THE BEGINNING...OF THE END
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BATTLE OF BERLIN
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The battle for berlin marked the ending of the World War in Europe. In a sense the battle was a race, to see who captured Hitler first, between the Soviets and Britian/US. The battle began on April 16, 1945. The race had begun before the actual Battle of Berlin. In fact the start could easliy be traced back to 1941 when Germany lost to the Soviets. There were many key battles leading up to the Battle of Berlin such as the following: Battle of the Bulge, Battle at Normandy(D-day), Battle at Stalinguard, and Battle at the Ardennes forrest. When Germany lost their foothold in Russia, they lost their momentum. Russia's military began driving the Germans back. Germany lost at the battle of Kursk, battle of the Bulge. With each German loss the Allies were gaining speed in reachin Berlin. in April of 1945 the Russian army had reached Berlin. The remaining German troops gathered for a final stand. The Battle of Berlin was won in May of 1945 and on May 8th VE day was formally celebrated.
THE BATTLE OF BERLIN
The battle began when Stalin and his Red army stormed toward the city with 6,300 tanks, 8,500 aircraft, and 20 full armies of soldiers. The Russians were determined to conquer Berlin before the Americans could reach it. When Stalin heard that the Americans had just recently crossed the Rhine he split his massive Red Army between his two Generals Zuhkov and Konev, and so the race was on. The German army was driven by fear created by the Propoganda put out by Hitler which told of the horrible acts that the Russians would commit on the German people if Berlin was lost. On April 16, one of the worlds largest artillery barrages was commenced. Over a million shells were fired from the Red Army onto the city of Berlin. When Zuhkov ordered his army to advance into the city he found that a massive amount of German soldiers were dug in on the Seelow. Zuhkov ordered wave after wave to storm the German deffense. A quote from a German machine gunner says
"We started to fire at the masses, They weren't human beings for us.
It was a wall of attacking beasts who were trying to kill us. You yourself were no longer human."
The mayhem continued. It was said that the Russian artillery fired without directions, hitting scores of Russian soldiers. It took three days to break the German deffense. Many of Stalin's tanks were lost as a result of using them as battering rams against the German barricades. Over 30,000 Russian soldiers died compared to the 10,000 German soldiers. Hitler continued to bark out orders from his underground bunker. He used the 70,000 German soldiers from General Wenk's 12th army to unite with the retreating troops. He was beginning his counter attack on the Russians. However this counter attack was not to happen. Konev's forces cut off the German 9th army as they were retreating. A massacre occured in the city of Halbe. 50,000 German soldiers and civillians were slaughtered. It was such a massive slaughter that the dead were just piled on the side of the road creating walls, which took whatever of the local poplulation that was left months to clear. Even today thousands of dead bodies are found. And so Zuhkov and Konev continued their advance toward the German capital. Their use of tanks (as oppposed to the Germans at Stalinguard) failed misserably. The Russians T-34 was easily vulnerable to the Germans Panzerfaust (rocket launchers fired from broken buildings). Even so the remaining 90,000 German soldiers and "volunteers" stood no chance against over a millino Red soldiers. On April 24 the Soviets surrounded the city, and slowly began tightening their grasp on the city. Most of the fighting was done by house to house, street warfare. Slowly but surely the Russians fought their way toward the Hitler's chancellery. Civillians who hadn't been "volun-told" suffered drastic repricutions of the battle. The first wave of soldiers was considered "disciplined"with few civillian casulties, but the second wave was the worst. Fueled by the large amounts of alcohol in the city the Red army pillaged the city. Massive rape orgies were the worst effect. Based on doctor reports of abortions over two million German women were raped during the last two months of World War II. On April 30 good news was spread. Hitler and his mistress had commited suicide. The war was comming to a close. By May 2 the German Parliament surrendered to the Red army. General Zuhkov was given the "honor"of capturing the city of Berlin.
It is a controversial topic of why Stalin was so desperate to reach Berlin before the Americans. However a document found by Antony Beevor points to the fact that Stalin wanted to get the nuclear research of the Germans. The Soviet scientists were intrested with what the German scientists had discovered during the war.
