three German attempts to relieve the encircled Hungarian capital cityfailed and Budapest fell to the Soviets on 13 February.[6] Adolf Hitler insisted on a counter-attack to recapture theDrau-Danube triangle.[7] The goal set out was to secure the oil region of Nagykanizsa and regain the Danube Riverfor future operations.[8] The depleted German forces had been given an impossible task.[9] By 16 March, theGermans' Lake Balaton Offensive had failed, and within 24 hours a counter-attack by the Red Army took backeverything the Germans had gained in ten days.[10] On 30 March, the Soviets entered Austria, and in the ViennaOffensive they finally captured Vienna on 13 April.[11]

Between June and September 1944, the Wehrmacht had lost more than a million men, and lacked the fuel andarmaments needed to operate effectively.[12] On 12 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, who had earlier decided to remain inthe city against the wishes of his advisers, heard the news that the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt haddied.[13] This briefly raised false hopes in the Führerbunker that there might yet be a falling out among the Allies,and that Berlin would be saved at the last moment, as had happened once before when Berlin was threatened (see theMiracle of the House of Brandenburg).[14]

Battle of Berlin 2

No plans were made by the Western Allies to seize the city by a ground operation.[15] U.S. General Dwight D.Eisenhower lost his interest in the race to Berlin and saw no further need to suffer casualties in attacking a city thatwould be in the Soviet sphere of influence after the war.[16] . General Eisenhower foresaw excessive friendly fire ifboth armies attempted to occupy the city at once.[17] The major Western Allied contribution to the battle was thebombing of Berlin during 1945.[18] During 1945 the United States Army Air Forces launched a number of very largedaytime raids on Berlin, and for 36 nights in succession scores of RAF Mosquitos bombed the German capital,ending on the night of 20/21 April 1945 just before the Soviets entered the city.[19]

PreparationsThe Soviet offensive into central Germany—what later became East Germany—had two objectives. Stalin did notbelieve the Western Allies would hand over territory occupied by them in the post-war Soviet zone, so he began theoffensive on a broad front and moved rapidly to meet the Western Allies as far west as possible. But the overridingobjective was to capture Berlin.[20] The two were complementary because possession of the zone could not be wonquickly unless Berlin was taken. Another consideration was that Berlin itself held useful post-war strategic assets,including Adolf Hitler and the German atomic bomb program.[21] On 6 March, Hitler appointed Lieutenant GeneralHelmuth Reymann as the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, replacing Lieutenant General Bruno Ritter vonHauenschild.[22]

Red Army and 1st Polish Army on the way to Berlin.

On 20 March, General Gotthard Heinrici was appointedCommander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula replacingReichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.[23] Heinrici was one of thebest defensive tacticians in the German army and he immediatelystarted to lay defensive plans. Heinrici correctly assessed that themain Soviet thrust would be made over the Oder River and alongthe main east-west Autobahn.[24] He decided not to try to defendthe banks of the Oder with anything more than a light skirmishingscreen. Instead, Heinrici arranged for engineers to fortify theSeelow Heights which overlooked the Oder River at the pointwhere the Autobahn crossed them.[25] This was some 17

kilometres west of the Oder and 90 kilometres east of Berlin. Heinrici thinned out the line in other areas to increasethe manpower available to defend the heights. German engineers turned the Oder's flood plain, already saturated bythe spring thaw, into a swamp by releasing the water from a reservoir upstream. Behind this the engineers built threebelts of defensive emplacements.[25] These emplacements reached back towards the outskirts of Berlin (the linesnearer to Berlin were called the Wotan position).[26] These lines consisted of anti-tank ditches, anti-tank gunemplacements, and an extensive network of trenches and bunkers.[26] [25]

On 9 April, after a long resistance, Königsberg in East Prussia finally fell to the Red Army.[27] This freed up MarshalRokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front to move west to the east bank of the Oder river.[27] Marshal Georgy Zhukovconcentrated his 1st Belorussian Front, which had been deployed along the Oder river from Frankfurt in the south tothe Baltic, into an area in front of the Seelow Heights.[28] The 2nd Belorussian Front moved into the positions beingvacated by the 1st Belorussian Front north of the Seelow Heights. While this redeployment was in progress, gapswere left in the lines and the remnants of General Dietrich von Saucken's German II Army, which had been bottledup in a pocket near Danzig, managed to escape into the Vistula Delta.[29] To the south, Marshal Konev shifted themain weight of the 1st Ukrainian Front out of Upper Silesia north west to the Neisse River.[30]

The three Soviet Fronts had altogether 2.5 million men (including 78,556 soldiers of the 1st Polish Army), 6,250tanks, 7,500 aircraft, 41,600 artillery pieces and mortars, 3,255 truck-mounted Katyusha rocket launchers(nicknamed 'Stalin's Pipe Organs'), and 95,383 motor vehicles, many manufactured in the USA.[30]

Battle of Berlin 3

Battle of the Oder-Neisse

Soviet artillery bombarding German positions duringthe battle for Seelow Heights

The sector in which most of the fighting in the overall offensivetook place was the Seelow Heights, the last major defensive lineoutside Berlin.[26] The Battle of the Seelow Heights, fought overfour days from 16 April until 19 April, was one of the last pitchedbattles of World War II: almost one million Red Army troops andmore than 20,000 tanks and artillery pieces were deployed to breakthrough the "Gates to Berlin" which were defended by about100,000 German soldiers and 1,200 tanks and guns.[31] [32] TheSoviet forces led by Zhukov broke through the defensive

positions, having suffered about 30,000 casualties, while the Germans lost 12,000 personnel.[33] .

