How many European capitals did the Russians take? How the Russian army first took Berlin Negotiations and surrender

The final battle in the Great Patriotic War was the battle for Berlin, or the Berlin strategic offensive operation, which was carried out from April 16 to May 8, 1945.

On April 16, at 03:00 local time, aviation and artillery preparation began on the sector of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts. After its completion, 143 searchlights were turned on to blind the enemy, and the infantry, supported by tanks, went on the attack. Encountering no strong resistance, she advanced 1.5-2 kilometers. However, the further our troops advanced, the stronger the resistance of the enemy grew.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front carried out a swift maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and west. On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts joined up west of Berlin, completing the encirclement of the entire enemy Berlin grouping.

The liquidation of the Berlin enemy grouping directly in the city continued until May 2. The assault had to take every street and house. On April 29, fighting began for the Reichstag, the possession of which was entrusted to the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.

Before the assault on the Reichstag, the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army presented its divisions with nine Red Banners, specially made according to the type of the State Flag of the USSR. One of these Red Banners, known under No. 5 as the Banner of Victory, was transferred to the 150th Rifle Division. Similar self-made red banners, flags and flags were in all advanced units, formations and subunits. They, as a rule, were handed over to assault groups, which were recruited from among volunteers and went into battle with the main task - to break into the Reichstag and install the Banner of Victory on it. The first - at 22:30 Moscow time on April 30, 1945, hoisted an assault red banner on the roof of the Reichstag on the sculptural figure "Goddess of Victory" - reconnaissance artillerymen of the 136th Army Cannon Artillery Brigade, senior sergeants G.K. Zagitov, A.F. Lisimenko, A.P. Bobrov and Sergeant A.P. Minin from the assault group of the 79th Rifle Corps, commanded by Captain V.N. Makov, the assault group of artillerymen acted jointly with the battalion of captain S.A. Neustroeva. Two or three hours later, also on the roof of the Reichstag, on the sculpture of an equestrian knight - Kaiser Wilhelm - by order of the commander of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, the Red Banner No. 5 was installed, which then became famous as the Banner of Victory. Red Banner No. 5 was hoisted by scouts Sergeant M.A. Egorov and junior sergeant M.V. Kantaria, who were accompanied by Lieutenant A.P. Berest and machine gunners from the company of senior sergeant I.Ya. Syanov.

The fighting for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1. At 6:30 am on May 2, the head of the defense of Berlin, General of Artillery G. Weidling, surrendered and ordered the remnants of the troops of the Berlin garrison to cease resistance. In the middle of the day, the resistance of the Nazis in the city ceased. On the same day, the encircled groupings of German troops southeast of Berlin were liquidated.

On May 9, at 0:43 Moscow time, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, as well as representatives of the German Navy, who had the appropriate authority from Doenitz, in the presence of Marshal G.K. Zhukov from the Soviet side signed the Act of unconditional surrender of Germany. A brilliant operation, coupled with the courage of Soviet soldiers and officers who fought to end the four-year nightmare of war, led to a logical outcome: Victory.

Capture of Berlin. 1945 Documentary

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

The Berlin operation of the Soviet troops began. Goal: complete the defeat of Germany, capture Berlin, connect with the allies

The infantry and tanks of the 1st Belorussian Front launched an attack before dawn under the illumination of anti-aircraft searchlights and advanced 1.5-2 km

With the onset of dawn on the Seelow Heights, the Germans came to their senses and fight with bitterness. Zhukov introduces tank armies into battle

16 Apr. 45g. The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev meet less resistance on the way of their offensive and immediately force the Neisse

Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Konev orders the commanders of his tank armies Rybalko and Lelyushenko to advance on Berlin

Konev demands from Rybalko and Lelyushenko not to get involved in protracted and head-on battles, to boldly move forward towards Berlin

In the battles for Berlin, twice a Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of a tank battalion of Guards. Mr. S.Khokhryakov

The 2nd Belorussian Front of Rokossovsky joined the Berlin operation, covering the right flank.