Brief stories from the eyes of citizens and soldiers in Berlin
Taken from Dorothea con Schwanenfluegel's story of how it was in the city of Berlin during the battle
"Friday, April 20, was Hitler's fifty-sixth birthday, and the Soviets sent him a birthday present in the form of an artillery barrage right into the heart of the city, while the Western Allies joined in with a massive air raid. The radio announced that Hitler had come out of his safe bomb-proof bunker to talk with the fourteen to sixteen year old boys who had 'volunteered' for the
'honor' to be accepted into the SS and to die for their Fuhrer in the defense of Berlin. What a cruel lie! These boys did not volunteer, but had no choice, because boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a
warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.' When trees were not available, people were strung up on lamp posts. They were hanging everywhere, military and civilian, men and women, ordinary citizens who had
been executed by a small group of fanatics. It appeared that the Nazis did not want the people to survive because a lost war, by their rationale, was obviously the fault of all of us. We had not sacrificed enough and therefore,
we had forfeited our right to live, as only the government was without guilt. The Volkssturm was called up again, and this time, all boys age thirteen and up, had to report as our army was reduced now to little more than children filling the ranks as soldiers."
A German soldiers story of the seige of Berlin
"In honor of Hitler's birthday, we received an
eight-day ration allowance, plus one tiny can of vegetables, a few ounces of
sugar and a half-ounce of real coffee. No one could afford to miss rations of
this type and we stood in long lines at the
grocery store patiently waiting to receive
them. While standing there, we noticed a sad looking young boy across the
street standing behind some bushes in a self-dug shallow trench. I went over to
him and found a mere child in a uniform many sizes too large for him, with an
anti-tank grenade lying beside him. Tears were running down his face, and he
was obviously very frightened of everyone. I very softly asked him what he was
doing there. He lost his distrust and told me that he had been ordered to lie
in wait here, and when a Soviet tank approached he was to run under it and
explode the grenade. I asked how that would work, but he didn't know. In fact,
this frail child didn't even look capable of carrying such a grenade. It looked
to me like a useless suicide assignment because the Soviets would shoot him on
sight before he ever reached the tank.
By now, he was sobbing and muttering something, probably calling for his
mother in despair, and there was nothing that I could do to help him. He was a
picture of distress, created by our inhuman government. If I encouraged him to
run away, he would be caught and hung by the SS, and if I gave him refuge in my
home, everyone in the house would be shot by the SS. So, all we could do was to
give him something to eat and drink from our rations. When I looked for him
early next morning he was gone and so was the grenade. Hopefully, his mother
found him and would keep him in hiding during these last days of a lost
war."
Civilian report of what happened in Berlin
"The Soviets battled the German soldiers and drafted
civilians street by street until we could hear explosions and rifle fire right
in our immediate vicinity. As the noise got closer, we could even hear the
horrible guttural screaming of the Soviet soldiers which sounded to us like
enraged animals. Shots shattered our windows and shells exploded in our garden,
and suddenly the Soviets were on our street. Shaken by the battle around us and
numb with fear, we watched from behind the small cellar windows facing the
street as the tanks and an endless convoy of troops rolled by...
It was a terrifying sight as they sat high upon their tanks with their rifles
cocked, aiming at houses as they passed. The screaming, gun-wielding women were
the worst. Half of the troops had only rags and tatters around their feet while
others wore SS boots that had been looted from a conquered SS barrack in
Lichterfelde. Several fleeing people had told us earlier that they kept
watching different boots pass by their cellar windows. At night, the Germans in
our army boots recaptured the street that the
SS boots had taken during the day. The boots and the voices told them who was
who. Now we saw them with our own eyes, and they belonged to the wild cohorts
of the advancing Soviet troops.
Facing reality was ten times worse than just hearing about it. Throughout the
night, we huddled together in mortal fear, not knowing what the morning might
bring. Nevertheless, we noiselessly did sneak upstairs to double check that our
heavy wooden window shutters were still intact and that all outside doors were
barricaded. But as I peaked out, what did I see! The porter couple in the
apartment house next to ours was standing in their front yard waving to the
Soviets. So our suspicion that they were Communists had been right all along,
but they must have been out of their minds to openly proclaim their brotherhood
like that.
As could be expected, that night a horde of Soviet soldiers returned and
stormed into their apartment house. Then we heard what sounded like a terrible
orgy with women screaming for help, many shrieking at the same time. The racket
gave me goosebumps. Some of the Soviets trampled through our garden and banged
their rifle butts on our doors in an attempt to break in. Thank goodness our
sturdy wooden doors withstood their efforts. Gripped in fear, we sat in stunned
silence, hoping to give the impression that this was a vacant house, but
hopelessly delivered into the clutches of the long-feared Red Army. Our nerves
were in shreds."
"We started to fire at the masses, They weren't human beings for us.
It was a wall of attacking beasts who were trying to kill us. You yourself were no longer human."
The mayhem continued. It was said that the Russian artillery fired without directions, hitting scores of Russian soldiers. It took three days to break the German deffense. Many of Stalin's tanks were lost as a result of using them as battering rams against the German barricades. Over 30,000 Russian soldiers died compared to the 10,000 German soldiers. Hitler continued to bark out orders from his underground bunker. He used the 70,000 German soldiers from General Wenk's 12th army to unite with the retreating troops. He was beginning his counter attack on the Russians. However this counter attack was not to happen. Konev's forces cut off the German 9th army as they were retreating. A massacre occured in the city of Halbe. 50,000 German soldiers and civillians were slaughtered. It was such a massive slaughter that the dead were just piled on the side of the road creating walls, which took whatever of the local poplulation that was left months to clear. Even today thousands of dead bodies are found. And so Zuhkov and Konev continued their advance toward the German capital. Their use of tanks (as oppposed to the Germans at Stalinguard) failed misserably. The Russians T-34 was easily vulnerable to the Germans Panzerfaust (rocket launchers fired from broken buildings). Even so the remaining 90,000 German soldiers and "volunteers" stood no chance against over a millino Red soldiers. On April 24 the Soviets surrounded the city, and slowly began tightening their grasp on the city. Most of the fighting was done by house to house, street warfare. Slowly but surely the Russians fought their way toward the Hitler's chancellery. Civillians who hadn't been "volun-told" suffered drastic repricutions of the battle. The first wave of soldiers was considered "disciplined"with few civillian casulties, but the second wave was the worst. Fueled by the large amounts of alcohol in the city the Red army pillaged the city. Massive rape orgies were the worst effect. Based on doctor reports of abortions over two million German women were raped during the last two months of World War II. On April 30 good news was spread. Hitler and his mistress had commited suicide. The war was comming to a close. By May 2 the German Parliament surrendered to the Red army. General Zuhkov was given the "honor"of capturing the city of Berlin.
It is a controversial topic of why Stalin was so desperate to reach Berlin before the Americans. However a document found by Antony Beevor points to the fact that Stalin wanted to get the nuclear research of the Germans. The Soviet scientists were intrested with what the German scientists had discovered during the war.
Brief stories from the eyes of citizens and soldiers in Berlin
Taken from Dorothea con Schwanenfluegel's story of how it was in the city of Berlin during the battle
"Friday, April 20, was Hitler's fifty-sixth birthday, and the Soviets sent him a birthday present in the form of an artillery barrage right into the heart of the city, while the Western Allies joined in with a massive air raid. The radio announced that Hitler had come out of his safe bomb-proof bunker to talk with the fourteen to sixteen year old boys who had 'volunteered' for the
'honor' to be accepted into the SS and to die for their Fuhrer in the defense of Berlin. What a cruel lie! These boys did not volunteer, but had no choice, because boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a
warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.' When trees were not available, people were strung up on lamp posts. They were hanging everywhere, military and civilian, men and women, ordinary citizens who had
been executed by a small group of fanatics. It appeared that the Nazis did not want the people to survive because a lost war, by their rationale, was obviously the fault of all of us. We had not sacrificed enough and therefore,
we had forfeited our right to live, as only the government was without guilt. The Volkssturm was called up again, and this time, all boys age thirteen and up, had to report as our army was reduced now to little more than children filling the ranks as soldiers."
A German soldiers story of the seige of Berlin
"In honor of Hitler's birthday, we received an
eight-day ration allowance, plus one tiny can of vegetables, a few ounces of
sugar and a half-ounce of real coffee. No one could afford to miss rations of
this type and we stood in long lines at the
grocery store patiently waiting to receive
them. While standing there, we noticed a sad looking young boy across the
street standing behind some bushes in a self-dug shallow trench. I went over to
him and found a mere child in a uniform many sizes too large for him, with an
anti-tank grenade lying beside him. Tears were running down his face, and he
was obviously very frightened of everyone. I very softly asked him what he was
doing there. He lost his distrust and told me that he had been ordered to lie
in wait here, and when a Soviet tank approached he was to run under it and
explode the grenade. I asked how that would work, but he didn't know. In fact,
this frail child didn't even look capable of carrying such a grenade. It looked
to me like a useless suicide assignment because the Soviets would shoot him on
sight before he ever reached the tank.
By now, he was sobbing and muttering something, probably calling for his
mother in despair, and there was nothing that I could do to help him. He was a
picture of distress, created by our inhuman government. If I encouraged him to
run away, he would be caught and hung by the SS, and if I gave him refuge in my
home, everyone in the house would be shot by the SS. So, all we could do was to
give him something to eat and drink from our rations. When I looked for him
early next morning he was gone and so was the grenade. Hopefully, his mother
found him and would keep him in hiding during these last days of a lost
war."
Civilian report of what happened in Berlin
"The Soviets battled the German soldiers and drafted
civilians street by street until we could hear explosions and rifle fire right
in our immediate vicinity. As the noise got closer, we could even hear the
horrible guttural screaming of the Soviet soldiers which sounded to us like
enraged animals. Shots shattered our windows and shells exploded in our garden,
and suddenly the Soviets were on our street. Shaken by the battle around us and
numb with fear, we watched from behind the small cellar windows facing the
street as the tanks and an endless convoy of troops rolled by...
It was a terrifying sight as they sat high upon their tanks with their rifles
cocked, aiming at houses as they passed. The screaming, gun-wielding women were
the worst. Half of the troops had only rags and tatters around their feet while
others wore SS boots that had been looted from a conquered SS barrack in
Lichterfelde. Several fleeing people had told us earlier that they kept
watching different boots pass by their cellar windows. At night, the Germans in
our army boots recaptured the street that the
SS boots had taken during the day. The boots and the voices told them who was
who. Now we saw them with our own eyes, and they belonged to the wild cohorts
of the advancing Soviet troops.
Facing reality was ten times worse than just hearing about it. Throughout the
night, we huddled together in mortal fear, not knowing what the morning might
bring. Nevertheless, we noiselessly did sneak upstairs to double check that our
heavy wooden window shutters were still intact and that all outside doors were
barricaded. But as I peaked out, what did I see! The porter couple in the
apartment house next to ours was standing in their front yard waving to the
Soviets. So our suspicion that they were Communists had been right all along,
but they must have been out of their minds to openly proclaim their brotherhood
like that.
As could be expected, that night a horde of Soviet soldiers returned and
stormed into their apartment house. Then we heard what sounded like a terrible
orgy with women screaming for help, many shrieking at the same time. The racket
gave me goosebumps. Some of the Soviets trampled through our garden and banged
their rifle butts on our doors in an attempt to break in. Thank goodness our
sturdy wooden doors withstood their efforts. Gripped in fear, we sat in stunned
silence, hoping to give the impression that this was a vacant house, but
hopelessly delivered into the clutches of the long-feared Red Army. Our nerves
were in shreds."