During 19 April, the fourth day, the 1st Belorussian Front broke through the final line of the Seelow Heights andnothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin.[34] The 1st Ukrainian Front, having capturedForst the day before, was fanning out into open country.[35] One powerful thrust by Gordov's 3rd Guards Army andRybalko's 3rd and Lelyushenko's 4th Guards Tank Armies were heading north east towards Berlin while otherarmies headed west towards a section of United States Army front line south west of Berlin on the Elbe.[36] Withthese advances, the Soviet forces were driving a wedge between the German Army Group Vistula in the north andArmy Group Centre in the south.[36] By the end of the day, the German eastern front line north of Frankfurt aroundSeelow and to the south around Forst had ceased to exist. These breakthroughs allowed the two Soviet Fronts toenvelop the German IX Army in a large pocket west of Frankfurt. Attempts by the IX Army to break out to the westwould result in the Battle of Halbe.[32] The cost to the Soviet forces had been very high, with over 2,807 tanks lostbetween 1 April and 19 April, including at least 727 at the Seelow Heights.[37]

In the meantime, RAF Mosquitoes were conducting large tactical air raids against German positions inside Berlin onthe nights of 15 April (105 bombers), 17 April (61 bombers), 18 April (57 bombers), 19 April (79 bombers) and 20April (78 bombers).[38]

Encirclement of Berlin

9 March 1945 photo of Joseph Goebbels handingIron Cross II class to 16 year old Hitler Youth

Willi Hübner after capture of Lauban

On 21 April, Soviet artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front began to shellthe centre of Berlin, and did not stop until the city surrendered: theweight of ordnance delivered by Soviet artillery during the battle wasgreater than the tonnage dropped by Western Allied bombers on thecity.[39] While the 1st Belorussian Front advanced towards the east andnorth-east of the City, the 1st Ukrainian Front had pushed through thelast formations of the northern wing of Army Group Centre and hadpassed north of Juterbog, well over halfway to the American front lineon the river Elbe at Magdeburg.[40] To the north between Stettin andSchwedt, the 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank ofArmy Group Vistula, held by Hasso von Manteuffel's III PanzerArmy.[37] During the next day, the Bogdanov's 2nd Guards Tank Army advanced nearly 50 km north of Berlin andthen attacked south west of Werneuchen. The Soviet plan was to encircle Berlin first and then to envelop the IXArmy.[41]

Battle of Berlin 4

Volkssturmmann with Panzerschreck, Berlin,April 1945

The command of the V Corps, trapped with the IX Army north ofForst, passed from IV Panzer Army to IX Army. The corps was stillholding onto the Berlin-Cottbus highway front line.[42] Field MarshalFerdinand Schörner Army Group Center launched a counter-offensiveaiming at breaking through to Berlin from the south and making asuccessful initial incursion (the Battle of Bautzen) in the 1st UkrainianFront region, engaging the 2nd Polish Army and elements of the RedArmy's 52nd Army and 5th Guard Army.[43] When the old southernflank of IV Panzer Army had some local successes counter-attackingnorth against 1st Ukrainian Front, Hitler gave orders which showedthat his grasp of military reality was completely gone, and ordered IX

Army to hold Cottbus and to set up a front facing west.[44] Then they were to attack the Soviet columns advancingnorth. This would supposedly allow them to form a northern pincer which would meet the IV Panzer Army comingfrom the south and envelop the 1st Ukrainian Front before destroying it.[45] They were to anticipate a southwardattack by the III Panzer Army and to be ready to be the southern arm of a pincer attack which would envelop 1stBelorussian Front, which would be destroyed by SS-General Felix Steiner's Army Detachment advancing from northof Berlin.[46] Later in the day, when Steiner explained that he did not have the divisions to do this, Heinrici made itclear to Hitler's staff that unless the IX Army retreated immediately it would be enveloped by the Soviets; and hestressed that it was already too late for it to move north-west to Berlin and it would have to retreat west.[46] Heinriciwent on to say that if Hitler did not allow it to move west he would ask to be relieved of his command.[47]

On 22 April, at his afternoon situation conference, Hitler fell into a tearful rage when he realised that his plans of theday before were not going to be realised. He declared that the war was lost, he blamed the generals and announcedthat he would stay on in Berlin until the end and then kill himself.[48] In an attempt to coax Hitler out of his rage,General Alfred Jodl speculated that the XII Army, under the command of General Walther Wenck, that was facingthe Americans, could move to Berlin because the Americans, already on the Elbe River, were unlikely to movefurther east. This assumption was based on his viewing of the captured Eclipse documents, which organized thepartition of Germany among the Allies.[49] Hitler immediately grasped the idea and within hours Wenck was orderedto disengage from the Americans and move the XII Army north-east to support Berlin.[46] It was then realised that ifthe IX Army moved west it could link up with the XII Army. In the evening Heinrici was given permission to makethe link up.[50]

Elsewhere, the 2nd Belorussian Front had established a bridgehead over 15 km deep on the west bank of the Oder,and was heavily engaged with the III Panzer Army.[51] The IX Army had lost Cottbus and was being pressed fromthe east. A Soviet tank spearhead was on the Havel river to the east of Berlin, and another had at one pointpenetrated the inner defensive ring of Berlin.[52]

Soviet Katyusha multiple rocket launchers fire inBerlin, April 1945. This example is a BM-13N,

132 mm rocket launcher mounted on aLend-Lease U.S. Studebaker truck.

A Soviet war correspondent gave the following account, in the style ofWorld War II Soviet journalism, of an important event that day—thecapital was now within range of field artillery:[53]

On the walls of the houses we saw Goebbels' appeals, hurriedlyscrawled in white paint: 'Every German will defend his capital.We shall stop the Red hordes at the walls of our Berlin.' Just tryand stop them! Steel pillboxes, barricades, mines, traps, suicide squads withgrenades clutched in their hands—all are swept aside before thetidal wave.

Battle of Berlin 5

Drizzling rain began to fall. Near Bisdorf I saw batteries preparing to open fire. 'What are the targets?' I asked the battery commander. Centre of Berlin, Spree bridges, and the northern and Stettin railway stations,' he answered. Then came the tremendous words of command: 'Open fire at the capital of Fascist Germany.' I noted the time. It was exactly 8:30 a.m. on 22 April. Ninety-six shells fell in the centre of Berlin in the courseof a few minutes.

