The storming of Berlin April 21 - May 2, 1945 is one of the unique events in the world history of wars. It was a battle for a very large city with a lot of solid stone buildings.
Even the struggle for Stalingrad is inferior to the battles for Berlin in terms of the main quantitative and qualitative indicators: the number of troops involved in the battles, the number of military equipment involved, as well as the size of the city and the nature of its development.
To some extent, we can compare the storming of Berlin with the storming of Budapest in January – February and Konigsberg in April 1945. The battles of our time, such as the battles for Beirut in 1982, remain a pale shadow of the epic battles of World War II.
Sealed Strasse
The Germans had 2.5 months to prepare Berlin for defense, during which the front was on the Oder, 70 km from the city. This preparation was by no means in the nature of improvisation. The Germans developed a whole system of transforming their own and foreign cities into "festungs" - fortresses. This is the strategy that Hitler followed in the second half of the war. The fortress cities were supposed to defend themselves in isolation, supplied by air, with the aim of holding back road junctions and other important points.
The Berlin fortifications of April-May 1945 are quite typical for German "Festungs" - massive barricades, as well as residential and administrative buildings prepared for defense. The barricades in Germany were built on an industrial level and had nothing to do with the heaps of rubbish that block the streets during the period of revolutionary unrest. Berliners, as a rule, were 2-2.5 m in height and 2-2.2 m in thickness. They were built of wood, stone, sometimes rail and shaped iron. Such a barricade could easily withstand the shots of tank guns and even divisional artillery with a caliber of 76-122 mm.
Some of the streets were completely blocked off with barricades, not even leaving a passage. On the main highways, the barricades still had a three-meter wide passage, prepared for quick closure by a carriage with earth, stones and other materials. The approaches to the barricades were mined. This is not to say that these Berlin fortifications were a masterpiece of engineering. Here in the Breslau region, Soviet troops faced truly cyclopean barricades, entirely cast in concrete. Their design provided for huge movable parts, dumped across the passage. In Berlin, nothing of the kind was encountered. The reason is quite simple: the German military leaders believed that the fate of the city would be decided on the Oder front. Accordingly, the main efforts of the engineering troops were concentrated there, on the Seelow Heights and on the perimeter of the Soviet Kyustrinsky bridgehead.
Company of stationary tanks
The approaches to the bridges over the canals and the exits from the bridges also had barricades. In buildings that were to become strongholds of defense, window openings were laid with bricks. One or two embrasures were left in the masonry for firing small arms and anti-tank grenade launchers - faust cartridges. Of course, not all Berlin houses have undergone this restructuring. But the Reichstag, for example, was well prepared for the defense: the huge windows of the German parliament building were walled up.
One of the "finds" of the Germans in the defense of their capital was the tank company "Berlin", assembled from tanks incapable of independent movement. They were dug in at street crossings and used as fixed firing points in the west and east of the city. In total, the Berlin company consisted of 10 Panther tanks and 12 Pz. IV tanks.
In addition to special defensive structures in the city, there were air defense facilities suitable for ground battles. First of all, we are talking about the so-called flakturms - massive concrete towers about 40 m high, on the roof of which anti-aircraft guns were equipped with up to 128-mm caliber. Three such gigantic structures were built in Berlin. These are Flakturm I in the zoo area, Flakturm II in Fried-Richshain in the east of the city and Flakturm III in Humbolthain in the north. "PM" wrote in detail about the anti-aircraft towers of the Third Reich in No. 3 for 2009. - Approx. ed.)
Forces of the "fortress Berlin"
However, any engineering structures are absolutely useless if there is no one to defend them. This became the biggest problem for the Germans. In Soviet times, the number of defenders of the Reich capital was usually estimated at 200,000. However, this figure seems to be grossly overestimated. The testimony of the last commandant of Berlin, General Weidling, and other captured officers of the Berlin garrison lead to a figure of 100-120 thousand people and 50-60 tanks at the beginning of the assault. For the defense of Berlin, this number of defenders was clearly not enough. This was obvious to professionals from the very beginning. In a summary of the generalized combat experience of the 8th Guards Army that stormed the city, it was stated: “For the defense of such a large city, surrounded on all sides, there were not enough forces to defend each building, as was the case in other cities, so the enemy defended mainly groups blocks, and inside them are separate buildings and objects … The Soviet troops, which stormed Berlin, totaled, as of April 26, 1945, 464,000 people and about 1,500 tanks. The 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies, the 3rd and 5th Shock Armies, the 8th Guards Army (all - the 1st Belorussian Front), as well as the 3rd Guards Tank Army and part of the forces took part in the storming of the city. 28th Army (1st Ukrainian Front). In the last two days of the assault, units of the 1st Polish Army took part in the battles.