By the end of the day, Konev's front had completed the breakthrough of the Neissen line of defense, crossed the river. Spree and provided the conditions for the encirclement of Berlin from the south

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front Zhukov break the 3rd line of enemy defense on the Oderen-on the Seelow Heights all day

By the end of the day, Zhukov's troops completed the breakthrough of the 3rd lane of the Oder line at the Seelow Heights

On the left wing of Zhukov's front, conditions were created for cutting off the Frankfurt-Guben group of the enemy from the Berlin area

Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to the commanders of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts: "It is better to treat the Germans." , Antonov

Another directive of the Headquarters: on identification marks and signals at the meeting of Soviet armies and allied forces

At 13.50, long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army was the first to open fire on Berlin - the beginning of the assault on the city itself

20 Apr. 45g. Konev and Zhukov send almost identical orders to the troops of their fronts: “Be the first to break into Berlin!”

By evening, formations of the 2nd Guards Tank, 3rd and 5th Shock Armies of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the northeastern outskirts of Berlin

The 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies wedged into the city defensive bypass of Berlin in the districts of Petershagen and Erkner

Hitler ordered the 12th Army, previously targeted against the Americans, to be turned against the 1st Ukrainian Front. She now has the goal of linking up with the remnants of the 9th and 4th Panzer Armies, making their way south of Berlin to the west.

Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army broke into the southern part of Berlin and is fighting for Teltow by 17.30 - Konev's telegram to Stalin

Hitler refused to leave Berlin for the last time while there was such an opportunity. Goebbels and his family moved to a bunker under the Reich Chancellery ("Fuhrer's bunker")

Assault flags were presented by the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army to the divisions storming Berlin. Among them is the flag that became the banner of victory - the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division.

In the district of Spremberg, Soviet troops liquidated the encircled group of Germans. Among the destroyed units is the tank division "Protection of the Fuhrer"

Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front are fighting in the south of Berlin. At the same time, they reached the Elbe River northwest of Dresden

Goering, who had left Berlin, turned to Hitler on the radio, asking him to approve him at the head of the government. Received an order from Hitler removing him from the government. Bormann ordered Goering's arrest for treason

Himmler unsuccessfully tries through the Swedish diplomat Bernadotte to offer the allies surrender on the Western Front

Shock formations of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts in the Brandenburg region closed the encirclement ring of German troops in Berlin

Forces of the German 9th and 4th tanks. armies are surrounded in the forests southeast of Berlin. Parts of the 1st Ukrainian Front reflect the counterattack of the 12th German Army

Report: “In the suburbs of Berlin, Ransdorf, there are restaurants where they “willingly sell” beer to our fighters for occupation marks.” The head of the political department of the 28th Guards Rifle Regiment, Borodin, ordered the owners of Ransdorf's restaurants to close them for a while until the battle was over.

In the area of ​​Torgau on the Elbe, Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian fr. met with the troops of the 12th American Army Group General Bradley

Having crossed the Spree, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Konev and the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of Zhukov are rushing towards the center of Berlin. The rush of Soviet soldiers in Berlin can no longer be stopped

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front in Berlin occupied Gartenstadt and Gerlitsky Station, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front - the district of Dahlem

Konev turned to Zhukov with a proposal to change the demarcation line between their fronts in Berlin - the city center to transfer it to the front

Zhukov asks Stalin to salute the capture of the center of Berlin to the troops of his front, replacing Konev's troops in the south of the city

The General Staff orders Konev's troops, who have already reached the Tiergarten, to transfer their offensive zone to Zhukov's troops

Order No. 1 of the military commandant of Berlin, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General Berzarin, on the transfer of all power in Berlin into the hands of the Soviet military commandant's office. It was announced to the population of the city that the National Socialist Party of Germany and its organizations were disbanding and their activities were prohibited. The order established the order of behavior of the population and determined the main provisions necessary for the normalization of life in the city.

The battles for the Reichstag began, the mastery of which was entrusted to the 79th rifle corps of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front

When breaking through the barriers on the Berlin Kaiserallee, the tank of N. Shendrikov received 2 holes, caught fire, the crew failed. The mortally wounded commander, having gathered his last strength, sat down at the controls and threw the flaming tank at the enemy cannon

Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun in a bunker under the Reich Chancellery. Witness - Goebbels. In his political testament, Hitler expelled Goering from the NSDAP and officially named Grand Admiral Dönitz as his successor.

Soviet units are fighting for the Berlin metro

The Soviet command rejected attempts by the German command to start negotiations on the time. ceasefire. There is only one demand - surrender!