On 23 April, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front continued to tighten the encirclement, andsevered the last link between the German IX Army and the city.[52] Elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front continued tomove westward and started to engage the German XII Army moving towards Berlin. On this same day, Hitlerappointed General Helmuth Weidling as the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, replacing Lieutenant GeneralReymann.[54] Meanwhile, by 24 April elements of 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front had completed theencirclement of the city.[55] Within the next day, 25 April, the Soviet investment of Berlin was consolidated, withleading Soviet units probing and penetrating the S-Bahn defensive ring.[56] By the end of the day there was noprospect that the German defence of the city could do anything but temporarily delay the capture of the city by theSoviets, as the decisive stages of the battle had already been fought and lost by the Germans outside the city.[57] Bythat time, Schörner's offensive, initially successful, had been mostly thwarted, although he managed to inflictsignificant casualties on the opposing Polish and Soviet units, and slowed down their progress.[43]

Battle in Berlin

Flak tower (anti-aircraft blockhouse) in BerlinZoo, after the battle. In the foreground two

destroyed IS-2 tanks can be seen.

The forces available to General Weidling for the city's defenceincluded roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted GermanArmy (Wehrmacht Heer) and Armed SS (Waffen-SS) divisions.[58]

These divisions were supplemented by the police force, boys in thecompulsory Hitler Youth, and the Volkssturm.[58] Many of the 40,000elderly men of the Volkssturm had been in the army as young men andsome were veterans of World War I. Hitler appointed SS BrigadeführerWilhelm Mohnke the Battle Commander for the central governmentdistrict that included the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker.[59] Hehad over 2,000 men under his command.[58] [60] Weidling organisedthe defences into eight sectors designated 'A' through to 'H' each onecommanded by a colonel or a general, but most had no combatexperience.[58] To the west of the city was the 20th Infantry Division.To the north of the city was the 9th Parachute Division.[61] To the north-east of the city was the Panzer DivisionMüncheberg. To the south-east of the city and to the east of Tempelhof Airport was the 11th SS PanzergrenadierDivision Nordland.[62] The reserve, 18th Panzergrenadier Division, was in Berlin's central district.[63]

On 23 April, Berzarin's 5th Shock Army and Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Army assaulted Berlin from the south eastand, after overcoming a counterattack by the German LVI Panzer Corps, reached the Berlin S-Bahn ring railway onthe north side of the Teltow Canal by the evening of 24 April.[36] During the same period, of all the German forcesordered to reinforce the inner defences of the city by Hitler, only a small contingent of French SS volunteers underthe command of Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg arrived in Berlin.[64] During 25 April, Krukenberg was appointedas the commander of Defence Sector C, the sector under the most pressure from the Soviet assault on the city.[65]

On 26 April, Chuikov's 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army fought their way through the southern suburbs and attacked Tempelhof Airport, just inside the S-Bahn defensive ring, where they met stiff resistance from the Müncheberg Division.[64] But by 27 April, the two understrength divisions (Müncheberg and Norland) that were defending the south east, now facing five Soviet armies—from east to west, the 5th Shock Army, the 8th Guards

Battle of Berlin 6

Army, the 1st Guards Tank Army and Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army (part of the 1st Ukrainian Front)—wereforced back towards the centre, taking up new defensive positions around Hermannplatz.[66] Krukenberg informedGeneral Hans Krebs, Chief of the General Staff of (OKH) that within 24 hours the Nordland would have to fall backto the centre sector Z (for Zentrum).[67] [68] The Soviet advance to the city centre was along these main axes: fromthe south east, along the Frankfurter Allee (ending and stopped at the Alexanderplatz); from the south along SonnenAllee ending north of the Belle Alliance Platz, from the south ending near the Potsdamer Platz and from the northending near the Reichstag.[69] The Reichstag, the Moltke bridge, Alexanderplatz, and the Havel bridges at Spandausaw the heaviest fighting, with house-to-house and hand-to-hand combat. The foreign contingents of the SS foughtparticularly hard, because they were ideologically motivated and they believed that they would not live ifcaptured.[70]

Battle for the Reichstag

Battle for the Reichstag.

In the early hours of 29 April the Soviet 3rd Shock Army crossed theMoltke bridge and started to fan out into the surrounding streets andbuildings.[71] The initial assaults on buildings, including the Ministryof the Interior, were hampered by the lack of supporting artillery. Itwas not until the damaged bridges were repaired that artillery could bemoved up in support.[72] At 04:00 hours, in the Führerbunker, Hitlersigned his last will and testament and, shortly afterwards, married EvaBraun.[73] At dawn the Soviets pressed on with their assault in thesouth east. After very heavy fighting they managed to capture Gestapoheadquarters on Prinz-Albrechtstrasse, but a Waffen SS counter-attackforced the Soviets to withdraw from the building.[74] To the south westthe 8th Guards Army attacked north across the Landwehr canal into theTiergarten.[75]

By the next day, 30 April, the Soviets had solved their bridgingproblems and with artillery support at 06:00 they launched an attack onthe Reichstag, but because of German entrenchments and support from12.8 cm guns two kilometres away on the Berlin Zoo flak tower it wasnot until that evening that the Soviets were able to enter thebuilding.[76] The Reichstag had not been in use since 1933 when it burned and its interior resembled a rubble heapmore than a government building. The German troops inside made excellent use of this and lay heavilyentrenched.[77] Fierce room-to-room fighting ensued. At that point there was still a large contingent of Germansoldiers in the basement who launched counter-attacks against the Red Army.[77] Finally, on 2 May the Red Armycontrolled the building entirely.[78] The famous photo of the two soldiers planting the flag on the roof of the buildingis a re-enactment photo taken the day after the building was taken.[79] However, to the Soviets the event asrepresented by the photo became symbolic of their victory demonstrating that the Battle of Berlin, as well as theEastern Front hostilities as whole, ended with the total Soviet victory.[80] As the 756th Regiment's commanderZinchenko had stated in his order to Battalion Commander Neustroev "...the Supreme High Command...and theentire Soviet People order you to erect the victory banner on the roof above Berlin".[77]

