The storming of the Reichstag - combat operation units of the Red Army against German troops to seize the building of the German parliament.

It was carried out at the final stage of the Berlin offensive operation from April 28 to May 2, 1945 by the forces of the 150th and 171st rifle divisions of the 79th rifle corps of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front ...
The Reichstag was never Hitler's refuge - since the last remnants of parliamentary democracy were destroyed in Germany in 1935, the Reichstag has lost all meaning.


The Reichstag building was built in 1894 by the architecture of Paul Wallo.
The Fuhrer, before his appointment as Reich Chancellor, appeared in this building only a few times - in principle, he despised the Reichstag building as a symbol of parliamentarism and the Weimar Republic. Therefore, during the existence of the Third Reich, meetings of the puppet "parliament" were held in the back of the nearby Kroll Opera.


The meeting of the Nazi "Reichstag" in the hall of the Kroll Opera "decorated" with a swastika.
Why did the call of the Soviet soldiers sounded exactly like this - "To the Reichstag!"? Why did the Red Army receive the order to hoist the red banner of Victory here?
The answers to these questions can be found in the memoirs of Colonel Fyodor Zinchenko, commander of the 756th infantry regiment, who directly stormed the Reichstag.
“From here, in 1933, the fascists began their bloody campaign against communism in front of the whole world,” wrote Fyodor Zinchenko. - Here we must confirm the fall of fascism. For me there is only one order - the flag must fly over the Reichstag! "
The Reichstag has become a symbol of German Nazism since 1933, when Hitler, who had been in power for only four weeks, decided to use the fire in the plenary hall, which broke out on February 27, 1933, as an excuse to destroy the supporters of the Communist Party and Social Democrats.


Burned down Reichstag. The Berlin police in the same 1933 for this crime detained the insane Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe, who at the trial confessed to the crime.
Thousands of political opponents of the NSDAP were detained within 48 hours, most of them were tortured in the following weeks, dozens were killed.
The real Hitler's bunker was located in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, about a kilometer southeast of the Reichstag. As it turned out, until the very last moment, its location was unknown to neither Soviet nor American intelligence. Only on May 2, in search of trophies, Soviet soldiers stumbled upon an underground structure, and only a week later it became known about the location of the Fuhrer's bunker.


The Red Army is advancing.

So the Reichmtag was stormed
The assault on the Reichstag began on the evening of April 28, when Soviet troops of the 150th division of the 1st Belorussian Front approached the Spree River near the Moltke Bridge. The division fighters were no more than a kilometer away from the Reichstag.
The width of the Spree in the area of ​​the bridge was not very large - no more than 50 meters, However, the high banks lined with granite served as an obstacle to the crossing on improvised means. The soldiers had to cross the river over the bridge, which was shot and mined.


Soviet tanks IS-2 of the 7th Guards Tank Brigade near the Reichstag.
The attack was preceded by artillery fire, which fired direct fire at enemy positions on the southern coast. Two platoons of the 756th Rifle Regiment rushed to the other side, then sappers came out onto the bridge.


A Soviet soldier walks past the murdered SS Hauptsturmführer.
By the morning, the soldiers of the 756th regiment cleared the enemy from most of the Swiss embassy building and some other buildings located in the quarter closest to the Moltke bridge. Particularly fierce battles unfolded for the "Himmler house" - the building of the Ministry of the Interior, for the Krol-opera theater.
The Germans even made an attempt to counterattack: about 500 sailors-cadets from Rostock tried to break through to the Moltke Bridge in order to cut off the Soviet units on the southern bank of the Spree from the main forces. The fight turned out to be very fleeting: Soviet soldiers crushed the cadets like cabbage.

Broken German 88mm FlaK 37 anti-aircraft gun near the destroyed Reichstag.
The artillery preparation was scheduled for 11.00 on April 30, the assault on the Reichstag at 13.30. The massive gray building of the Reichstag was targeted, including tanks and self-propelled guns, with a total of 89 barrels. Several groups were instructed to hoist the banner on the dome, including the soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon of the 756th regiment: Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov and Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantaria. A small group led by Lieutenant Berest was assigned to cover the standard bearers.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, after the artillery preparation, the infantry of the 674, 713 and 756 regiments rushed into the attack across the moat filled with water. They forced it either by swimming, or by pipes and rails sticking out of the water.


The Soviet assault group with the banner moves to the Reichstag.
At 14.20 the first Soviet soldiers fought their way through the German trenches to the southwestern corner of the Reichstag. Five minutes later, our soldiers also occupied the front - triumphal - entrance. The soldiers who stormed the Reichstag had to clean room after room almost blindly: the windows were walled up, and the small loopholes let in very little light.

Captive German soldier at the Reichstag.
From the defectors it became known that the garrison of the Reichstag numbers about one and a half thousand soldiers and officers, most of whom are in the basement. There were almost 10 times less Soviet soldiers in the Reichstag at the same time. But the fascists, who were sitting in the underground, no longer had enough fortitude or dedication to go for a breakthrough.
At about 16:00, the Germans, trying to unblock the Reichstag, launched another counterattack from the Brandenburg Gate, but were destroyed by forces of 33 rifle division... By 21.00, the entire second floor was cleared, At 21.50, Colonel Zinchenko, commander of the 756th regiment, reported to the commander of the 150th division, Shatilov, that the Victory Banner had been hoisted on the dome of the Reichstag.
Later it turned out that it was an assault group consisting of senior sergeants M. Minin, G. Zagitov, A. Lisimenko and sergeant A. Bobrov under the command of Captain V. Makov. The assault group of Yegorov and Kantaria made their way to the dome of the Reichstag at 1 am on May 1.


Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria go out with a banner on the roof of the Reichstag. Although this was not the first red banner installed in the Reichstag, it was precisely this that became the Banner of Victory.

Victory Banner on the defeated Reichstag on May 1, 1945


Victory Banner over the Reichstag. Lesser known photo.
The enemy units remaining in Berlin began to surrender en masse only a day later.


German soldiers in Berlin surrender to Soviet troops.

View of Hermann Goering Strasse in Berlin after the end of the fighting for the city. The building in the background is the destroyed Reichstag. The picture was taken from the roof of the Brandenburg Gate.

Wounded Soviet infantrymen on a T-34-85 tank in Berlin.


Officers of the 136th Cannon Artillery Brigade are resting outside the Reichstag building.


View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

Two Soviet officers on the steps of the Reichstag.

The interior of the Reichstag building.

The interior of the Reichstag.

The interior of the Reichstag.

Autograph of Soviet soldiers on the Reichstag column: “We are in Berlin! Nikolay, Peter, Nina and Sashka. 05/11/45 ".


Autographs of Soviet soldiers.

Soviet mortar soldier Sergei Ivanovich Platov leaves his autograph.

Red Army signalman Mikhail Usachev leaves his autograph.

The regiment's son Volodya Tarnovsky signs an autograph on the Reichstag column. He wrote: "Seversky Donets - Berlin", and signed for himself, the regiment commander and his fellow soldier, who supported him from below: "The gunners Doroshenko, Tarnovsky and Sumtsov."


The commander of the 23rd Guards Rifle Division, Major General Pavel Mendeleevich Shafarenko (far right) in the Reichstag with his colleagues.


British soldier leaves his autograph.

A group of Soviet officers inside the Reichstag.


Berliners walk along Hermann Goering Street past broken military equipment.


The Reichstag building in July 1945. The picture clearly shows the bricked-up window openings with loopholes left in them for the defense of the building. The inscription above the entrance: "Dem Deutschen Volke" - "The German people".