The assault on the Reichstag building itself began, which was defended by more than 1000 Germans and SS men from different countries

In different places of the Reichstag, several red banners were fixed - from regimental and divisional to self-made

Scouts of the 150th division Egorov and Kantaria were ordered to hoist the Red Banner over the Reichstag around midnight

Lieutenant Berest from the Neustroev battalion led the combat mission of installing the Banner over the Reichstag. Established around 3.00, May 1

Hitler committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery bunker by taking poison and shooting him in the temple with a pistol. Hitler's corpse is burned in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery

At the post of Chancellor, Hitler leaves Goebbels, who will commit suicide the next day. Before his death, Hitler appointed Bormann Reich Minister for Party Affairs (previously such a post did not exist)

The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front captured Bandenburg, cleared the areas of Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and 100 quarters in Berlin

In Berlin, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, after killing their 6 children

Beg. German General Staff Krebs, announced the suicide of Hitler, offered to conclude a truce. Stalin confirmed the categorical demand for unconditional surrender in Berlin. At 18 o'clock the Germans rejected him

At 18.30, in connection with the rejection of the surrender, the Berlin garrison received a fire attack. The mass surrender of the Germans began

At 01.00, the radios of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “Please cease fire. We are sending parliamentarians to the Potsdam Bridge"

A German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin Weidling, announced the readiness of the Berlin garrison to stop resistance

At 0600, General Weidling surrendered and an hour later signed the surrender order for the Berlin garrison.

Enemy resistance in Berlin has completely ceased. The remnants of the garrison surrender en masse

In Berlin, Goebbels's deputy for propaganda and press, Dr. Fritsche, was taken prisoner. Fritsche testified during interrogation that Hitler, Goebbels and Chief of the General Staff General Krebs committed suicide

Stalin's order on the contribution of the Zhukov and Konev fronts to the defeat of the Berlin group. By 21.00, 70 thousand Germans had already surrendered

The irretrievable losses of the Red Army in the Berlin operation - 78 thousand people. Enemy losses - 1 million, incl. 150 thousand killed

Everywhere in Berlin, Soviet field kitchens are deployed, where "wild barbarians" feed hungry Berliners.

Do you know that our troops took Berlin three times?! 1760 - 1813 - 1945.

Without even diving into the depths of centuries, when the Prussians and Russians sang, prayed and cursed in the same (or very similar) language, we find that in the campaign of 1760, during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the commander-in-chief Field Marshal Pyotr Semenovich Saltykov captured Berlin, at that time only the capital of Prussia.

Austria just quarreled with this northern neighbor and called for help from a powerful eastern neighbor - Russia. When the Austrians were friends with the Prussians, they fought together with the Russians.

It was the time of gallant conquering kings, the heroic image of Charles XII had not yet been forgotten, and Frederick II was already trying to surpass him. And he, like Karl, was not always lucky ... It took only 23 thousand people to march on Berlin: the corps of General Zakhar Grigorievich Chernyshev with the attached Don Cossacks Krasnoshchekov, Totleben's cavalry and Austrian allies under the command of General Lassi.

The Berlin garrison, numbering 14 thousand bayonets, was protected by the natural border of the river Spree (Schpree), Kopenick Castle, flushes and palisades. But, not counting on his wards, the commandant of the city decided to immediately "make his feet" and, if it were not for the militant chiefs Lewald, Seydlitz and Knobloch, the battle would not have happened at all.

Ours tried to cross the Spree, but the Prussians forced them to take a sip of water, it did not work out on the move to seize a bridgehead for the assault. But soon the stubbornness of the attackers was rewarded: three hundred Russian grenadiers, renowned masters of bayonet fighting, burst into the Gali and Cottbus gates. But, not having received reinforcements in time, they lost 92 people killed and were forced to retreat from the Berlin Wall. The second assault detachment, commanded by Major Patkul, retreated without loss at all.

Troops from both sides flocked to the Berlin Wall: the regiments of Chernyshev and the Prince of Wirtenberg. The Prussian cuirassiers of General Gulsen - armored vehicles of the eighteenth century - wanted to come out of Potsdam and crush the Russians near the town of Lichtenberg. Ours met them with shrapnel volleys of horse artillery - the prototype of the Katyushas. Not expecting anything like this, the heavy cavalry faltered and was overturned by Russian hussars with cuirassiers.

The morale of the troops was very high. This factor was valued in those days when they fought exclusively in the fresh air. The division of General Panin, having covered 75 versts in two days with only knapsacks on their backs and without ammunition and convoys, was in full force from generals to privates full of desire "to carry out this attack in the most perfect way."