Battle of Berlin 7

Battle for the centre

Front lines 1 May

During the early hours morning of 30 April, Weidling informed Hitlerin person that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunitionduring the night. Hitler gave him the permission to attempt a breakoutthrough the encircling Red Army lines.[81] That afternoon, Hitler andBraun committed suicide and their bodies were cremated not far fromthe bunker.[82] .In accordance to Hitler's last will and testament,Admiral Karl Dönitz became the "President of Germany"(Reichspräsident) in the new Flensburg government, and JosephGoebbels became the new Chancellor of Germany (Reichskanzler).[83]

As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, theybecame concentrated into a small area in the city centre. By now therewere about 10,000 German soldiers in the city centre, which was beingassaulted from all sides. One of the other main thrusts was alongWilhelmstrasse on which the Air Ministry, built of reinforced concrete, was pounded by large concentrations ofSoviet artillery.[76] The remaining German Tiger tanks of the Hermann von Salza battalion took up positions in theeast of the Tiergarten to defend the centre against Kuznetsov's 3rd Shock Army (which although heavily engagedaround the Reichstag was also flanking the area by advancing through the northern Tiergarten) and the 8th GuardsArmy advancing through the south of the Tiergarten.[84] These Soviet forces had effectively cut the sausage-shapedarea held by the Germans in half and made any escape attempt to the west for German troops in the centre muchmore difficult.[85]

During the early hours of 1 May, Krebs talked to General Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army,[86]

informing him of Hitler's death and a willingness to negotiate a city wide surrender.[87] However, they could notagree on terms because of Soviet insistence on unconditional surrender and Krebs' claim that he lacked authorisationto agree to that.[88] Goebbels was against surrender. In the afternoon, Goebbels and his wife (after killing theirchildren) committed suicide.[89] Goebbels's death removed the last impediment which prevented Weidling fromaccepting the terms of unconditional surrender of his garrison, but he chose to delay the surrender until the nextmorning to allow the planned breakout to take place under the cover of darkness.[90]

Breakout and surrenderOn the night of 1–2 May, most of the remnants of the Berlin garrison attempted to break out of the city centre inthree different directions. Only those that went west through the Tiergarten and crossed the Charlottenbrücke (abridge over the Havel) into Spandau succeeded in breaching Soviet lines.[91] However, only a handful of those whosurvived the initial breakout made it to the lines of the Western Allies—most were either killed or captured by theRed Army's outer encirclement forces west of the city.[92] Early in the morning of 2 May, the Soviets captured theReich Chancellery. The military historian Antony Beevor points out that as most of the German combat troops hadleft the area in the breakouts the night before, the resistance must have been far less than it had been inside theReichstag.[93] General Weidling finally surrendered with his staff at 06:00 hours. He was taken to see General VasilyChuikov at 08:23. Weidling agreed to order the city's defenders to surrender to the Soviets.[94] Under GeneralChuikov's and Vasily Sokolovsky's direction, Weidling put his order to surrender in writing.[88]

The 350-strong garrison of the Zoo flak tower finally left the building. While there was sporadic fighting in a fewisolated buildings where some SS troops still refused to surrender, the Soviets simply reduced such buildings torubble.[95]

Battle of Berlin 8

Battle outside BerlinAt some point on 28 April or 29 April, General Gotthard Heinrici, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula,was relieved of his command after disobeying Hitler's direct orders to hold Berlin at all costs and never order aretreat, and was replaced by General Kurt Student.[96] General Kurt von Tippelskirch was named as Heinrici'sinterim replacement until Student could arrive and assume control, while there remains some confusion as to whowas actually in command as some references say that Student was captured by the British and never arrived.[97]

Regardless of whether von Tippelskirch or Student was in command of Army Group Vistula, the rapidlydeteriorating situation that the Germans faced meant that Army Group Vistula coordination of the armies under itsnominal command during the last few days of the war was of little significance.[98]

On the evening of 29 April, Krebs contacted General Alfred Jodl (Supreme Army Command) by radio:[88]

Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended toattack. Thirdly of the location of the IX Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the IX Army will breakthrough. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolf Holste's spearhead.

In the early morning of 30 April, Jodl replied to Krebs:[88]

Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Secondly, XII Army therefore unable tocontinue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of IX Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive.

NorthWhile the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front encircled Berlin, and started the battle for the city itself,Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front started his offensive to the north of Berlin. On the 20 April between Stettin andSchwedt, Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank of Army Group Vistula, held by the IIIPanzer Army.[37] By 22 April, the 2nd Belorussian Front had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Oderthat was over 15 km deep and was heavily engaged with the III Panzer Army.[52] On 25 April, the 2nd BelorussianFront broke through III Panzer Army's line around the bridgehead south of Stettin, crossed the RandowbruchSwamp, and were now free to move west towards Montgomery's British 21st Army Group and north towards theBaltic port of Stralsund.[99]

The German III Panzer Army and the German XXI Army situated to the north of Berlin retreated westwards underrelentless pressure from Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front, and was eventually pushed into a pocket 20 miles(32 km) wide that stretched from the Elbe to the coast.[51] To their west was the British 21st Army Group (which on1 May broke out of its Elbe bridgehead and had raced to the coast capturing Wismar and Lübeck), to their eastRokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front and to the south was the Ninth United States Army which had penetrated as fareast as Ludwigslust and Schwerin.[100]

Battle of Berlin 9

South

2nd Lt. William Robertson, US Army and Lt.Alexander Sylvashko, Red Army, shown in frontof sign East Meets West symbolizing the historicmeeting of the Soviet and American Armies, near

Torgau, Germany.

