The Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which directly resulted in the unconditional surrender of Germany to the Red Army, but this had to fight house to house throughout the battle despite their numerical superiority. The battle began in the early hours of April 20, 1945, when General Georgy Zhukov ordered the bombing in central Berlin from the east, while the 1st Ukrainian Front General Konev moved north from the south, crossing the first lines of defense. On April 23, troops from the 1st Belorussian Front Zhukov entered the suburbs of the capital. On April 26, the 8th Army Infantry and 1st Armored Army, belonging to the 1st Ukrainian Front, managed to open a corridor from the south that came to the center of Berlin. On April 30, after bloody fighting house to house, with the men of the Waffen-SS to fight until the last drop of blood, Soviet units were able to take the Reichstag.

Before the end of the battle of Berlin, the Führer Adolf Hitler and some of his faithful followers committed suicide. After two days of heavy fighting, the vast majority of the defenders finally surrendered on 2 May. However, fighting continued fiercely, starring companies of the Waffen-SS, in different pockets of resistance to the west, northwest and southwest of the city until the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Tanks by the Soviets lost exceeded all estimates, due to the effective utilization of the Panzerfaust, which however, was not enough to stop the armored advance on the capital. The German resistance was finished to finished munitions and troops. The Soviets reported in Berlin some 155,000 dead and 250,000 wounded or sick. Meanwhile some 45,000 Germans were killed, including civilians. A feature of the Russian invasion of Germany was the mass rape of women as punishment for the war, despite them not being responsible. In Berlin, 500,000 women were raped 2,000,000 of total German sexually assaulted one of these some 10,000 Berliners are suicidaron.2 March 4 There was a very strong cruelty in the days following the conquest, reaching up to 70 times violating the same mujer.5 6

In a case similar to the final stages of the war and the Soviet advance, Nazi Party members fled leaving German civilians to their fate, they only learned of the approach of the Soviets when retreating German soldiers giving Front enemy advance notice, being that it was too late to flee. The last wishes of Hitler ordered that Admiral Karl Dönitz became President of the Reich, while Joseph Goebbels would be the new Chancellor of Germany. However the latter's suicide, along with his family, leaving Dönitz with responsibility for the war. Finally, on May 8, 1945, the German High Command surrendered unconditionally to the Soviet Union ending the war in Europe.

The Battle of Berlin was the last major confrontation in the European theater of World War II, where two ideologically opposed forces fought a duel terribly bloody, leaving an indelible mark in the history of mankind.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin