Berlin operation

The Berlin operation is a triumph of the Soviet Army and the end of the bloodshed, after all, it put an end to the end of the Great Patriotic War.

During the period from January to March 1945, Soviet troops conducted active fighting in Germany. Thanks to unprecedented heroism in the area of the Oder and Neisse rivers, Soviet troops seized strategic bridgeheads, including the Kystrin area.

The Berlin operation lasted only 23 days, it began on April 16 and ended on May 8, 1945. Our troops made a throw across Germany to the west for a distance equal to almost 220 km, and the front of fierce hostilities stretched for a width of more than 300 km.

At the same time, without meeting a particularly organized resistance, Anglo-American allied forces approached Berlin.

The plan of the Soviet troops consisted in that, first of all, on a broad front to inflict several powerful and unexpected blows. The second task was to disunite the remnants of the fascist troops, namely the Berlin grouping. The third and final part of the plan was to encircle and finally destroy the remnants of the fascist troops in parts and at this stage to seize the capital of Germany , the city of Berlin.

But, before starting the main, decisive battle in the war, a huge preparatory work was carried out. Soviet aircraft conducted 6 reconnaissance missions. Their goal was aerial photography of Berlin. The scouts were interested in the fascist defenses of the city and fortifications. Almost 15 thousand aerial photographs were made by the pilots. Based on the results of these surveys and interviews with prisoners, special maps of the fortified areas of the city were drawn up. They were successfully used in organizing the offensive of the Soviet troops.

A detailed terrain plan and defensive enemy fortifications, which were thoroughly studied, ensured the successful assault of Berlin and the fighting in the center of the capital.

In order to deliver weapons and ammunition in time, as well as fuel, Soviet engineers redone the German railway track to the usual Russian track to the Oder itself.

The storming of Berlin was prepared carefully, for this purpose, together with the maps, an accurate model of the city was made. It showed the layout of streets and squares. Worked out the slightest features of attacks and assaults of the streets of the capital.

In addition, scouts were misinformed enemy, in strict secrecy kept the date of the strategic offensive. Only two hours before the attack the junior commanders had the right to tell about their Red Army soldiers coming to their subordinates.

The Berlin operation of 1945 began on April 16 with the main strike of Soviet troops from the bridgehead in the Kiestr area on the Oder River. At first, Soviet artillery, and then aviation, dealt a powerful blow.

The Berlin operation was a fierce battle, the remnants of the fascist army did not want to give up the capital, it would have become a complete fall of fascist Germany. The fighting was very cruel, the enemy had an order - Berlin did not hand over.

As noted earlier, the Berlin operation lasted only 23 days. Given that the battle was in the territory of the Reich, and this was the agony of fascism, the battle was special.

The heroic 1st Byelorussian Front was the first to perform, it was he who dealt the strongest blow to the enemy, and the troops of the First Ukrainian Front began an active offensive at the same time on the Neisse River.

It should be taken into account that the Nazis prepared well for defense. On the banks of the rivers Neisse and Oder, they created powerful defensive fortifications, which stretched to 40 kilometers in depth.

The city of Berlin at that time consisted of three rings built in the form of defenses. The fascists skillfully used the obstacles: each lake, river, canal and numerous ravines, and the large buildings that survived played the role of strong points, ready for circular defense. The streets and squares of Berlin turned into real barricades.

Beginning on April 21, as soon as the Soviet army entered Berlin, and until May 2, endless battles were fought on the streets of the capital. Streets and houses were taken by storm, fighting went even in tunnels of the underground, in pipes of the water drain, in dungeons.

The Berlin offensive ended with the victory of the Soviet troops. The last effort of the Hitlerite command to hold in their hands Berlin ended in complete collapse.

In this operation, a special day was April 20. It was a turning day in the battle for Berlin, as Berlin fell on April 21, but before May 2 there were fights for life and death. April 25, too, was a major event, as the Ukrainian troops in the area of the cities of Torgau and Riza met with soldiers of the First American Army.

April 30 Red banner of victory has already developed over the Reichstag, and the same April 30, Hitler, the inspiration of the bloodiest war of the century, took poison.

May 8, 1945 was signed the main document of the war, an act on the full surrender of fascist Germany.

During the operation, our troops lost about 350 thousand people. The loss of the living force of the Red Army was 15 thousand people a day.

Undoubtedly, this simple inhuman cruel war was won by a simple Soviet soldier, because he knew that he was dying for his homeland!