The successes of the 1st Ukrainian Front during the first nine days ofthe battle meant that by 25 April, they were occupying large swathes ofthe area south and south west of Berlin. Their spearheads had metelements of the 1st Belorussian Front west of Berlin, completing theinvestment of the city.[99] Meanwhile, the 1st Ukrainian Front's 58thGuards Division of the 5th Guards Army made contact with the US69th Infantry Division of the First Army near Torgau, on the ElbeRiver.[99] These manoeuvres had broken the German forces south ofBerlin into three parts. The German IX army was surrounded in theHalbe pocket.[101] Wenck's XII Army, obeying Hitler's command ofthe 22 April, was attempting to force its way into Berlin from the southwest but met stiff resistance from units of the 1st Ukrainian Front inthe area of Potsdam.[102] Schörner's Army Group Centre was forced towithdraw from the Battle of Berlin, along its lines of communications towards Czechoslovakia.[29]

Between 24 April and 1 May, the German IX Army fought a desperate action to break out of the pocket in an attemptto link up with the German XII Army.[103] Hitler assumed that after a successful breakout from the pocket, the IXArmy could combine forces with the XII Army and would be able to relieve Berlin.[104] However there is noevidence to suggest that Generals Heinrici, Busse or Wenck thought that this was even remotely strategicallyfeasible, but Hitler's agreement to allow the IX Army to break through Soviet lines did provide a window ofopportunity through which sizable numbers of German troops were able to escape west and surrender to the UnitedStates Army.[105]

At dawn on 28 April, the youth divisions Clausewitz, Scharnhorst and Theodor Körner, attacked from the south westtoward the direction of Berlin. They were part of Wenck's XX Corps and were made up of men from the officertraining schools, making them some of the best units the Germans had in reserve. They covered a distance of about24 kilometres (15 mi), before being halted at the tip of Lake Schwielow, south west of Potsdam and still 32kilometres (20 mi) from Berlin.[106] During the night, General Wenck reported to the German Supreme ArmyCommand in Fuerstenberg that his XII Army had been forced back along the entire front. According to Wenck, noattack on Berlin was now possible.[107] [108] This was even more so as support from the IX Army could no longer beexpected at this point.[88] In the meantime, about 25,000 German soldiers of the IX Army along with severalthousand civilians succeeded in reaching the lines of the XII Army after breaking out of the Halbe pocket.[109] Thecasualties on both sides were very high. There are close to 30,000 Germans buried in the cemetery at Halbe.[40]

About 20,000 soldiers of the Red Army also died trying to stop the breakout; most are buried at a cemetery next tothe Baruth-Zossen road.[40] These are the known dead, but the remains of more who died in the battle are foundevery year so the total of those who died will never be known. Nobody knows how many civilians died but it couldhave been as high as 10,000.[40]

Having failed to break through to Berlin, Wenck's XII army made a fighting retreat back towards the Elbe andAmerican lines after providing the IX Army survivors with surplus transport.[110] By 6 May many German Armyunits and individuals had crossed the Elbe and surrendered to the US Ninth Army.[98] Meanwhile, the XII'sbridgehead with its headquarters in the park of Schönhausen, had come under heavy Soviet artillery bombardmentand had been compressed into an area eight by two kilometres (five by one and a quarter miles).[111]

Battle of Berlin 10

SurrenderOn the night of 2–3 May, General Hasso von Manteuffel, commander of the III Panzer Army along with GeneralKurt von Tippelskirch, commander of the XXI Army, surrendered to the US Army.[98] Von Saucken's II Army, thathad been fighting north east of Berlin in the Vistula Delta, surrendered to the Soviets on 9 May.[100] On the morningof 7 May, the perimeter of Wenck's XII Army's bridgehead began to collapse. Wenck crossed the Elbe under smallarms fire that afternoon and surrendered to the American Ninth Army.[111]

Aftermath

A devastated street in the city centre just off theUnter den Linden, 3 July 1945

German women doing their washing at a coldwater hydrant in a Berlin street. A knocked-out

German scout car stands beside them, 3 July1945.

According to Grigoriy Krivosheev's work based on declassifiedarchival data, Soviet forces sustained 81,116 dead for the entireoperation, which included the Battles of Seelow Heights and theHalbe;[112] Another 280,251 were reported wounded or sick during theoperational period.[112] [113] The operation also cost the Soviets about2,000 armored vehicles, though the number of irrevocable losses(write-offs) is not known. Initial Soviet estimates based on kill claimsplaced German losses at 458,080 killed and 479,298 captured,[114] butGerman research puts the number of dead to approximately 92,000 –100,000.[115] The number of civilian casualties is unknown,[116] but125,000 are estimated to have perished during the entire operation.[117]

In those areas which the Soviets had captured and before the fightingin the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities tookmeasures to start restoring essential services.[118] Almost all thetransport in and out of the city had been rendered inoperative, andbombed-out sewers had contaminated the city's water supplies.[119]

The Soviets appointed local Germans to head each city block, andorganized the cleaning-up.[118] Further, the Red Army made a majoreffort to feed the residents of the city.[118] Most Germans, both soldiersand civilians, were grateful to receive food issued at Red Army soupkitchens which began on Colonel-General Nikolai Berzarin's orders.[95]

After the capitulation the Soviets went house to house, arresting andimprisoning anyone in a uniform including firemen andrailway-men.[120]

During, and in the days immediately following the assault,[118] [121] inmany areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops (often rear echelonunits[122] ) engaged in mass rape, pillage and murder,[123] [124] anddespite Soviet efforts to supply food and rebuild the city, starvationremained a problem.[119] In June 1945, one month after the surrender, the average calorie intake of Berliners was stilllow as they were getting only 64 percent of a 1,240-calorie daily ration.[125] Further, across the city over a millionpeople were without a home.[126]

Battle of Berlin 11

NotesFootnotes[1] The last offensive of the European war was the Prague Offensive on 6–11 May 1945, when the Red Army, with the help of Polish, Romanian,

and Czechoslovak forces defeated the parts of Army Group Centre which continued to resist in Czechoslovakia. There were a number of smallbattles and skirmishes involving small bodies of men, but no other large scale fighting that resulted in the death of thousands of people. (Seethe end of World War II in Europe for details on these final days of the war.)