It is difficult to say what would have happened to the Berlin garrison, but even the most belligerent of the Prussian generals decided not to take risks and evacuate the capital under cover of night. They chose Totleben, who was less eager to fight than others, and surrendered to him. Without consulting with Chernyshev, Totleben accepted the surrender, letting the Prussians through their positions. It is interesting that on the Russian side this surrender, not unconditional, but quite acceptable to the Germans, was accepted by Messrs. Totleben, Brink and Bachmann. From German - negotiations were conducted by gentlemen Wigner with Bachman - our namesake.

One can imagine how Commander-in-Chief Chernyshev felt when he learned that the Prussians were "surrendered" and he was deprived of a valiant victory. He rushed in pursuit of the slowly and culturally retreating enemy columns and began to crumble their orderly rows into cabbage.

Behind Totleben, on the other hand, they established covert supervision and soon received irrefutable evidence that he was connected with the enemy. They wanted to shoot a high-ranking double-dealer, but Catherine took pity on Totleben, who was fed by Friedrich. Their own people. The surname of the Totlebens in Rus' was not interrupted; during the Crimean War, the military engineer Totleben built beautiful fortifications around Sevastopol.

STORM NAMED AFTER BENKENDORFF

The next Berlin operation happened when the Russians drove Napoleon's army from under the walls of the fire-damaged Moscow. We did not call the Patriotic War of 1812 the Great, but the Russians nevertheless visited the capital of Prussia.

Lieutenant General Pyotr Khristianovich Wittgenstein commanded the Berlin direction in the 1813 campaign, but Chernyshev could not do without the surname: Cossack partisans under the command of Major General Prince Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev on February 6 raided Berlin, defended by French troops under the command of Marshal Augereau.

A few words about the attackers. At one time, military historians made an average portrait of an officer who participated in the Battle of Borodino. He turned out to be like this: age - thirty-one years, not married, since it is difficult to feed the family on one salary, in the army - more than ten years, a participant in four battles, knows two European languages, cannot read and write.

At the forefront of the main troops was Alexander Benckendorff - the future gendarmerie chief, the oppressor of free-thinking writers. He did not know then and hardly thought about it later, that only thanks to the writers will the pictures of peaceful life and battles be preserved in the memory of the people.

Unpretentious Russians drove the "cultural" enemy at an indecent speed for the latter. The Berlin garrison outnumbered the 1760 garrison by a thousand men, but the French were even less willing to defend the Prussian capital. They retreated to Leipzig, where Napoleon was concentrating his troops for a decisive battle. The Berliners opened the gates, the townspeople greeted the Russian soldiers-liberators. http://vk.com/rus_improvisation Their actions were contrary to the convention of the French, concluded by them with the Berlin police, obliged to inform the Russians about the enemy's retreat - not earlier than ten o'clock in the morning of the next day after the retreat.

The campaign of the thirteenth year had its own May 9th. Let us quote once again the "Letters of a Russian officer" F.N. Glinka:

“On May 9, we had a big common battle, about which you will read a detailed description in the newspapers and then in a magazine about the actions of a large army, when it is composed. I do not even expand on the description of the excellent actions of the Left flank, commanded by the commander Count Miloradovich ... At the beginning of the case, Count Miloradovich, going around the regiments, told the soldiers: remember that you are fighting on the day of St. Nicholas! This saint of God has always granted Russians victory and now looks at you from heaven! .. "

VICTORY BANNER IN WOMEN'S HANDS

It is unlikely that in the spring of 1945, many in the warring armies knew that the Russians had already been near Berlin. But since they acted there in a completely businesslike way, the idea comes that the genetic memory of generations still exists.

The allies hurried as best they could to the "Berlin pie", against their powerful eighty divisions on the western front of the Germans there were only sixty German ones. But the Allies did not succeed in taking part in the capture of the "lair", the Red Army surrounded it and took it on its own.

The operation began with the fact that thirty-two detachments were sent to the city for reconnaissance in force. Then, when the operational situation was more or less clarified, guns rumbled, 7 million shells fell on the enemy. “Several machine-gun bursts crackled from the side of the enemy in the first seconds, and then everything calmed down. It seemed that there was no living creature left from the side of the enemy,” wrote one of the participants in the battle.

But it just seemed. Having dug in in defense in depth, the Germans resisted stubbornly. The Seelow heights were especially difficult for our units, Zhukov promised Stalin to capture them on April 17, they took them only on the 18th. It was not without mistakes, after the war, critics agreed that it would be better to storm the city with a narrower front, perhaps one reinforced Belarusian one.

But be that as it may, by April 20, long-range artillery began to shell the city. And four days later the Red Army broke into the suburbs. It was not so difficult to pass them, the Germans were not preparing to fight here, but in the old part of the city the enemy again came to his senses and began to desperately resist.

When the Red Army men found themselves on the banks of the Spree, the Soviet command had already appointed the commandant of the dilapidated Reichstag, and the battle went on. We must pay tribute to the elite SS units who fought for real and to the last ...

And soon a banner of the colors of the winner flew over the Reich Chancellery. Many people know about Yegorov and Kantaria, but for some reason they didn’t write about the one who raised the banner over the last stronghold of resisting fascism - the imperial office, and this person turned out to be a woman - an instructor in the political department of the 9th rifle corps Anna Vladimirovna Nikulina.

The capture of the German capital is an old Russian tradition dating back more than a quarter of a millennium.

Dying but not giving up

In early October 1760, the Russian army approached Berlin. The war with Prussia, which lasted for the seventh year, came to its logical end. Frederick the Great, the formidable emperor, who until recently was considered the first European commander, was well aware that the old fortifications of Berlin were not able to withstand either a long siege or a serious assault. Dilapidated medieval walls and a wooden palisade were weak protection for the garrison, which at that moment numbered only one and a half thousand bayonets.

However, the first demand for surrender, sent by the commander of the Russian advanced units, the international adventurer General Gottlob Kurt Heinrich von Totleben, the Prussians responded with a decisive refusal. Then he deployed an assault battery and struck at the center of the city, making it clear that he was able to shoot through him. However, the garrison still did not lower the flag. The valor of the Germans was appreciated - the old Berliner Totleben put up another battery, this time at the city gates. Dense fire opened the way to the city and led to fires along Friedrichstraße. By midnight, in the light of the fires, the Russian grenadiers attacked the gap in three detachments. But it was not possible to take the city "on a spear" on the move.

Member of the assault prince Prozorovsky, who commanded the Russian troops here, wrote in his memoirs that one detachment lost its way in the dark, the second came under fire from fortress artillery and retreated. And only the detachment that he personally led, despite huge losses, managed to break through to the moat filled with water. However, it was unrealistic to cross the ditch under fire. The first assault ended in failure, but worst of all, the forward corps was running out of fire supplies. In addition, many guns were out of order: to increase the range of the shot, they were loaded with an excessive amount of gunpowder. The seemingly defenseless fortress survived and was ready to continue the defense.

Russians fight - Germans tremble

Soon the main Russian forces under the command of General Zakhara Chernysheva. It was then that the main battle began - in which the unfortunate Germans did not take part, waiting for their fate to be decided. Chernyshev and Totleben set up their camps respectively on the right and left banks of the Spree. At the same time, Chernyshev tried to achieve obedience from Totleben, wanting to take over the overall leadership of the assault. In turn, Totleben, with a stamina worthy of a better use, ignored all Chernyshev's orders. To the demands to cross to the right bank, he completely refused. Half a century later, retreating before Napoleon, in the same way they will pull the blanket over themselves Bagration And Barclay de Tolly..

Perked up in spirit, the Berliners did not prevent the besiegers from engaging in their strife, especially since they had enough of their own affairs - fresh reinforcements from Saxony and Pomerania approached. So by the time the Russians turned their attention back to Berlin, the balance of power was already quite decent. The Berliners hoped that the miracle of three years ago would repeat itself, when Stepan Apraksin for reasons known to him alone. In addition, now the battle, which only yesterday had been seen as a simple undertaking, threatened to turn into a real massacre.

force majeure event

However, unlike the generals concerned only with personal glory, the Almighty was on the side of the Russian battalions - on October 8, a hurricane of unprecedented strength swept over Berlin. And if the burgomaster could still do something with the hundred-year-old oaks turned upside down, then it was already difficult to repair the fallen sections of the palisade under the fire of Russian troops. And then, to the misfortune of the Prussians, two days earlier than planned, their sworn friends approached the city - the Austrians, allies of the Russians. Of course, one could wait to see if the Russian generals would clash with the Austrian ones, finding out who was now in charge, but the Prussians decided not to risk it. On the night of October 9, they began to retreat to Spandau. On the morning of the same day, the authorities of Berlin took out the keys and capitulated to their countryman, General Totleben, who of the three commanders seemed to be the lesser evil.