Map of the actions of Soviet troops in the Reichstag area
Evacuated explosives
One of the mysteries of the battles for Berlin is the preservation of many bridges over the Spree and the Landwehr Canal. Given that the banks of the Spree in central Berlin were clad in stone, crossing the river outside the bridges would have been a daunting task. The clue was given by the testimony of General Weidling in Soviet captivity. He recalled: “None of the bridges were prepared for the explosion. Goebbels entrusted this to the Shpur organization, due to the fact that when the bridges were blown up by military units, economic damage was caused to the surrounding possessions. It turned out that all the materials for preparing the bridges for the explosion, as well as the ammunition prepared for this, had been removed from Berlin during the evacuation of the Shpur institutions. It should be noted that this concerned bridges in the central part of the city. Things were different on the outskirts. For example, all bridges across the Berlin-Spandauer-Schiff-farts canal in the northern part of the city were blown up. The troops of the 3rd Shock Army and the 2nd Guards Tank Army had to direct the crossings. In general, it can be noted that the first days of the struggle for Berlin are associated with the crossing of water barriers on its outskirts.
Into the midst of the neighborhoods
By April 27, Soviet troops had mostly overcome areas with low-rise and sparse buildings and deeper into the densely built-up central areas of Berlin. Soviet tank and combined arms armies advancing from different directions aimed at one point in the center of the city - the Reichstag. In 1945, it lost its political significance long ago and had a conditional value as a military object. However, it is the Reichstag that appears in the orders as the goal of the offensive of Soviet formations and associations. In any case, moving from different directions to the Reichstag, the Red Army troops posed a threat to the Fuhrer's bunker under the Reich Chancellery.
Broken tank Pz-V "Panther" from the company "Berlin" on Bismarck Strasse.
The assault group became the central figure in the street fighting. Zhukov's directive recommended that assault detachments include 8-12 guns with a caliber of 45 to 203 mm, 4-6 mortars of 82-120 mm. The assault groups included sappers and "chemists" with smoke bombs and flamethrowers. Tanks also became permanent members of these groups. It is well known that their main enemy in urban battles in 1945 was hand-held anti-tank weapons - faust cartridges. Shortly before the Berlin operation, the troops were experimenting with tank shielding. However, they did not give a positive result: even when the faustpatron grenade was detonated on the screen, the tank's armor was breaking through. Nevertheless, in some parts, the screens were still installed - more for psychological support of the crew than for real protection.
Did the Faustists burn down the tank armies?
The losses of tank armies in battles for the city can be assessed as moderate, especially in comparison with battles in open areas against tanks and anti-tank artillery. So, Bogdanov's 2nd Guards Tank Army in the battles for the city lost about 70 tanks from faust cartridges. At the same time, she acted in isolation from the combined arms armies, relying only on her motorized infantry. The share of tanks knocked out by "Faustniks" in other armies was less. In total, during the street fighting in Berlin from April 22 to May 2, Bogdanov's army irrevocably lost 104 tanks and self-propelled guns [16% of the fleet of combat vehicles by the beginning of the operation). The 1st Guards Tank Army of Katukov also irrevocably lost 104 armored units during the street fighting (15% of the combat vehicles that were in service at the beginning of the operation). Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army in Berlin itself from April 23 to May 2 irrevocably lost 99 tanks and 15 self-propelled guns (23%). The total losses of the Red Army from faust cartridges in Berlin can be estimated at 200-250 tanks and self-propelled guns out of almost 1800 lost during the operation as a whole. In a word, there is no reason to say that the Soviet tank armies were burned by the "Faustists" in Berlin.
"PANZERFAUST" - a family of German single-use anti-tank grenade launchers. When the powder charge placed in the tube was set on fire, the grenade was fired. Due to the cumulative effect, it was able to burn through an armor plate up to 200 mm thick
However, in any case, the massive use of faust cartridges made it difficult to use tanks, and if the Soviet troops relied only on armored vehicles, the battles for the city would become much bloodier. It should be noted that the faust cartridges were used by the Germans not only against tanks, but also against infantry. Forced to go ahead of the armored vehicles, the infantrymen fell under a hail of shots from the "faustics". Therefore, barreled and rocket artillery provided invaluable assistance in the assault. The specifics of urban battles forced to put divisional and attached artillery on direct fire. Paradoxical as it sounds, direct fire guns sometimes turned out to be more effective than tanks. The report of the 44th Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade on the Berlin operation stated: “The use of 'Panzerfaust' by the enemy led to a sharp increase in losses in tanks - limited visibility makes them easily vulnerable. Direct-fire guns do not suffer from this drawback, their losses, in comparison with tanks, are small. " This was not an unfounded statement: the brigade lost only two guns in street battles, one of them was hit by the enemy with a faustpatron.
The brigade was armed with 152-mm ML-20 howitzer cannons. The actions of the gunners can be illustrated by the following example. The battle for the Sarland Strasse barricade did not start very well. The Faustniki knocked out two IS-2 tanks. Then the gun of the 44th brigade was put on direct fire 180 m from the fortification. Firing 12 shells, the gunners broke through a passage in the barricade and destroyed its garrison. The brigade's guns were also used to destroy buildings turned into strongpoints.