[2] Hastings 2004, p. 295.[3] Duffy 1991, pp. 24, 25.[4] Beevor 2002, p. 52.[5] Duffy 1991, pp. 176–188.[6] Duffy 1991, p. 293.[7] Beevor 2002, p. 8.[8] Tiemann 1998, p. 200.[9] Beevor 2002, p. 9.[10] Dollinger 1967, p. 198.[11] Beevor 2002, p. 196.[12] Williams 2005, p. 213.[13] Bullock 1962, p. 753.[14] Bullock 1962, pp. 778–781.[15] Beevor 2002, p. 194.[16] Williams 2005, pp. 310, 311.[17] Ryan 1966, p. 135.[18] Milward 1980, p. 303.[19] McInnis 1946, p. 115.[20] Beevor 2003, p. 219.[21] Beevor 2002, Preface xxxiv, and pp. 138, 325.[22] Beevor 2003, p. 166.[23] Beevor 2003, p. 140.[24] Williams 2005, p. 292.[25] Zuljan 2003.[26] Ziemke 1969, p. 76.[27] Williams 2005, p. 293.[28] Williams 2005, p. 322.[29] Beevor 2003, p. 426.[30] Ziemke 1969, p. 71.[31] Gregory & Gehlen 2009, pp. 207–208.[32] Beevor 2002, pp. 217–233.[33] Beevor 2002, p. 244.[34] Beevor 2002, p. 247.[35] Beevor 2003, p. 255.[36] Beevor 2002, pp. 312–314.[37] Ziemke 1969, p. 84.[38] http:/ / www. raf. mod. uk/ bombercommand/ apr45. html[39] Antony Beevor speaking as himself in a television documentary: "Revealed" Hitler's Secret Bunkers (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/

tt1262365/ ), directed by George Pagliero (2008)[40] Beevor 2002, p. 337.[41] Ziemke 1969, p. 88.[42] Simons 1982, p. 78.[43] Komorowski 2009, pp. 65–67.[44] Beevor 2002, p. 345.[45] Beevor 2003, p. 248.[46] Beevor 2002, pp. 310–312.[47] Ziemke 1969, pp. 87–88.[48] Beevor 2002, p. 275.[49] Ryan 1966, p. 436.[50] Ziemke 1969, p. 89.[51] Beevor 2003, p. 353.[52] Ziemke 1969, p. 92.

Battle of Berlin 12

[53] Lewis 1998, p. 465.[54] Beevor 2002, p. 286 states the appointment was on 23 April; Hamilton 2008, p. 160 states "officially" it was the next morning of 24 April;

Dollinger 1967, p. 228 gives 26 April for Weidling's appointment.[55] Ziemke 1969, pp. 92–94.[56] Beevor 2002, p. 313.[57] Ziemke 1969, p. 111.[58] Beevor 2002, p. 287.[59] Fischer 2008, pp. 42–43.[60] The Soviets later estimated the number as 180,000, but this was from the number of prisoners that they took, and included many unarmed

men in uniform, such as railway officials and members of the Reich Labour Service (Beevor 2002, p. 287).[61] Beevor 2002, p. 223.[62] Beevor 2002, p. 243.[63] Ziemke 1969, p. 93.[64] Beevor 2002, pp. 259, 297.[65] Beevor 2002, pp. 291–292, 302.[66] Beevor 2002, pp. 246–247.[67] Beevor 2002, pp. 303–304.[68] Beevor 2002, p. 304, states the centre sector was known as Z for Zentrum; Fischer 2008, pp. 42–43, and Tiemann 1998, p. 336, quoting

General Mohnke directly refers to the smaller centre government quarter/district in this area and under his command as Z-Zitadelle.[69] Beevor 2002, p. 340.[70] Beevor 2002, pp. 257–258.[71] Beevor 2003, pp. 371–373.[72] Beevor 2002, p. 349.[73] Beevor 2002, p. 343.[74] Beevor 2003, p. 375.[75] Beevor 2003, p. 377.[76] Beevor 2003, p. 380.[77] Hamilton 2008, p. 311.[78] Beevor 2003, pp. 390–397.[79] Sontheimer 2008.[80] Bellamy 2007, pp. 663–7.[81] Beevor 2002, p. 358.[82] Bullock 1962, pp. 799, 800.[83] Williams 2005, pp. 324, 325.[84] Beevor 2003, p. 381.[85] Beevor 2002, pp. 385–386.[86] Dollinger 1967, p. 239, states 3am, and Beevor 2003, p. 391, 4am, for Krebs' meeting with Chuikov[87] Beevor 2003, p. 391.[88] Dollinger 1967, p. 239.[89] Beevor 2003, p. 405.[90] Beevor 2003, p. 406.[91] Beevor 2002, pp. 383–389.[92] Ziemke 1969, pp. 125–126.[93] Beevor 2002, p. 388.[94] Beevor 2002, p. 386.[95] Beevor 2002, p. 409.[96] Beevor 2002, p. 338.[97] Dollinger 1967, p. 228.[98] Ziemke 1969, p. 128.[99] Ziemke 1969, p. 94.[100] Ziemke 1969, p. 129.[101] Beevor 2003, p. 350.[102] Beevor 2003, pp. 345–346.[103] Le Tissier 2005, p. 117.[104] Le Tissier 2005, pp. 89, 90.[105] Beevor 2002, p. 330.[106] Ziemke 1969, p. 119.[107] Ziemke 1969, p. 120.[108] Beevor 2002, p. 350.