In Berlin, Russian troops captured 4,500 soldiers, seized 143 guns, 18,000 guns and pistols, and almost 2 million thalers of indemnity as payment for travel expenses. But at the same time, the pogroms and reprisals expected by the Berliners did not follow - the ferocious Russians behaved surprisingly peacefully and calmly.

Gifted Victory

The fall of Berlin plunged Emperor Frederick the Great into extreme despondency, but soon the fruits of Russian victories in this war were nullified. January 5, 1762 Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died and her nephew ascended the throne PeterIII. The new sovereign idolized Frederick the Great and therefore immediately ended the war without any benefits for Russia, returning to his idol all the lands conquered from him.

Contrary to popular belief, there was a certain logic in the actions of the new sovereign. Peter III, born Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, wanted to involve Frederick in the war with Denmark, which at that time chopped off a large piece of his Holstein possessions, and he succeeded. True, our emperor did not live to see the triumph of such dubious diplomacy: he was eliminated in the interests of Ekaterina Alekseevna, which would later be called the Great. But that's a completely different story...

And the keys to Berlin, presented on October 9 to General Totleben, are still kept in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

How the Russian army first took Berlin

The capture of Berlin by Soviet troops in 1945 marked the end of the Great Patriotic War. The red flag over the Reichstag, even decades later, remains the most striking symbol of the Victory. But the Soviet soldiers marching on Berlin were not pioneers. Their ancestors first stepped into the streets of the surrendered German capital two centuries before ...

The Seven Years' War, which began in 1756, was the first full-scale European conflict in which Russia was drawn.

The rapid strengthening of Prussia under the rule of the militant King Frederick II worried the Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and forced her to join the anti-Prussian coalition of Austria and France.

Frederick II, not inclined to diplomacy, called this coalition "an alliance of three women", referring to Elizabeth, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa and the favorite of the French king, the Marquise de Pompadour.

War with an eye

Russia's entry into the war in 1757 was rather cautious and indecisive.

The second reason according to which the Russian military leaders did not seek to force events, there was a deteriorating state of health of the empress. It was known that the heir to the throne, Pyotr Fedorovich, was an ardent admirer of the Prussian king and a categorical opponent of the war with him.

Frederick II the Great

The first major battle between the Russians and the Prussians, which took place at Gross-Jägersdorf in 1757, to the great surprise of Frederick II, ended with the victory of the Russian army. This success, however, was offset by the fact that the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal Stepan Apraksin, ordered a retreat after a victorious battle.

This step was explained by the news of the serious illness of the empress, and Apraksin was afraid to anger the new emperor, who was about to take the throne.

But Elizaveta Petrovna recovered, Apraksin was removed from his post and sent to prison, where he soon died.

Miracle for the King

The war continued, more and more turning into a struggle of attrition, which was unprofitable for Prussia - the country's resources were significantly inferior to the enemy's reserves, and even the financial support of allied England could not compensate for this difference.

In August 1759, at the Battle of Kunersdorf, the allied Russian-Austrian forces utterly defeated the army of Frederick II.

Alexander Kotzebue. "Battle of Kunersdorf" (1848)

The king's condition was close to despair.“In truth, I believe that all is lost. I will not survive the death of my Fatherland. Goodbye forever", Friedrich wrote to his minister.

The road to Berlin was open, but a conflict arose between the Russians and the Austrians, as a result of which the moment for capturing the Prussian capital and ending the war was lost. Frederick II, taking advantage of the sudden respite, managed to raise a new army and continue the war. The delay of the Allies, which saved him, he called "the miracle of the House of Brandenburg."

Throughout 1760, Frederick II managed to resist the superior forces of the allies., which were hampered by inconsistency. At the Battle of Liegnitz, the Prussians defeated the Austrians.

Unsuccessful assault

The French and Austrians, concerned about the situation, urged the Russian army to step up their actions. Berlin was proposed as a target for her.

The capital of Prussia was not a powerful fortress. Weak walls, turning into a wooden palisade - the Prussian kings did not expect that they would have to fight in their own capital.