From "Katyusha" direct fire
It has already been said above that the Berlin garrison defended only a few buildings. If such a strong point could not be taken by an assault group, it was simply destroyed by direct fire artillery. So, from one strong point to another, the assault went to the city center. In the end, even Katyushas were put on direct fire. Frames of large-caliber rockets M-31 were installed in houses on windowsills and fired at buildings opposite. The optimal distance was considered to be 100-150 m. The projectile had time to accelerate, broke through the wall and exploded already inside the building. This led to the collapse of partitions and ceilings and, as a result, the death of the garrison. At shorter distances, the wall did not break through and the case was limited to cracks in the facade. It is here that one of the answers to the question of why Kuznetsov's 3rd Shock Army came first to the Reichstag is hidden. Parts of this army made their way through Berlin streets with 150 M-31UK [improved accuracy] shells fired by direct fire. Other armies also shot several dozen M-31 shells from direct fire.
To victory - straight ahead
Heavy artillery became another "building destroyer". As stated in the report on the actions of the artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front, "in the battles for the fortress of Poznan and in the Berlin operation, both during the operation itself and especially in the battles for the city of Berlin, artillery of great and special power was of decisive importance." In total, during the assault on the German capital, 38 high-power guns were put on direct fire, that is, 203-mm B-4 howitzers of the 1931 model of the year. These powerful tracked guns are often featured in newsreels about the battles for the German capital. The B-4 crews acted boldly, even boldly. For example, one of the guns was installed at the intersection of Liden Strasse and Ritter Strasse, 100-150 m from the enemy. Six shells fired were enough to destroy the house prepared for defense. Turning the gun down, the battery commander destroyed three more stone buildings.
H 203-MM GAUBITSA B-4 on a caterpillar track, set to direct fire, crushed the walls of the Berlin edania. But even for this powerful weapon, the FLAKTURM I air defense tower turned out to be a tough nut to crack …
THE FALL OF BERLIN led to the demoralization of the German troops and broke their will to resist. With still considerable combat capabilities, the Wehrmacht surrendered within the next week after the Berlin garrison laid down its arms.
In Berlin, there was only one structure that withstood a B-4 strike - it was the Flakturm am Zoo anti-aircraft defense tower, also known as Flakturm I. Units of the 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies entered the area of the Berlin Zoo. The tower turned out to be a tough nut to crack for them. The shelling of her with 152-mm artillery was completely ineffectual. Then, 105 concrete-piercing shells of 203-mm caliber were fired at the flaktur-mu direct fire. As a result, the corner of the tower was destroyed, but it continued to live until the surrender of the garrison. Until the last moment, it housed Weidling's command post. The air defense towers in Humbolthain and Fried-Rieshain were bypassed by our troops, and until the surrender, these structures remained on the territory of the city controlled by the Germans.
The Flakturm am Zoo garrison was somewhat fortunate. The tower did not come under fire from the Soviet artillery of special power, 280-mm mortars Br-5 and 305-mm howitzers Br-18 model 1939. Nobody put these guns on direct fire. They fired from positions 7-10 km from the battlefield. The 8th Guards Army was assigned the 34th separate division of special power. His 280-mm mortars in the last days of the storming of Berlin hit the Potsdam train station. Two such shells pierced the asphalt of the street, ceilings and exploded in the underground halls of the station, located at a depth of 15 m.
Why did not Hitler be "smeared"?
Three divisions of 280-mm and 305-mm guns were concentrated in the 5th Shock Army. Berzarin's army advanced to the right of Chuikov's army in the historic center of Berlin. Heavy weapons were used to destroy solid stone buildings. A division of 280-mm mortars hit the Gestapo building, fired over a hundred shells and achieved six direct hits. The division of 305-mm howitzers only on the penultimate day of the assault, on May 1, shot 110 shells. In fact, only the lack of accurate information about the location of the Fuhrer's bunker prevented the early completion of the battles. Soviet heavy artillery had the technical ability to bury Hitler and his retinue in a bunker, or even to smear them with a thin layer along the labyrinths of the last refuge of the "possessed Fuhrer".
It was Berzarin's army, advancing in the direction of the Reichstag, that came closest to Hitler's bunker. This sparked the last outburst of Luftwaffe activity in the battles for the city. On April 29, groups of FV-190 attack aircraft and Me-262 jet fighters attacked the combat formations of the 5th Shock Army. The jet Messerschmites belonged to the 1st group of the JG7 squadron from the Reich air defense, but they could no longer significantly affect the course of hostilities. The next day, April 30, the Fuhrer committed suicide. On the morning of May 2, the Berlin garrison surrendered.
The total losses of the two fronts in the battle for Berlin can be estimated at 50-60 thousand people killed, wounded and missing. Were these losses justified? Undoubtedly. The fall of Berlin and the death of Hitler meant the demoralization of the German army and its surrender. There is no doubt that without the active use of various equipment, the losses of Soviet troops in street battles would have been much higher.
On SEPTEMBER 7, 1945, IS-3 heavy tanks took part in the PARADE held in Berlin on the occasion of the end of World War II. The machines of this new model did not have time to fight in the capital of the Reich, but now they announced by their appearance that the power of the victorious army would continue to grow.