Battle of Berlin 13

[109] Beevor 2002, p. 378.[110] Beevor 2002, p. 395.[111] Beevor 2002, p. 397.[112] Krivosheev 1997, pp. 219,220.[113] A number of sources cited in this article derive their causality numbers from Krivosheev's archival work. They include, Hamilton who uses

the figure of 361,367 without further breakdown (Hamilton 2008, p. 372). Beevor lists the casualties as 78,291 killed and 274,184 woundedfor a total of 352,475 (Beevor 2002, p. 424). Max Hastings uses 352,425 Soviet casualties (1st Belorussian Front: 179,490, 2nd BelorussianFront: 59,110, 1st Ukrainian Front: 113,825), but increases the portion of killed to over 100,000 (Hastings 2005, p. 548).

[114] Captured prisoners included many unarmed men in uniform, such as railway officials and members of the Reich Labour Service (Beevor2002, p. 287).

[115] Müller 2008, p. 673.[116] Glantz 1998, p. 271.[117] Clodfelter 2002, p. 515.[118] Bellamy 2007, p. 670.[119] White 2003, p. 126.[120] Beevor 2002, pp. 388–393.[121] Grossmann 2009, p. 51.[122] Beevor 2002, pp. 326–327.[123] Beevor May 2002.[124] Bellamy states that most of the rapes occurred between 23 April and 8 May after which the number of rapes gradually subsided (Bellamy

2007, p. 670), but as a consequence of the deprivations suffered by the civilian population, varying degrees of coerced sex, became waysthrough which some women managed to secure the necessities of day-to-day life (Ziemke 1969, pp. 149, 153).

During the months preceding to the battle, as the Red Army began its offensives into Germany proper, STAVKArecognised the potential for lapses in discipline involving vengeful troops and had been able to check such behaviourto a certain extent. Marshal Konev, in a 27 January order near the conclusion of the Vistula-Oder Offensive supplieda long list of commanders to be reassigned to penal battalions for looting, drunkenness, and excesses againstcivilians (Duffy 1991, p. 275).Although most sources agree that there was widespread rape, the numbers put forwards are estimations. A frequentlyquoted number is that 100,000 women in Berlin were raped by soldiers of the Red Army (Helke Sander & BarbaraJohr: BeFreier und Befreite, Fischer, Frankfurt 2005). This estimate has been questioned by Nicky Bird (Nicky Bird,International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944–), Vol. 78, No. 4. (Oct., 2002), pp. 914–916) whoargues the statistics are "unverefiable".[125] Ziemke 1990, p. 303.[126] Beevor 2002, p. 419.

Citations

References• Antill, Peter (2006), Berlin 1945, Osprey, ISBN 1841769150• Beevor, Antony (1 May 2002). "They raped every German female from eight to 80" (http:/ / www. guardian. co.

uk/ g2/ story/ 0,3604,707835,00. html). The Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2008.• Beevor, Antony (2002), Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking-Penguin Books, ISBN 0670030414• Beevor, Antony (2003), Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140286969• Bellamy, Chris (2007), Absolute war: Soviet Russia in the Second World War, Alfred A. Knopf,

ISBN 0375410864• Bergstrom, Christer (2007), Bagration to Berlin – The Final Air Battles in the East: 1944–1945, Ian Allan,

ISBN 9781903223918• Bullock, Alan (1962), Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140135642• Clodfelter, Michael (2002), Warfare and Armed Conflicts- A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures,

1500–2000 (2nd ed.), McFarland & Company, ISBN 0786412046• Dollinger, Hans (1967), The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Bonanza• Duffy, Christopher (1991), Red Storm on the Reich, Routledge, ISBN 0415035899

Battle of Berlin 14

• Erickson, John (1983), The Road to Berlin: Continuing the History of Stalin's War with Germany, WestviewPress, ISBN 0891587950

• Fischer, Thomas (2008), Soldiers Of the Leibstandarte, J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, ISBN 9780921991915• Glantz, David M. (1998), When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, University Press of Kansas,

ISBN 0700608990• Glantz, David M. (11 October 2001), The Soviet-German War 1941–1945: Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay

(http:/ / sti. clemson. edu/ index. php?option=com_docman& task=doc_details& gid=189& Itemid=310), TheStrom Thurmond Institute (http:/ / sti. clemson. edu/ sti/ general-info/ history-of-the-strom-thurmond-institute.html)

• Gregory, Don A.; Gehlen, William R. (2009), Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts: German War Diaries of theStalingrad and North Africa Campaigns (illustrated ed.), Casemate Publishers, pp.  207,208 (http:/ / books.google. co. uk/ books?id=Qv3fJdwMQx0C& lpg=PP1& pg=PA207#v=onepage& q& f=false), ISBN 1935149059

• Grossmann, Atina (2009), Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany, PrincetonUniversity Press, ISBN 069114317X

• Hamilton, A. Stephan (2008), Bloody Streets: The Soviet Assault on Berlin, April 1945, Helion & Co.,ISBN 9781906033125

• Hastings, Max (2004), Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944–1945, Macmillan, ISBN 0333908368• Hastings, Max (2005), Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944–1945, Pan, ISBN 978-0-330-49062-7• Krivosheev, G. F. (1997), Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century, Greenhill Books,

ISBN 1853672807• Komorowski, Krzysztof; Poland. Wojskowe Biuro Badań Historycznych (2009), Boje polskie 1939–1945:

przewodnik encyklopedyczny (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=XX5KcTNWbooC& pg=PA65), Bellona,pp. 65–67, ISBN 9788373993532, retrieved 12 May 2011

• Kuby, Erich (1968), The Russians and Berlin, 1945, Hill and Wang• Le Tissier, Tony (2005), Slaughter at Halbe, Sutton, ISBN 0750936894• Lewis, John E. (1998), The Mammoth Book of Eye-witness History, Pgw, ISBN 0786705345• McInnis, Edgar (1946), The war, 6, Oxford University Press• Milward, Alan S. (1980), War, Economy and Society, 1939–1945, University of California Press,