Lydia Ruslanova performs Katyusha against the background of the destroyed Reichstag.

From the very beginning, the real events around the storming of the Reichstag were carefully hushed up and distorted by the official Soviet historiography. There were more than enough reasons for this. First, the "infallible" leader himself, Comrade Stalin, was mistaken. He indicated the Reichstag as the main target in the capital of the enemy and the place over which it was necessary to hoist the banner of Victory. Not without incidents. The Panzer Corps of Babajanyan received a combat mission to break through to the Reichstag. At the same time, the corps was supposed to rush along the street past the Reich Chancellery, where Hitler was still living.

By May 1945, almost nothing remained of the former splendor of the Reichstag. For more than one year, it housed the most ordinary office - the medical archive, which had to share the living space with the hospital, the maternity ward of the Charite clinic and the kindergarten. The territory in front of the Reichstag was built up with various unsightly office and household buildings. The once posh Königsplatz square, lying between the Reichstag and the opera house, has been disfigured by unfinished construction. An open-cut metro line formed a ditch filled with rainwater, and in place of an unfinished pit under a new, straightened channel of the Spree River, a whole lake was formed. A shaft of rock taken out during the digging was piled up along the ditch. The once impressive fountains have long ceased to work and were half-filled with various debris.

Photo. You can clearly see how dirty the square in front of the Reichstag with farm buildings.

In order not to lower the dignity of the leader, military historians had to somehow emphasize the strategic and political importance of the Reichstag. Therefore, it was told with what stubbornness the numerous SS men defended the Reichstag, although the old men and boys from the Volkssturm held the defense there.

After the "Victory Banner" was tied by close ties with the Reichstag, the "den of the beast", all political agencies, military and civilian, tirelessly repeated about the great importance of taking this building by storm. The "banner of Victory" could not fly over a tertiary object! Soviet writers were also thrown into the solution of this important ideological task.

Veterans, participants in the assault, contributed to the fogging. First of all, those who received the stars of heroes for the assault and for the banner. And even the most honest and decent veterans, who saw what was happening from one single point, from the place where they were personally, resolutely refuted others, no less honest and decent, but who were in a completely different place and saw something different.

Therefore, some historians, contrary to the pointing finger of the CPSU, tried to collect information from the participants in the storming of the Reichstag, while they are still alive and well. The efforts of Ivan Dmitrievich Klimov, a member of the team of authors who worked on the six-volume "History of the Great Patriotic War Soviet Union 1941-1945 ". The head of the Memoir Group of the Press Department of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and the Navy, Colonel A.G. Kashcheev, made this very argument (while the direct participants can tell something) in favor of writing a detailed and scientifically based version of the storming of the Reichstag.

The commander of the 150th division, General V.M. Shatilov, also collected information from the participants in the assault. He sent letters to his former soldiers and officers with a request to describe their personal impressions, indicating at least an approximate time when what happened.

For both Klimov and Kashcheev, their struggle for historical truth cost dearly. The nervous energy spent in an unequal struggle with the ideological overseers from the Communist Party led both historians to premature death. General Shatilov was not threatened with this - his version fit into the Procrustean bed of the plot developed at the GlavPU.

Nevertheless, be that as it may, the veterans of the storming of the Reichstag left a lot of memories of different quality and varying degrees of reliability. Many have managed to bypass censorship in some key episodes. And even in a disciplined manner following the instructions of the Communist Party overseers, the authors of the memoirs made "punctures" that shed light of truth on certain events.

Let's try to reconstruct how the storming of the Reichstag developed, at least in general terms. But at the beginning it is necessary to say a few words about some of the architectural features of this extraordinary building, which significantly influenced the course of the battle.

Features of the architecture of the Reichstag.

The Reichstag in the plan resembles the letter "F", only not rounded, but "angular". Two courtyards-wells provide natural lighting for the halls and rooms, whose windows overlook these courtyards. The sitting room of the parliament was located on the central axis of the "letter", approximately in the middle. It was illuminated through a large and technically sophisticated glass ceiling, culminating in a grand dome. Also glazed. Lighting through the so-called skylights in the Reichstag was used quite widely for rooms without external walls. So on the glass roof, to a large extent, you do not run much. Moreover, by the time of the assault the glass had been broken. Nevertheless, most of the rooms had windows along the outer perimeter of the building, through which one could admire the views of the capital. When preparing the building for defense, the windows were bricked up.

The Reichstag had 4 floors: "Erdgeshos" - the ground floor. By our standards, a full-fledged first floor with large windows and high ceilings. In the memoir, he appears as "basements", for which there were reasons, as you will see later. "Hauptgeshos" - the main floor. The name speaks for itself. This floor housed the meeting room of the Reichstag - the German parliament. Obergeshos is the top floor. (According to our third). Some of the great halls of the Hauptgeshos had high ceilings ending at the same level as the ceilings of the Obergeshos. And finally, the last floor - "tsvishengeshos", which is most often translated as mezzanine. Our soldiers mistook Tsvishengeshos for an attic. It is worth recalling that the Germans, like the British, call the second floor the first, the third the second, and so on. And the first floor is called "earthen". In order not to conflict with memoirs, in which the second floor is called the first, and the third - the second, we take the German names of the floors for this chapter.

The Reichstag had 3 entrances and 2 transport entrances. The main entrance was located on the western facade. A large staircase led visitors who arrived from the direction of Königsplatz, past beautiful fountains, and immediately to the "Hauptgeshos" - the main floor. After passing a large circular lobby, in the center of which stood a huge Bismarck sculpture, visitors entered the meeting room. Two more entrances, less pompous, albeit with chic staircases lined with figures of ancient warriors inside, were from the east and south facades. The southern entrance was considered a parliamentary one. Here, in order to climb the "Hauptgeshos", there were also stairs, which, unlike the main entrance, were hidden in the back of the building. On the north side of the building there was a transport passage to the inner courtyard. Our soldiers called it "arch". Another transport passage, to another courtyard, was on the east side of the building, closer to the Tiergarten.

The Reichstag employed a large number of service personnel. The design of the building was conceived in such a way that the servants, moving around in the performance of their official duties, did not intersect with the gentlemen deputies. Therefore, the Reichstag had a large number of service ladders and ladders, through which it was possible to get to almost any point of the building without disturbing the chosen people of the people. And the basement floor (erdgeshos), where the bulk of plumbers, electricians, cleaners, etc. were based, was reliably isolated from the upper floors. The building had 150-200 rooms of various sizes and purposes.

In his memoirs, the commander of the 756th regiment F.M. Zinchenko described his thoughts before the assault:

... Of the four entrances to the Reichstag, the main one is the western one. He led, as it turned out, into an oval vestibule, from which was the entrance to the meeting room.

In total, in the Reichstag, in addition to a large conference room and halls for meetings of factions, there were more than 500 different rooms and premises, spacious basements.

... On the morning of April 30, a significant part of the city center was still in the hands of the Nazis. In the 79th Corps' offensive zone, the Reichstag, the Krol-Opera theater, the Brandenburg Gate area, the northeastern part of the Tiergarten and the quarter of foreign embassies remained the most serious centers of resistance. All of these points are still quite effectively interacting with each other.

... It would be most convenient to get into the Reichstag, of course, through one of the four entrances available in it - west, north, south or east. The southern entrance was covered by strong flanking fire from large buildings located forty meters from this entrance and somewhat east of it. The approaches to it were also under fire from tanks and direct-fire guns. Our artillery and tanks could not suppress the firing points in these buildings, since they were covered by the walls of the Reichstag itself..