Frederick himself was distracted by the fight against the Austrian troops in Silesia, where he had an excellent chance of success. Under these conditions, at the request of the allies, the Russian army was given a directive to carry out a raid on Berlin.

The 20,000th Russian corps of Lieutenant General Zakhar Chernyshev advanced to the Prussian capital with the support of the 17,000th Austrian corps of Franz von Lassi.

Count Gottlob Kurt Heinrich von Totleben

The Russian avant-garde was commanded by Gottlob Totleben, a born German who lived in Berlin for a long time and dreamed of the sole glory of the conqueror of the Prussian capital.

Totleben's troops arrived in Berlin before the main forces. In Berlin, they hesitated as to whether it was worth holding the line, but under the influence of Friedrich Seydlitz, the commander of Frederick's cavalry, who was treated in the city after being wounded, they decided to fight.

The first assault attempt ended in failure. The fires that started in the city after the shelling by the Russian army were quickly extinguished, out of the three attacking columns, only one managed to break through directly to the city, but they also had to retreat due to the desperate resistance of the defenders.

victory with scandal

Following this, the Prussian corps of Prince Eugene of Württemberg came to the aid of Berlin, which forced Totleben to retreat.

In the capital of Prussia, they rejoiced early - the main forces of the allies approached Berlin. General Chernyshev began to prepare a decisive assault.

On the evening of September 27, a military council met in Berlin, at which a decision was made - due to the complete superiority of the enemy, the city should be surrendered. At the same time, the parliamentarians were sent to the ambitious Totleben, believing that it would be easier to negotiate with a German than with a Russian or an Austrian.

Totleben really went to meet the besieged, allowing the surrendered Prussian garrison to leave the city.

At that moment, when Totleben entered the city, he met with Lieutenant Colonel Rzhevsky, who arrived to negotiate with the Berliners on the terms of surrender on behalf of General Chernyshev. Totleben told the lieutenant colonel to tell him that he had already taken the city and received symbolic keys from it.

Chernyshev arrived in the city beside himself with rage - Totleben's amateur performance, backed up, as it turned out later, by a bribe from the Berlin authorities, categorically did not suit him. The general gave the order to begin the pursuit of the outgoing Prussian troops. The Russian cavalry overtook the units retreating to Spandau and defeated them.

“If Berlin is destined to be busy, then let it be the Russians”

The population of Berlin was horrified by the appearance of the Russians, who were described as absolute savages, but, to the surprise of the townspeople, the soldiers of the Russian army behaved with dignity, not committing excesses against civilians. But the Austrians, who had personal scores with the Prussians, did not restrain themselves - they robbed houses, passers-by on the streets, smashed everything they could reach. It got to the point that the Russian patrols had to reason with the allies with the help of weapons.

The stay of the Russian army in Berlin lasted six days. Frederick II, having learned about the fall of the capital, immediately sent an army from Silesia to help the main city of the country. The battle with the main forces of the Prussian army was not part of Chernyshev's plans - he completed his task of distracting Friedrich. Having collected trophies, the Russian army left the city.

Russians in Berlin. Engraving by Daniel Chodovetsky.

The King of Prussia, having received a report of minimal destruction in the capital, remarked: "Thanks to the Russians, they saved Berlin from the horrors with which the Austrians threatened my capital." But these words of Friedrich were intended only for the immediate environment. The monarch, who highly appreciated the power of propaganda, ordered his subjects to be informed about the monstrous atrocities of the Russians in Berlin.

However, not everyone wanted to support this myth. The German scientist Leonid Euler wrote in a letter to a friend about the Russian raid on the Prussian capital: “We had a visit here that would have been extremely pleasant under other circumstances. However, I always wished that if Berlin was ever destined to be occupied by foreign troops, then let it be Russians ... "

What Frederick is salvation, Peter is death

The departure of the Russians from Berlin was a pleasant event for Frederick, but it was not of key importance for the outcome of the war. By the end of 1760, he completely lost the opportunity for a qualitative replenishment of the army, driving prisoners of war into its ranks, who very often ran across to the side of the enemy. The army could not conduct offensive operations, and the king was increasingly thinking about abdicating the throne.

The Russian army took full control of East Prussia, whose population had already sworn allegiance to Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.