ISBN 0520039424• Moeller, Robert G. (1997), West Germany Under Construction, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 047206648X• (German) Müller, Rolf-Dieter (2008), Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Band 10/1: Der

Zusammenbruch des Deutschen Reiches 1945 und die Folgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges – Teilbd 1: Diemilitärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, ISBN 3421062374

• Murray, Williamson & Millett, Allan Reed (2000), A War to be Won, Harvard University Press,ISBN 0674006801

• Naimark, Norman M. (1995), The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949,Cambridge: Belknap, ISBN 0674784057

• Ryan, Cornelius (1966), The Last Battle, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 067140640X• Simons, Gerald (1982), Victory in Europe, Time-Life Books, ISBN 0809434067• Sontheimer, Michael (7 May 2008), "Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked" (http:/ / www. spiegel. de/

international/ europe/ 0,1518,551972,00. html), Spiegel Online, retrieved 13 September 2008• Tiemann, Ralf (1998), The Leibstandarte IV/2, J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, ISBN 0921991401• Wagner, Ray (1974), The Soviet Air Force in World War II: the Official History, Doubleday• White, Osmar (2003), Conquerors' Road: An Eyewitness Report of Germany 1945, Cambridge University Press,

ISBN 0521537517• Williams, Andrew (2005), D-Day to Berlin, Hodder, ISBN 0340833971• Zaloga, Steven J. (1982), 'The Polish Army, 1939–45, Osprey Publishing, ISBN ????

Battle of Berlin 15

• Ziemke, Earl F. (1969), Battle for Berlin End of the Third Reich Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II(Battle Book #6), Ballantine Books

• Ziemke, Earl F. (1990), Chapter 17 Zone and Sector (http:/ / www. history. army. mil/ books/ wwii/ Occ-GY/ch17. htm), "The U.S. Army in the occupation of Germany 1944–1946" (http:/ / www. globalsecurity. org/military/ library/ report/ other/ us-army_germany_1944-46_index. htm#contents), Center of Military History(Washington, D. C.: United States Army), Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-619027

• Zuljan, Ralph (1 July 2003). "Battle for the Seelow Heights – Part II" (http:/ / www. onwar. com/ articles/ 9905.htm). Originally published in "World War II" at Suite101.com on 1 May 1999. Revised edition published in"Articles On War" at OnWar.com (http:/ / www. onwar. com/ faq. htm) on 1 July 2003.

Further reading• Antill, P. Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945 (http:/ / www. historyofwar. org/ articles/ battles_berlin. html).

Includes the Order of Battle for the Battle for Berlin (Le Tissier, T. The Battle of Berlin 1945, Jonathan Cape,London, 1988.

• Anonymous; A Woman in Berlin: Six Weeks in the Conquered City Translated by Anthes Bell, ISBN0-8050-7540-2

• Read, Anthony and Fisher, David; The Fall of Berlin, London: Pimlico, 1993. ISBN 0-7126-0695-5• Sanders, Ian J. ; Photos of World War 2 Berlin Locations today (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071014200626/

http:/ / www. geocities. com/ isanders_2000/ ww2index. htm)• Shepardson, Donald E.; "The Fall of Berlin and the Rise of a Myth", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 62,

No. 1. (1998), pp. 135–153.• Remme, Tilman; The Battle for Berlin in World War Two (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ worldwars/ wwtwo/

berlin_01. shtml) BBC article• White, Osmar By the eyes of a war correspondent (http:/ / www. argo. net. au/ andre/ osmarwhiteENFIN. htm)

Alternative account of crimes against civilians• RT (TV network), (official channel on YouTube). "Fall of Berlin: Stopping the Nazi Heart (http:/ / www.

youtube. com/ watch?v=wjD6Lxiu6q4)." June 27, 2010. 26 minute video.

Article Sources and Contributors 16

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Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Na Berlin.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Na_Berlin.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Halibutt, PDH, Witkacy, 1 anonymous editsFile:Soviet artillery firing on berlin april 1945.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Soviet_artillery_firing_on_berlin_april_1945.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: 1 anonymous editsFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J31305, Auszeichnung des Hitlerjungen Willi Hübner.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J31305,_Auszeichnung_des_Hitlerjungen_Willi_Hübner.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0Germany  Contributors: 08-15, Bohème, Felix Stember, Fredy.00, G.dallorto, Martin H., Mattes, Mtsmallwood, 1 anonymous editsFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-092-29, vor Berlin, Volkssturm mit Panzerabwehrwaffe.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1985-092-29,_vor_Berlin,_Volkssturm_mit_Panzerabwehrwaffe.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike3.0 Germany  Contributors: Woscidlo, WilfriedFile:Russian artillery fire in Berlin.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Russian_artillery_fire_in_Berlin.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Alex Bakharev,PMG, Randbewohner, SuperTank17, Voevoda, 2 anonymous editsFile:Berlin bunker.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Berlin_bunker.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Janericloebe, Liftarn, Randbewohner, Rcbutcher,Roggenbrot, Поздеев Владимир ОлеговичFile:Battle for Reichstag 1945 map-eng.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Battle_for_Reichstag_1945_map-eng.png  License: Creative CommonsAttribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: Ivengo(RUS)File:1945-05-01GerWW2BattlefrontAtlas.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1945-05-01GerWW2BattlefrontAtlas.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: ArmyMap ServiceFile:ElbeDay1945 (NARA ww2-121).jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ElbeDay1945_(NARA_ww2-121).jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: w:Private FirstClassPfc. William E. PoulsonFile:Destruction in a Berlin street.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Destruction_in_a_Berlin_street.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: No 5 Army Film &Photographic Unit, Wilkes A (Sergeant) Post-Work: User:W.wolnyFile:German women doing their washing.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:German_women_doing_their_washing.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: No 5Army Film & Photographic Unit, Wilkes A (Sergeant) Post-Work: User:W.wolny

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