There was no point in attacking the northern entrance either. The 380th regiment has not yet reached the Reichstag from this side. In addition, the enemy units that had recently counterattacked us could, with the support of the foreign embassy quarter, make a new sortie from here at any time..

As for the eastern entrance, it went to the opposite side of the Reichstag from us, to an area still completely in the hands of the Nazis. It is clear that this entrance was inaccessible for our fire weapons.

Remained the western, main entrance, which is also the main one. In the proposed plan, it was supposed to break into the Reichstag through this entrance. Its location provided our units with a wide front of attack and the most complete fire support. In addition, for the case on which we ended up here, as someone joked, only the front door was suitable.

The balance of forces.

Before describing the assault, let's try to determine the balance of forces. S.A. Neustroev in his memoirs told how the surrendered Germans left the Reichstag. In total, the battalion commander counted 100-120 people. Taking as a basis the average losses of the Germans in Berlin, reaching 50%, it can be assumed that the garrison of the Reichstag totaled 200-240 people before the assault. According to the report of the chief of staff of the 79th rifle corps, the Reichstag was defended by the remnants of the 617th, 403th, 407th and 421st battalions of the Volkssturm.

Map. A rather rough diagram of the storming of the Reichstag.

Photo. one of the 88 mm anti-aircraft guns at the Reichstag.

On April 26, 5 anti-aircraft guns were transferred to the Reichstag, which proved to be a formidable anti-tank weapon. But after the capture of the “Himmler house” by the morning of April 30 by the Soviet troops, some of them became useless, because their positions were too close to our infantry and the crews were not at all protected from machine-gun fire. Two guns were located behind the ditch, and one not far from the northeastern corner of the Krol-opera. According to A. Bessarab, despite their very disadvantageous position, the German artillerymen created many problems for the advancing Soviet troops.

On April 28, a team of SS men appeared in the Reichstag, who caught and shot deserters. They "inspired" Volkssturm to stubborn defense.

With what forces did the Red Army storm the Reichstag? The chairman of the Council of Veterans of the 150th Division, General (in 1945, Junior Lieutenant) V.S. Ustyugov recalled:

At this time, the infantry (70-80 soldiers and officers) lined up in the courtyard of the "Himmler house". Received ammunition, commanders set tasks, accepted replenishment. There were regiments - one name: in 756, there were 35 people in Captain Neustroev's battalion, in our 674th Lieutenant Colonel Plekhodanov there were a little more - 75-80. In one of the battalions there was only a battalion commander, Major Logvinenko, and two soldiers. The other battalions were not much better. But combat missions were set, and they had to be fulfilled.

However, in the memoirs of the commander of the 674th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Plekhodanov, other figures appear. According to him, there were 75 fighters in Neustroev's badly battered battalion. And before the assault, Plekhodanov sets a task not only for Davydov, but also for Logvinenko. This means that he did not have two fighters in the battalion, as Ustyugov writes. Most likely, not all soldiers were present at the formation.

S.A. Neustroev in his memoirs writes that in the morning of April 30, his battalion was stationed in three large rooms of "Himmler's house". And if we rely on his conclusion that the garrison of the Reichstag was approximately equal in number to his battalion, then Neustroev should have had 200-250 fighters by the beginning of the assault. By 20.00 on April 30, Neustroev's battalion received a replenishment, a whole company - 100 people. Stepan Andreevich appointed senior sergeant I.Ya. Syanov to command the company.

The battalion of K. Samsonov from the 380 regiment of the 171st division also had no more people than in the battalion of Davydov. In addition, two well-equipped groups consisting of experienced scouts, created by order of the commander of the 79th corps, General S.N. Perevertkin, took part in the storming of the Reichstag. Groups of 25 people each were commanded by Major M.M. Bondar and Captain V.N. Makov.

Based on the above contradictory data, in total it turns out from about 350 to 600 soldiers who attacked the Reichstag on foot. But the Red Army had a colossal advantage in artillery, including heavy self-propelled guns, and tanks. There were 89 guns on direct fire alone. We could have put more, but there was not enough space. The 79th corps had more than 1000 guns at its disposal. If we take into account the shooting from closed positions, then the assault on the Reichstag was supported by about 130 guns.

Storm.

On the morning of April 30, after night battles, the 674th regiment completely occupied "Himmler's house" and the first assault on the Reichstag began almost without a pause. The artillery has not yet pulled up, people are very tired. I really wanted to sleep. The fact is that Zhukov ordered the fighting in Berlin day and night. Of course, the units replaced each other, but, nevertheless, fatigue accumulated.

A great advantage for the defenders was the vast open space in front of the Reichstag. The first assault was carried out by the battalions of Davydov and Logvinenko from the 674th regiment.

The time of the beginning of the first assault on the Reichstag also differs in the memories of different participants. The platoon commander L. Litvak, from P. Grechenkov's company (Davydov's battalion), recalled that the first assault began in the early morning. The Reichstag was practically invisible in the morning fog. Only the outlines of the transformer box located on this side of the ditch loomed vaguely. But the commander of the 674th regiment, A. Plekhodanov, indicates in his article the time of the beginning of the first assault: 12.15 - 12.20. At the same time, informing that he moved his command post to the "Himmler house" only at 11.00.

V. Ustyugov says that they went to the first assault without any artillery preparation, at dawn. L. Litvak, on the contrary, claims that there was an artillery preparation. And not one, but two! The second was carried out when his platoon lay down on the square before reaching the ditch. Nevertheless, the result is the same - the soldiers of two battalions of the 674th regiment were lying in the square, hiding in craters and behind other shelters in the square in front of the Reichstag.

Second assault.

In the second assault, after the artillery preparation, which began at 13.00 and lasted half an hour, in addition to the already mentioned battalions of Davydov and Logvinenko, Samsonov's battalion from the 171st division and a reconnaissance platoon of the 674th regiment took part. By the end of the artillery barrage A. Plekhodanov ordered his chemists to put up a smoke screen. The massive front doors of the Reichstag were knocked out with a lucky shot.

The first to break into the Reichstag, at 13.35-13.40, soldiers of two battalions lay down on the square after the first assault. Leon Litvak recalled that he and his platoon from the lobby turned right into the great hall. So it was agreed before the assault: Plekhodanov's regiment was storming the enemy in the right (southern) part of the building. Zinchenko's regiment - advancing in the center. And the 380th regiment of the 171st division (acting commander Major V.D. Shatalin) - occupies left side building.

The German troops defending Berlin adhered to the following tactics: they took cover on the lower floors of buildings so as not to incur unnecessary losses during shelling. At the end of the artillery bombardment, they needed to quickly take positions in order to meet our advancing infantry with fire. Therefore, the vital task of our soldiers was to break into the building as soon as possible after the artillery barrage, so that the Germans did not have time to reach their line of defense. This is how Leon Litvak described it:

After the artillery preparation, they again went on the attack. Amicably, without rushes. Obviously, the Nazis were shaken there. The distance to the Reichstag passed quickly. Isolated centers of resistance were unable to stop us.
Having reached the steps of the Reichstag, the battle formations of the platoons were mixed. Running on them, they saw that the front door was carried out by a shell. We rushed into it. The stunned Nazis did not have time to put up decisive resistance. My platoon immediately rushed to the right side of the first floor. Pressing the Nazis with fire and grenades deep into the building, the platoon burst into a huge hall.

