Battle for Berlin

The Battle for Berlin

Hitler once said, "The world will hold its breath and fall silent when Barbarossa is mounted." Now the scales of war were against Hitler, and in the summer of 1943 the Germans met with a devastating defeat in Russia at the Battle of Kursk and the German and Italian armies in Africa were destroyed. 1944 found Germany totally on the defensive with the successful Allied invasion of France and repeated loses in Russia. By the beginning of 1945, the British, Americans, and Russians were closing in on Germany. The Russians by the end of January were within 100 miles of Berlin. Hitler resolved to fight on, which resulted in even more deaths and devastation. While the war was progressing, Hitler embarked on a campaign to totally eliminate Jews and other peoples that were not to his liking. Millions were sent to extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor and Treblinka.

In April, 1945, the Russians were closing in on Berlin. Hitler demanded a fight to the death and designated Berlin a "fortress" to be defended to the last. The city's commandant, Major General Hellmuth Reymann, calculated that it would take at least 200,000 experienced troops to defend the capital, however the only ones available to make up the Volkssturm (or home guard) were mostly old men, women, and children.

Berlin, through the efforts of the Volksstrum, was prepared for the Russian offensive. Barricades were constructed and trenches were dug to trap tanks, however Reymann saw the preparations as futile and said, "I only hope that some miracle happens to change our fortunes, or that the War ends before Berlin comes under siege. Otherwise, God help the Berliners!" Despite fortification efforts, the men and artillary needed to defend the capital never materialized. Meanwhile, 1.3 million soldiers of the Red Army stood poised to descend upon Berlin for what Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov called, their "final hour of vengenance." Every man, on orders from Moscow, had been required to swear an oath on the Soviet flag to fight with special zeal for the motherland, the Communist Party and final victory.

The Russian defeat of Berlin was inevitable for they outnumbered the Germans in men 5:1, guns 15:1, tanks 5:1 and planes 3:1. Yet the battle for Berlin was a unpredictable and bloody; fueled by mutal hate and marked by atrocities. Hitler by this time was talking about armies long since destroyed and had delusions that the British, Americans and Russians would turn against one another. Meanwhile, Stalin believed that whomever raised their flag over Berlin first would be the victor of the war. The Western Allies believed differently and as the Red Army fought for Berlin, they sought to conquer strategic industrial territories for the future division of Germany. The Red Army paid a high price for Stalin's misconception. The casuality rate for the Red Army during the battle for Berlin matched the war-long casuality rate of four Soviet soldiers to one German fatality.

The Soviet battle to capture Berlin finally came on 16 April and was fought building to building and street by street. By 25 April, Berlin had been encircled by the Russians and on 30 April at the Reichstag was finally captured. At 2:25 p.m., the Russian flag was raised on top of the Reichstag barely before the deadline decreed by Stalin. The city surrendered on 2 May.

While Germany lay in ruins as well as his dreams of a New German Order, on 30 April, Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. When told of the news of Hitler's death, Stalin remarked, "So that's the end of the bastard. Too bad it was impossible to take him alive." With his death, Germany surrendered. Hitler changed the face of the world. As a result of the forces he set in motion, the world was left with basically only two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, which set the pace for the resulting Cold War. It is estimated that at least 40 million people died in Europe alone as the result of World War II along with immeasurable devastation and destruction.

Tocqueville once prophesized approximately 150 years prior to 1945 that the United States and Russia would soon or later become the two main powers of the world. This prophesy came true following the collapse of Germany and Japan in 1945.

The United States was probably the strongest nation at the close of World War I, but after the war, the country pulled its troops completely and swiftly out of Europe. This did not occur following World War II. As Eastern Europe was absorbed by the Soviets, Western Europe, under leadership from the U.S., forged a new anti-totalitarian military and political alliance.

For Russians of the post World War II generation, left a deep mark on the country. The war is an event that left 1 in 3 without a father and the repercussions of the war are still being felt today. For instance, it is still required that every bride place her wedding bouquet on a local war memorial. Following the defeat of Germany, the Soviets, despite enormous losses, were in a politically powerful position. Stalin would see that Russia would never be invaded again. He sought to create a buffer zone in the event the capitalists powers decided to use their might against the country. Winston Churchill summed up the situation in a speech in Fulton, Mississippi in March 1946, "An iron curtain has descended across the continent."