At this very moment, Frederick II was helped by the "second miracle of the House of Brandenburg" - the death of the Russian Empress. Peter III, who replaced her on the throne, not only immediately made peace with his idol and returned to him all the territories conquered by Russia, but also provided troops for the war with yesterday's allies.

Peter III

What turned out to be happiness for Frederick cost Peter III dearly. The Russian army and, first of all, the guard did not appreciate the broad gesture, considering it insulting. As a result, the coup, soon organized by the emperor's wife Ekaterina Alekseevna, went like clockwork. Following this, the deposed emperor died under circumstances not completely clarified.

But the Russian army firmly remembered the road to Berlin, laid in 1760, in order to return whenever needed.

Storming 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 World War II in Europe. The operation lasted from April 25 to May 2.

Storming Berlin

"Zoobunker" - a huge reinforced concrete fortress with anti-aircraft batteries on the towers and an extensive underground shelter - served at the same time 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 division "Nordland" 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 at a 25-km section. Water rushed into the tunnels, where a large number of civilians and the wounded were hiding. The number of victims is still unknown.

Information about the number of victims ... is different - from fifty to fifteen thousand people ... The data that about a hundred people died under water look more reliable. Of course, there were many thousands of people in the tunnels, among whom were the wounded, children, women and the elderly, but the water did not spread through the underground communications too quickly. Moreover, it spread underground in various directions. Of course, the picture of the 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 dead would be a strong 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 many 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 diseases even before the destruction of the tunnel.

In the first hour of the night on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “Please cease fire. We are sending parliamentarians 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 am 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 an order to surrender, which was reproduced and, using loud-speaking installations and radio, brought to the enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. As this order was brought to the attention of the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Separate units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

On May 2, at 10 o'clock in the morning, everything suddenly calmed down, the fire ceased. And everyone understood that something had happened. We saw white sheets that were “thrown away” in the Reichstag, the Chancellery building and the Royal Opera and cellars that had not yet been taken. Entire columns were toppled from there. Ahead of us was a column, where there were generals, colonels, then soldiers behind them. It must have been three hours.

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

Operation results

Soviet troops defeated the Berlin grouping of enemy troops and stormed the capital of Germany - Berlin. Developing a further offensive, they reached the Elbe River, where they joined 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 the encirclement and destruction of the last large enemy groupings 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 125,000 perished. The city was badly damaged as a result of the bombing even before the arrival of Soviet troops. The bombing continued during the battles near Berlin - the last bombing of the Americans on April 20 (Adolf Hitler's birthday) led to food problems. The destruction intensified as a result of the actions of Soviet artillery.

Indeed, it is unthinkable that such a huge fortified city should be taken so quickly. We do not know of other such examples in the history of the Second World War.

Alexander Orlov, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

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

• 1st Belorussian Front
  • 7th Guards ttbr - 69th Army
  • 11th Guards ttbr - frontline submission
  • 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

The 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. By that time, in Berlin, in addition to the three million local population (which consisted mainly of women, the elderly and children), there were up to three hundred thousand foreign workers, including Ostarbeiters, most of whom were forcibly deported to Germany. They were forbidden from entering bomb shelters and cellars.

Although the war for Germany had long been lost, Hitler ordered to resist to the last. Thousands of teenagers and old people were drafted 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 the orders of the authorities, even in the last days of the war, were threatened with execution.

There is no exact information on the number of civilian casualties. Different sources indicate a different number 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 practically did not come up for many decades after the end of the war.

There are two opposite approaches to this extremely painful problem. On the one hand, there are documentary works by two English-speaking researchers - The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan and The Fall of Berlin. 1945" by Anthony Beevor, which are, to a greater or lesser extent, a reconstruction of the events of half a century ago based on the testimonies of the participants in the events (in the overwhelming majority - representatives of the German side) and the memoirs of Soviet commanders. The claims Ryan and Beevor make are regularly reproduced by the Western press, which presents them as scientifically proven truth.

On the other hand, the opinions of Russian representatives (officials and historians), who acknowledge numerous facts of violence, but question the validity of the allegations of its extreme mass character, as well as the possibility, after so many years, of verifying the shocking digital data that are given in the West . Russian authors also draw attention to the fact that such publications, which focus on the over-emotional description of scenes of violence allegedly perpetrated by Soviet troops in Germany, follow the standards of Goebbels' propaganda of early 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 practically do not provide information about the measures taken by the Soviet command to combat violence and looting - crimes against the civilian population, 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.

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