And here is how A. Bessarab saw all this, leading his anti-tank battalion from the command post in the “Himmler's house”:

A whole sheaf of red rockets scattered in front of the front entrance -signalceasefire for direct fire guns. The storming men rushed to the wide staircase from all sides. I remember the picture for the rest of my life: a Soviet officer was the first to appear at the columns. He turned to face the soldiers running after him, raised his hand with a machine gun up and, dragging people along with him, disappeared into the Reichstag building.

The Red Army men, running up the landing, just like their commander, saluted with machine guns, then disappeared one by one into the opening of the door. Another group. And more ... Hurray! Ours in the Reichstag!

Soon the first red banners appeared on the Reichstag. The combat leaflet of the political department of the army wrote shortly after the assault:

“Among the attackers were M. Eremin and G. Savenko The banner presented by the battalion commander Samsonov at the Komsomol meeting was at Eremin under his tunic. They were the first to reach the Reichstag building and at 2:25 pm they hoisted a red flag on one of the columns. "

Photo. Soldiers of Sorokin's platoon make a reconstruction of the hoisting of the banner for photojournalists on the afternoon of May 2.

On May 3, the newspaper of the 150th Infantry Division "The Warrior of the Motherland" was published, which placed in the corner, under the heading "They distinguished themselves in battle", a small modest note entitled "Motherland with deep respect pronounces the names of the heroes." It was about a platoon of scouts who planted the first flag on the roof of the Reichstag at 14.25. Here is the text of this note:

“Soviet heroes, the best sons of the people. Books and songs will be written about their outstanding feat. They hoisted the banner of victory over the citadel of Hitlerism. LET'S REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE BRANCHES: lieutenant Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev, Red Army soldier Grigory Bulatov... Other glorious warriors fought shoulder to shoulder with them Pravotorov, Lysenko, Oreshko, Pochkovsky, Bryukhovetsky, Sorokin. THE HOMELAND WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR FEAT.... GLORY TO THE HEROES! (We have tried to reproduce the size and weight of the fonts this note was printed with.)

The Germans quickly came to their senses and, opening strong fire, prevented reinforcements from entering the Reichstag. Our soldiers, trapped in the Reichstag, held their defenses in a large hall with high (two storey) ceilings and windows overlooking the courtyard. The reconnaissance platoon of Lieutenant Sorokin, including Lieutenant Koshkarbayev, who joined them, after installing the banner on the sculpture towering above the front door, went down and repelled German attacks together with L. Litvak's soldiers.

Both sides began to prepare for the next assault. The Germans restored the broken doors of the main entrance and threw down the red banners installed on the Reichstag. The Soviet command decided to conduct a third assault in the dark to reduce losses and set the time of the decisive assault at 22.00 after an intensive half-hour of artillery preparation. By this time, the 756th regiment received a replenishment (about 100 people) from which Neustroev formed a new company and appointed Sergeant I.Ya. Syanov to command this company. In the third assault, three regiments took part in their battalions: 674, 756 and 380, as well as two groups of scouts: V.N. Makov and M.M. Bondar. In one of the large halls of the Reichstag, the soldiers of the 674th regiment, who burst into it during the second assault, held their defenses. In this room, facing the courtyard, they were reliably protected from the shells of their artillery.

Third assault on the Reichstag.

At the command of V.N. Makov, his group rushed to the Reichstag 5 minutes before the end of the artillery preparation. They ran up the steps first and stopped at the boarded-up doors. More and more fighters ran up, but the doors did not budge. Finally, a log found nearby managed to knock out the doors and the soldiers rushed into the building, completing their assigned tasks. Neustroev's battalion rushed through the lobby into the meeting room. Samsonov's battalion turned left from the lobby, into the northern wing of the building. The soldiers of Davydov's battalion joined up with their comrades, who fought off the Germans for almost 8 hours in the southern wing of the Reichstag.

Four scouts from the 136th cannon brigade, at the direction of Makov, without getting involved in battle, rushed to the roof of the Reichstag along the stairs they discovered. (Around the lobby, on the building layout, 4 service stairs are visible). And at 22.40 the banner of the 79th corps was inserted into the crown of the giantess sculpture that personified Germany.

After a chaotic night skirmish, the Germans retreated to the basement. Ours took up defense in several rooms without trying to build on the success, because in the pitch darkness that reigned in the Reichstag, one could shoot each other. The huge building began to resemble the "Wild Field" - empty and dangerous. And only the scouts of Makov's group scurried back and forth along the ladder they had mastered. The scouts perfectly understanding the significance of the established banner, not least for them personally, organized its careful protection, periodically replacing each other. The raising of the banner was immediately reported by radio to General Perevertkin. (The battalions did not have radios, but the groups of Makov and Bondar had them!).

Around 3-4 o'clock in the morning (already on May 1), by order of the commander of the 756th regiment, Lieutenant A.P. Berest led a group of fighters to the roof of the Reichstag, including M. Egorov and M. Kantaria, who were selected by political agencies for installation of a banner made by order of the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army. Berest led the soldiers along the route laid by Sorokin's reconnaissance platoon during the day. Those. passing through a large multifunctional hall, defended by Davydov's battalion, they went out onto a wide staircase and had to climb it and go to the roof through southwest corner tower. To the sculptural group "Germany", the central element of the front facade of the Reichstag, it would have remained to walk about fifty meters.

But on this sculpture, the flag of the 79th Corps was already fluttering, and moreover, it was carefully guarded. Several soldiers lay around the sculpture, who came from a completely different direction. In a nervous atmosphere, in complete darkness, hearing the cautious steps of a group of people walking ... In general, a misfortune could have happened and the history of the "banner of Victory" would have looked completely different today.

But fortune that day was clearly on the side of Alexei Prokopovich and his group. Berest made a mistake in complete darkness, walked an extra 60 meters and took his soldiers to the roof of the Reichstag through southeast tower. Looking around, they saw not far away a large equestrian figure and Berest ordered the soldiers to cling the banner to this figure.

The commander of the 756th regiment, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko, left the Reichstag and, taking Egorov and Kantaria with him, went to his NP in "Himmler's house". At 5 o'clock in the morning, a command came from the headquarters of the 79th corps to the groups of Makov and Cooper to report to Perevertkin. Banners (at about 24.00 their banner on the same sculpture of the German "motherland" were attached by the soldiers of Cooper) were left unguarded and soon disappeared in the most mysterious way. Nobody touched the banner of the Military Council and it hung safely until the morning of May 2, although no one guarded it. The utterly unreasonable urgent call of the scouts Makov and Bondar at 5 o'clock in the morning (!!!) to the headquarters of the corps, where General Perevertkin did not even invite the soldiers to personally say at least thank you, arouses great suspicion. A very bad idea suggests itself that the political department of the 3rd Shock Army was simply eliminating dangerous competitors of its "native" banner No. 5.

Fight in the Reichstag. German counterstrike.

On the morning of May 1, at about 10:00, the Germans made a serious attempt to drive our troops out of the Reichstag. By 12.00, the premises of the northern wing of the building were on fire. Then the fire spread to a boardroom filled with shelves of millions of medical records. There was nothing to put out the fire with. Leaving the building means being under machine-gun fire almost point-blank. Nevertheless, with great difficulty, they managed to repel the counterattack and drive the enemy back to the basement. Besides the fire, the second big problem was thirst. Water was extracted with great danger to life. Sources of water were under constant sight of snipers.

