The Battle of Berlin: Part One

The Battle of Berlin was the final step in stopping the Nazi war machine and ending the war. Hundreds of thousands had already died for the Soviets to make it to this point and in the 16 day operation known as the battle of Berlin, an estimate of 200,000 more soviet soldiers ere killed. In the following documentary from Russia Today the Battle of Berlin is discussed from the crossing of the Oder river to the capture of Berlin itself.

 

 After the liberation of Poland the Soviets were able to cross the Oder river in under 20 days, which enabled them to cover 500km in a matter of almost three weeks. This placed the Soviet forces within 70km of Berlin, but Stalin ordered all forces to hold their position. The battle of Poland had exhausted most of the Soviets supplies and it was crucial to send munitions to these forces before beginning the final assault. However, simply resupplying their forces took the Soviets approximately two months. During this time the Nazis were preparing a defensive line that was 20km long and only 6.5km from the position where the Soviets were waiting. This area was known as the Seelow Heights and faced the brunt of the Soviets final offensive. Historian Anatoly Davydenko claims that before the battle began "a total of 3.5 million troops from both sides, some 10,000 tanks, scores of thousands of assault guns, and 11,000 aircraft" were gathered to decide the fate of Berlin. 

Joseph Stalin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill

By this time in the war the Americans were advancing at a rapid pace towards Berlin because most of the Nazis were pulled from the Western front and were placed on the Eastern Front to engage the Soviets. Also, the leader of the British, Winston Churchill, stated "If the Russians also take Berlin, will their impression that they have been the overwhelming contribution to our common victory be unduly imprinted on their minds, and may this not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future?" Meaning, that he did not want the Soviets to take Berlin because they would see themselves as the victors of the war and not the Allies, which would lead to them becoming a dominant force politically and militarily. What Churchill wanted was for the Soviets to handle most of the attack and being weakened, while also weakening the Nazis to the brink of destruction. The Americans also wanted the Soviets to handle the majority of the conflict, which is evident through the fact that when it was estimated that 30,000 soldiers would die if they advanced towards Berlin, the Americans were ordered to hold their position because the estimate would be an unacceptable loss. Stalin however, trusted FDR and is believed to have been open to the American playing a role in the battle for Berlin, but when FDR died Stalin saw it as a necessary action to take Berlin without aid, which would prevent the Allies from using their involvement in the final days as a political tool.

Map of the Seelow Heights

When the Soviets began their attack on Seelow Heights an initial barrage, that included thousands of arttilery pieces, shell the Nazis fo over half an hour. After the barrage tanks and infantry moved in and the battle ensued. Also, after the barrage, the Soviets used 140 high-power searchlights to aim at the Nazis and prevent any kind of adequate return-fire. Tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers lost their lives in this battle and the Nazis retreated to the small town of Halbe, but at this point it was clear that Germans could not organize a resistance to repel the Soviets. In one case, that the Video points out, the Nazis already in Halbe opened fire on the retreating Nazis mistaking them for a soviet advance. This confusion on the part of the Nazi's allowed the Soviets to enter Halbe with relative ease. By the end of a three day battle in Halbe, 60,000 Nazis were killed and another 120,000 are taken prisoner by the Soviets. One day after the conflict in Halbe one group of Soviets enter the town of Torgau on the Elbe river and are surprised to see the Americans on the other bank. The Soviets and Americans then began to celebrate, because they knew the war was coming to an end and the Nazis would be defeated.

Soviet Flag over the Reichstag

On April 28th the Soviets had entered Berlin and encircled the center of the city, focusing their efforts on the Reichstag. However, the Germans had blown all of the bridges to cross the canals throughout the city and the Soviets were forced to cross only a few at a time in small rafts. The documentary estimates that over half of the men whose role was to secure the canal were killed before they could even cross. All that was left after the this was the Reichstag, but the only Nazis that remained to defend the city were some of Hitler's most elite soldiers from the SS. On April 30th Hitler committed suicide knowing that he had no chance of surviving the war, but his SS still continued to fight. Shortly after the Soviets successfully captured the top floor of the Reichstag and raised the Soviet flag above it to show that they had captured the Reichstag. The fighting did not stop until May2nd though, when the Nazi General in charge of the defense of Berlin met with the Soviets to request a cease fire, which he was granted. This was the end of the war for the Soviets.

The Battle of Berlin was not only one of the most important events of WWII, but also for the history of the Soviet union. By ending the war the Soviets achieved a triumphant moment where they were able to demonstrate their military superiority and achieve a moment of nationalism for their country that I believe is unsurpassed. It was a moment when the Soviet people could stop worrying about the problems their country faced in ways such as, production, and the poor economy; but instead this was a moment where the people could simply be proud that they were a member of the Soviet Union, and that their country had just been victorious in the bloodiest war that they had ever seen.