The German command tried to help its battalions in the Reichstag by organizing a counter strike from the outside. But the Germans were clearly not strong enough. Still it was the last day Berlin operation... The Fuhrer was no longer alive, but the German soldiers did not know this and stubbornly fought back. Somewhere around 14.00, a soldier ran up to the platoon commander L. Litvak and said that a German tank was crawling towards them from the Tiergarten. Taking with him the calculation of the PTR (anti-tank rifle) Litvak went to the windows facing south. It turned out that this was not a tank, but a self-propelled gun with a powerful cannon, but without a full-fledged turret. The crew was protected by armor only from the front and sides. They opened continuous fire on the self-propelled gun from machine guns and anti-tank rifles. The self-propelled gun fired, missed, and began to back away. Immediately, two shells hit it one after the other and the self-propelled gun began to smoke.

Photo. Volkssturm - German people's militia.

The night from first to second was also nervous. The Germans, who knew the building well, used this advantage either by appearing in a completely unexpected place, or by throwing grenades through the ventilation ducts. At about one o'clock in the morning, the Germans threw a thermite ball into the great hall of the southern wing. It did not work to throw it out - it was intensively splashing with streams of fire. By three o'clock in the morning on May 2, the fire had gained such strength that it was impossible to be in the hall. We had to withdraw our troops from the southern wing of the building.

Goebbels has already committed suicide. The Nazi bosses, including Bormann, had already fled from the Reich Chancellery like rats. Already the SS from the "Monke" detachment, Hitler's last guard, made an attempt to escape from blazing Berlin. And the old Volkssturmists who defended the Reichstag, where the medical archive was now located, still did not give up. Finally, just as dawn broke, Neustroev's fighters saw a white flag.

Neustroev, Berest (disguised as a colonel) and a soldier-translator went to the negotiations. After brief negotiations for surrender, the Germans said they would think about it. At 7:00 am, the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, signed the order of surrender. A. Bessarab wrote in his memoirs:

On May 2, at 10 o'clock in the morning, everything suddenly fell silent, the fire stopped. And everyone realized that something had happened. We saw white sheets that were "thrown away" in the Reichstag, the Chancellery and the Royal Opera House and the cellars that had not yet been taken. Whole columns have tumbled down from there. A column passed in front of us, where there were generals, colonels, then soldiers behind them.Probably, they walked for three hours.

I have shared with you the information that I "dug up" and systematized. At the same time, he has not poorer at all and is ready to share further, at least twice a week.

If you find errors or inaccuracies in the article, please report. My e-mail address: [email protected] . I'll be very thankful.

The capture of the Reichstag was the culmination of World War II. A citadel of evil falling into the hands of victors, a dictator shooting a bullet in himself - it is difficult to think of a more spectacular final chord of the largest armed conflict in human history. Meanwhile, the epic of the storming of Berlin contains quite a lot of curious and non-trivial nuances.

Fortress with cracked walls

Berlin had been prepared for a stubborn defense for a long time, and at the end of April its defenders had something to do to repel the blows, although the forces of the garrison still did not meet their tasks. Long before the start of the final Russian offensive, Berlin was brutally bombed by the Allies, so various shelters and fortifications were arranged in advance in the capital of the Reich. True, they mainly defended against air raids. The system of fortifications protecting from a ground attack was built anyhow, ditches, shelters and trenches were erected without a single plan, and warehouses were located on the outskirts by an absurd mistake - in the battle they were quickly received by the Russians.

Air defense towers - huge concrete structures in which anti-aircraft guns and shelters for thousands of people were mounted - became a specific masterpiece of fortification. Despite their exotic appearance and design, these structures turned out to be quite tough nuts: not one of them was destroyed either from the air or from the ground. It was in one of these towers that the commandant of Berlin Helmut Weidling was sitting during the assault.

In addition to the towers, there were hundreds of conventional air defense positions with anti-aircraft artillery of all calibers in Berlin. These anti-aircraft guns became perhaps the most serious obstacle to the attackers. However, on engineering structures and a powerful air defense system, the list of Berlin's advantages as a fortress was exhausted. In the city, battalions of elderly Volkssturmists, many of whom were not young men already in the previous world war, firefighters, policemen, Hitler Youths, etc., were urgently created in the city. etc. Tens of thousands of armed people gathered in Berlin, but only a minority of them could be considered as soldiers. The remnants of the 56th Panzer Corps, which had retreated to Berlin from the east, gave some organization to this horde. With only 13-15 thousand soldiers and officers, the remnants of the divisions defeated on the Oder line became the nucleus around which the irregular units gathered. In total, according to various estimates, there were from 60 to 140 thousand defenders in Berlin, which, of course, is not enough for such a city.

More than 400,000 soldiers and officers rushed into the streets from the Soviet side. It should be noted that the Russians purposefully created such a favorable balance of forces: the powerful Wehrmacht army, consisting of regular units of the 9th army, was cut off from Berlin in the forests south of the city, engulfed from all sides and defeated in a large "cauldron". The Fuehrer had high hopes for her divisions, but at a time when Berlin was entering from different directions Soviet tanks, 9 the army died ingloriously surrounded.

The Soviet armies that entered the streets of Berlin strove for the Reichstag. As a political center, this building, built for the German parliament, has long been of no importance. Hitler himself was in the Reich Chancellery. However, as a massive building in the center of the city, the Reichstag was stubbornly held by the detachments of the Berlin garrison, it was he who was a reference point for the attackers and a symbol of the defense of Berlin.

The need for a quick storm of Berlin was largely dictated by the personality of the Nazi leader. Hitler's will welded together the remaining forces of the Wehrmacht, while the Berlin garrison was too weak to pose a serious threat to the attackers. The main danger came not from the youths clutching the faust cartridges in the Berlin attics, but from the large regular forces of the German army outside Berlin, capable of independent operations, so that the rapid destruction " think tank The Third Reich was an informed decision. Moreover, they carefully prepared for the offensive. Berlin was carefully filmed by aerial reconnaissance, and even platoon officers were supplied with plans for the city.

Fighting in the streets

The Reichstag had no conquerors initially assigned to this role. For a number of reasons, in the end, the troops of the 3rd Shock Army, advancing on the city from the north, made their way to it. Meanwhile, on April 23, when the troops entered Berlin, the commander of this army, General Kuznetsov, was dissatisfied with the slow pace of the offensive. On this day, he made a real blast to the commanders of his own corps for the poor organization of the battle and the loss of control of the advancing units.

Meanwhile, the army really had objective reasons to launch an offensive relatively slowly: it acted in a densely built-up zone against stubbornly defending units. Numerous rivers and canals, which had to be overcome with battle, became a separate problem. The canal itself is much less convenient for crossing than the river: the sheer walls of the embankments created problems for sappers. Nevertheless, the 3rd shock had infantry well prepared for assault operations, strong sapper units and a terrible artillery fist, so the advance was steady, albeit unhurried.

Soon a bridgehead was captured on the other side of the Berlin-Spandauer canal. The 150th Infantry Division, whose banner would soon be over the Reichstag, crossed the canal separately, bypassing the German resistance knot. However, the Spree army, lying further in the path, again slowed down the advance. Again an artillery raid, detours, sappers' work to establish crossings - and continuous stripping of quarters from a desperately defending enemy. As a kind of training before the final assault, units of two divisions of the 3rd shock liberated the Moabit prison, which was intended for political prisoners in the Reich.

The offensive was carried out carefully and methodically. The main actor in street battles, the assault detachment became. A single staff of such a unit did not exist, detachments were put together on the fly for specific tasks, but a typical assault detachment included a rifle company or battalion, a platoon or company of sappers, a separate platoon of machine gunners, large-caliber machine guns, flamethrowers, several self-propelled guns or tanks, mortars and field guns, which rolled on their hands. Heavy artillery was added as needed. Such a detachment was divided into several assault groups, which, in fact, solved tactical tasks: to seize a house, a bridge, a sewer, a structure, and suppress a firing point.

The meaning of this division was to create small, but heavily armed units that could not waste time on requests for support, but would immediately have their own means of fighting any enemy. The assault group had its own means of knocking out a tank, setting fire to what was burning, undermining what was not burning, and maneuvering under cover of a smoke screen. As a rule, such a group, before the main attack, “softened” the enemy with cannon or tank strikes on embrasures and windows. Mortars suppressed the enemy in open places and cut off anyone's attempts to come to the rescue. Passages for infantrymen were made by sappers who blew up obstacles and walls in the right places, then the infantry penetrated the object that it was supposed to capture. Large-caliber machine guns were placed on the upper floors of already passed buildings and beat over the heads of their shooters, not allowing them to raise their heads. The attackers immediately sought to seize the upper floors of the buildings in order to cut off the Germans trying to counterattack with fire from above, or vice versa, to prevent the garrison from escaping.

As you can see, the set of techniques is complex, requiring clear interaction. But the Soviet soldiers of 1945 were very different from themselves four years earlier, and really could show the high class of an assault operation.

heart of Darkness

By the evening of April 28, some hundreds of meters remained to the Reichstag. The 3rd shock came to the bank of the Spree from the north, and was preparing to force it. At night, Colonel Negoda's 171st division crossed the river and seized a bridgehead. Under the cover of artillery, Negoda achieved the main success of that night - the capture of the bridge over the Spree. The undamaged crossing became a valuable acquisition, along it the main forces of the 171st and 150th divisions crossed to the Reichstag. However, the first attempt to take the Reichstag outright failed: several thousand German soldiers with armored vehicles defended themselves on the approaches, including a couple of "Tigers", one of which was hit right in the middle of the square.

No one was going to storm the Reichstag at any cost, and so far the attackers limited themselves to the adjacent Gestapo building. Only the Konigs-Platz square separated the attackers from the Reichstag. The decisive assault was planned for April 30, while the Russians were conducting reconnaissance and pulling up the rear with artillery. In addition to the Reichstag itself, the target was the Krol Opera, which remained on the right: from there, the Germans could threaten the flank and rear of those advancing on the Reichstag itself. The Reichstag was already becoming an island in the stormy sea of ​​the advancing Soviet troops: from the south, units of the 8th Guards Army were moving towards the 3rd shock.

The final assault began at 11-30. In the second hour of the afternoon, the Russians began shelling the Reichstag itself with guns of all calibers, including 203-mm siege howitzers. The building was stormed by parts of two divisions at once. Note that by the end of the war, rifle divisions were extremely small in number, and rather resembled regiments, that is, we are not talking about the participation of tens of thousands of people in the assault on one building. The first soldiers to break into the Reichstag were the soldiers of the 171st Infantry. They were the first to hang the red banner in the window of the Reichstag. Inside, however, the assailants had to wade through the desperately defended ruins. Here the artillery could no longer help; close combat was going on in the building. Meanwhile, while in the dusk of the Reichstag, assault groups with grenades and hand weapons were making their way, important events nearby, in the Reich Chancellery.

On April 29, Hitler sent inquiries about where the German troops were and what they were doing outside Berlin. He counted on salvation from the 9 and 12 field armies. The answers were disappointing for the dictator. The remnants of the 9th army struggled to break through from the encirclement to the west and were not going to help out the Fuhrer, the 12th army got bogged down in battles with the screens of Soviet troops west of the city, and also had no opportunity to break through to Berlin. Soviet troops at that moment were less than half a kilometer from the Reich Chancellery. These news predetermined further events: the hapless conqueror of the world committed suicide.

The last chief of the General Staff of the Reich, Hans Krebs, went to the 8th Guards Army to General Vasily Chuikov and began negotiations for surrender. All this in the Reichstag was not yet known. There was a fight inside. At least one and a half thousand soldiers of the garrison were driven into the basement by the Russians and were now beating them out with explosives and grenades. On May 1, they tried to break into the lobby, but they were met and thrown back.

It is interesting that this battle took place when the red banner was already fluttering over the Reichstag. Moreover, the banners were hoisted on the roof of the building several times. In general, many tried to symbolically consolidate their primacy, so there were about forty different flags and banners on the Reichstag. The "classic" banner, hoisted on the dome, was originally hoisted by Yegorov and Kantaria on the eastern side of the building. But it was moved to the dome a little later, on the 2nd.

“On April 30, 1945, the Fuhrer committed suicide, leaving us, who had taken the oath to him, to ourselves.

You think that according to the order of the Fuehrer, still have to fight for Berlin, despite the fact that the lack of heavy weapons, ammunition and the general situation make further fighting senseless.

Every hour of your struggle increases the terrible suffering civilian population Berlin and our wounded. Everyone who is dying now for Berlin is making a useless sacrifice.

Therefore, in agreement with the Supreme Command of the Soviet troops, I urge you to immediately end your resistance.

Weidling, General of Artillery and Commander of the Defense of Berlin. "

At this time, the position of the besieged in the Reichstag became completely hopeless. The building was on fire. On the morning of May 2, the remnants of the garrison surrendered. A total of 2,500 German soldiers were killed in the Reichstag, another 1,650 were taken prisoner. The day before, the Krol-Opera building fell, where about 850 German soldiers and officers surrendered. In turn, for the entire time of the Berlin operation, that is, not only in the city itself, but also during the breakthrough to it, the 3rd Shock Army lost 4,244 people killed and missing.

The Reichstag became a symbol of not just a military triumph, but the end of a very long way for the soldiers and officers who stormed it. Lieutenant Berest, whose soldiers hoisted the Victory Banner over the dome, took part in the Finnish War. Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov entered the active army in December 1944 after he fought for several years in the partisans in the Smolensk region. The biography of Meliton Kantaria was just as long and stormy - he served as a scout for the 150th division since December 1941. Far from random people entered the dome of the Reichstag: they really were worthy of the glory of the conquerors of Berlin. Finally, General Vasily Kuznetsov did not just fight from the very beginning: in June 1941, he fought his way with the remnants of his army from the first encirclement of the war in Belarus. By some mockery of fate, that army, which died in the forests, also had number 3.

We can say that the Reichstag in 1945 was no longer the center of political power in the Reich, and this is true. However, it was his capture that became a symbol of the end of four years of suffering, and the final triumph of the victors. Whatever one may say, the Reichstag area was one of the most important centers of Berlin's defense, and even in a purely military aspect, its assault was important. Now, in modern non-Nazi Germany, the Reichstag has regained its old meaning as the center of German politics. The banner above the dome became not only a symbol of the end of the Third Reich, but also marked the beginning of a new Germany, and, without exaggeration, a new structure of the world.

From April 28 to May 2, 1945, the forces of the 150th and 171st Infantry Divisions of the 79th Infantry Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front carried out an operation to capture the Reichstag. This event is dedicated to this collection of facts, old photos and videos.

Everyone has heard about the capture of the Reichstag by Soviet soldiers. But what do we really know about him? We will tell you about who was sent against the Red Army, how they were looking for the Reichstag and how many banners there were.

Who goes to Berlin

There were more than enough people who wanted to take Berlin in the Red Army. Moreover, if for the commanders - Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky it was, among other things, a matter of prestige, then for ordinary soldiers who were already "one foot at home" this is another terrible battle. The participants in the assault will remember it as one of the most difficult battles of the war.

Nevertheless, the idea that their detachment would be sent to Berlin in April 1944 could cause only jubilation among the soldiers. The author of the book: "Who took the Reichstag: heroes by default," N. Yamskaya talks about how they waited for a decision on the composition of the offensive troops in the 756th regiment:

“Officers have gathered at the headquarters dugout. Neustroev burned with impatience, offering to send someone for Major Kazakov, who was to arrive with the results of the decision. One of the officers joked: "Why are you, Stepan, turning in place? I would take off my boots - and go ahead! During the time that you run back and forth, you should have been near Berlin!"

Soon the cheerful and smiling Major Kazakov returned. And it became clear to everyone: we are going to Berlin! "

Attitude

Why was it so important to take the Reichstag and plant a banner on it? This building, where the highest legislative body of Germany has sat since 1919, did not play any role during the Third Reich, de facto. All legislative functions were performed in the Krol-Opera, the building opposite. However, for the Nazis, this is not just a building, not just a fortress. For them, this was the last hope, the capture of which would demoralize the army. Therefore, during the storming of Berlin, the command focused precisely on the Reichstag. Hence Zhukov's order to the 171st and 150th divisions, which promised gratitude and government awards to those who set up a red flag over a gray, unsightly and half-destroyed building.
Moreover, its installation was of paramount importance.

“If our people are not in the Reichstag and the banner has not been installed there, then take all measures at any cost to plant a flag or a flag at least on the column of the front entrance. At any cost!"

- there was an order from Zinchenko. That is, the banner of victory should have been erected even before the actual capture of the Reichstag. According to eyewitnesses, when trying to fulfill the order and set up a banner on the building still defended by the Germans, many "single volunteers, the bravest people" died, but this is what made the act of Kantaria and Yegorov heroic.

"Sailors of the SS Special Forces"

Even as the Red Army moved towards Berlin, when the outcome of the war became obvious, Hitler was seized by either panic, or wounded pride played a role, but they issued several orders, whose essence boiled down to the fact that all of Germany should perish along with the defeat of the Reich. The "Nero" plan, which implied the destruction of all cultural values ​​on the territory of the state, was carried out, and the evacuation of residents was made difficult. Subsequently, the high command will utter the key phrase: "Berlin will defend itself to the last German."

So, for the most part it was all the same who sent to death. So, in order to detain the Red Army at the Moltke Bridge, Hitler transferred to Berlin the "SS Special Forces" sailors, who were ordered to delay the advance of our troops to government buildings at any cost.

They turned out to be sixteen-year-old boys, yesterday's cadets of the naval school from the city of Rostock. Hitler spoke to them, calling them the heroes and hope of the nation. His order itself is interesting: “to discard the small group of Russians that broke through to this bank of the Spree, and to prevent it from reaching the Reichstag. You need to hold out quite a bit. Soon you will receive new weapons of immense power and new aircraft. Wenck's army approaches from the south. The Russians will not only be driven out of Berlin, but also driven back to Moscow. "

Did Hitler know about the real number of the "small group of Russians" and the state of affairs when he gave the order? What was he counting on? At that time, it was obvious that for an effective battle with Soviet soldiers, an entire army was needed, and not 500 young Maltsov who did not know how to fight. Perhaps Hitler expected positive results from separate negotiations with the allies of the USSR. But the question of what secret weapon was in question remained in the air. One way or another, hopes were not justified, and many young fanatics died without bringing any benefit to their homeland.

Where is the Reichstag?

During the assault, there were also incidents. On the eve of the offensive, at night it turned out that the attackers did not know what the Reichstag looked like, and even more so where it was.

This is how the battalion commander, Neustroev, who was ordered to storm the Reichstag, described this situation: “The Colonel orders:

"Come out quickly to the Reichstag!" I hang up. Zinchenko's voice is still ringing in my ears. And where is he, the Reichstag? God knows! Ahead it is dark and deserted. "

Zinchenko, in turn, reported to General Shatilov: “Neustroev's battalion took up its initial position in the basement of the southeastern part of the building. Only now some kind of house bothers him - closes the Reichstag. We will go around it on the right. "He answers in bewilderment:" What other house? A rabbit opera? But he should be to the right of the “Himmler house”. There can be no building in front of the Reichstag ... ".

However, the building was there. A squat two and a half stories high with towers and a dome at the top. Behind him, two hundred meters away, could be seen the outlines of a huge, twelve-story building, which Neustovev took for the ultimate goal. But the gray building, which they decided to bypass, unexpectedly met with an oncoming continuous fire.

Correctly say, one head is good, but two is better. The mystery of the location of the Reichstag was solved upon arrival at Neustroev Zinchenko. As the battalion commander himself describes:

“Zinchenko looked at the square and at the hidden gray building. And then, without turning around, he asked: "So what prevents you from going to the Reichstag?" “This is a low-rise building,” I replied. "So this is the Reichstag!"

Fights for rooms

How was the Reichstag taken? The usual reference literature does not go into details, describing the assault as a one-day "swoop" of Soviet soldiers on a building, which, under this pressure, was just as quickly surrendered by its garrison. However, this was not the case. The building was defended by selected SS units, which had nothing more to lose. And they had the advantage. They knew very well about his plan and the location of all his 500 rooms. Unlike the Soviet soldiers, who had no idea what the Reichstag looked like. As the private of the third company IV Mayorov told: “We knew practically nothing about the internal disposition. And this greatly complicated the fight with the enemy. In addition, from the continuous automatic and machine-gun fire, explosions of grenades and faust cartridges in the Reichstag, such smoke and dust from the plaster rose that, mixing, they obscured everything, hung in the rooms in an impenetrable veil - nothing is visible, as in the darkness. " About how difficult the assault was, one can judge that the Soviet command set the task on the first day to capture at least 15-10 rooms out of the aforementioned 500.

How many flags were there

The historical banner hoisted on the roof of the Reichstag was the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division of the Third Shock Army, erected by Sergeant Yegorov and Kantaria. But this was far from the only red flag over the German parliament. The desire to reach Berlin and plant the Soviet flag over the destroyed enemy lair of the Nazis was dreamed of by many, regardless of the order of the command and the promise of the title of "Hero of the USSR". However, the latter was another useful incentive.

According to eyewitnesses, there were neither two, nor three, or even five victory banners in the Reichstag. The entire building was literally "reddened" from Soviet flags, both homemade and official. According to experts, there were about 20 of them, some were shot down during the bombing. The first was installed by senior sergeant Ivan Lysenko, whose detachment built a banner from a mattress of red cloth. Ivan Lysenko's award list reads:

“On April 30, 1945 at 2 pm Comrade Lysenko was the first to break into the Reichstag building, exterminated more than 20 German soldiers with grenade fire, reached the second floor and hoisted the banner of victory. For his heroism and courage in battle, he is worthy of being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Moreover, his detachment fulfilled its main task - to cover the standard-bearers, who were instructed to hoist the victorious banners on the Reichstag.

In general, each detachment dreamed of planting its own flag on the Reichstag. With this dream, the soldiers went all this way to Berlin, every kilometer of which cost their lives. Therefore, is it really so important, whose banner was the first, and whose "official". They were all equally important.

The fate of autographs

Those who did not manage to hoist the banner left reminders of themselves on the walls of the captured building. As eyewitnesses describe: all the columns and walls at the entrance to the Reichstag were covered with inscriptions in which the soldiers expressed feelings of the joy of victory. They wrote to everyone - with paints, coal, a bayonet, a nail, a knife:

"The shortest way to Moscow is through Berlin!"

“And we girls were here. Glory to the Soviet soldier! ”; "We are from Leningrad, Petrov, Kryuchkov"; “Know ours. Siberians Pushchin, Petlin "; “We are in the Reichstag”; “I walked with the name of Lenin”; "From Stalingrad to Berlin"; "Moscow - Stalingrad - Oryol - Warsaw - Berlin"; "I got to Berlin."

Some of the autographs have survived to this day - their preservation was one of the main requirements during the restoration of the Reichstag. Nevertheless, today their fate is often called into question. So, in 2002, representatives of the conservatives Johannes Zinghammer and Horst Gunther proposed to destroy them, arguing that the inscriptions "burden modern Russian-German relations."

1. Fireworks in honor of the Victory on the roof of the Reichstag. Soldiers of the battalion under the command of the Hero of the Soviet Union S. Neustroev.

2. View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

3. Soviet trucks and cars on a destroyed street in Berlin. The Reichstag building is visible behind the ruins.

4. Head of the River Emergency Rescue Directorate of the USSR Navy Rear Admiral Fotiy Ivanovich Krylov (1896-1948) awards a diver with an order for clearing the Spree River in Berlin. In the background is the Reichstag building.

6. View of the Reichstag after the end of hostilities.

7. A group of Soviet officers inside the Reichstag.

8. Soviet soldiers with a banner on the roof of the Reichstag.

9. The Soviet assault group with the banner moves to the Reichstag.

10. Soviet assault group with a banner moving to the Reichstag.

11. The commander of the 23rd Guards Rifle Division, Major General P.M. Shafarenko in the Reichstag with colleagues.

12. Heavy tank IS-2 against the background of the Reichstag

13. Soldiers of the 150th Rifle Idritsko-Berlin, Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree division on the steps of the Reichstag (among the depicted scouts M. Kantaria, M. Egorov and Komsomol organizer of the division captain M. Zholudev). In the foreground is the regiment's 14-year-old son, Zhora Artemenkov.

14. The Reichstag building in July 1945.

15. The interior of the Reichstag building after the defeat of Germany in the war. On the walls and columns there are inscriptions of Soviet soldiers left as a memento.

16. The interior of the Reichstag building after the defeat of Germany in the war. On the walls and columns there are inscriptions of Soviet soldiers left as a memento. The photo shows the southern entrance of the building.

17. Soviet photojournalists and cameramen at the Reichstag building.

18. The wreckage of an overturned German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter against the backdrop of the Reichstag.

19. Autograph of Soviet soldiers on the Reichstag column: “We are in Berlin! Nikolay, Peter, Nina and Sashka. 05/11/45 ".

20. A group of political workers of the 385th Infantry Division, headed by the head of the political department, Colonel Mikhailov, at the Reichstag.

21. German anti-aircraft guns and a killed German soldier at the Reichstag.

23. Soviet soldiers in the square near the Reichstag.

24. Red Army signalman Mikhail Usachev leaves his autograph on the wall of the Reichstag.

25. British soldier leaves his autograph among the autographs of Soviet soldiers inside the Reichstag.

26. Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria come out with a banner on the roof of the Reichstag.

27. Soviet soldiers plant a banner over the Reichstag on May 2, 1945. This is one of the banners installed on the Reistag in addition to the official hoisting of the banner by Yegorov and Kantaria.

28. The famous Soviet singer Lydia Ruslanova performs Katyusha against the backdrop of the destroyed Reichstag.

29. The son of the regiment Volodya Tarnovsky puts an autograph on the Reichstag column.

30. Heavy tank IS-2 in front of the Reichstag.

31. A captured German soldier at the Reichstag. A famous photograph that was often published in books and on posters in the USSR under the name "End" (German for "The End").

32. Fellow soldiers of the 88th separate guards heavy tank regiment at the wall of the Reichstag, in the assault of which the regiment took part.

33. Banner of Victory over the Reichstag.

34. Two Soviet officers on the steps of the Reichstag.

35. Two Soviet officers on the square in front of the Reichstag building.

36. Soviet mortar soldier Sergei Ivanovich Platov leaves his autograph on the Reichstag column.

37. Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. A photograph of a Soviet soldier hoisting the Red Banner over the captured Reichstag, which later became known as the Victory Banner - one of the main symbols of the Great Patriotic War.

38. The commander of the 88th separate heavy tank regiment P.G. Mzhachikh against the background of the Reichstag, in the assault of which his regiment also took part.

39. Fellow soldiers of the 88th separate heavy tank regiment near the Reichstag.

40. The soldiers who stormed the Reichstag. The reconnaissance platoon of the 674th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Idritsa Infantry Division.

41. Mikhail Makarov, infantry soldier who reached Berlin. In front of the Reichstag.

How fascist Germany surrendered

The last act of the Great Patriotic War stretched out in time, from which there are some discrepancies in its interpretation.

So how did Nazi Germany actually surrender?

German disaster

By the beginning of 1945, Germany's position in the war had become simply catastrophic. The swift advance of the Soviet troops from the East and the armies of the Allies from the West led to the fact that the outcome of the war became clear to almost everyone.

From January to May 1945, the agony of the Third Reich actually took place. More and more units rushed to the front not so much with the aim of turning the situation around, but with the aim of delaying the final catastrophe.

Under these conditions, an atypical chaos reigned in the German army. Suffice it to say that there is simply no complete information about the losses suffered by the Wehrmacht in 1945 - the Nazis no longer had time to bury their dead and draw up reports.

On April 16, 1945, Soviet troops deployed offensive operation in the direction of Berlin, the purpose of which was to capture the capital of Nazi Germany.

Despite the large forces concentrated by the enemy, and its deeply echeloned defensive fortifications, in a matter of days, Soviet units broke through to the outskirts of Berlin.

Preventing the enemy from being drawn into protracted street battles, on April 25, Soviet assault groups began advancing towards the city center.

On the same day, on the Elbe River, Soviet troops united with American units, as a result of which the Wehrmacht armies continuing to fight were divided into groups isolated from each other.

In Berlin itself, units of the 1st Belorussian Front advanced to the government offices of the Third Reich.

Parts of the 3rd Shock Army broke through to the Reichstag area on the evening of April 28. At dawn on April 30, the building of the Ministry of the Interior was taken, after which the path to the Reichstag was opened.

Capitulation of Hitler and Berlin

Adolf Hitler, who was at that time in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery, "surrendered" in the middle of the day on April 30, committing suicide. According to the Fuehrer's associates, in the last days his greatest fear was that the Russians would fire shells with soporific gas at the bunker, after which he would be put in a cage in Moscow for the amusement of the crowd.

At about 21:30 on April 30, units of the 150th Infantry Division captured the main part of the Reichstag, and on the morning of May 1, a red flag was raised over it, which became the Banner of Victory.

The fierce battle in the Reichstag, however, did not stop, and the defending units ceased resistance only on the night of 1 to 2 May.

On the night of May 1, 1945, the chief of the General Staff of the German ground forces General Krebs, who reported Hitler's suicide, and requested an armistice while the new German government took over. The Soviet side demanded an unconditional surrender, which was refused at about 18:00 on May 1.

By this time, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained under the control of the Germans in Berlin. The refusal of the Nazis gave the Soviet troops the right to start the assault again, which did not last long: at the beginning of the first night of May 2, the Germans requested a ceasefire by radio and declared their readiness to surrender.

At 6 a.m. on May 2, 1945, the commander of the Berlin defense, General of Artillery Weidling, accompanied by three generals, crossed the front line and surrendered. An hour later, while at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army, he wrote an order for surrender, which was multiplied and, with the help of loud-speaking installations and radio, communicated to the enemy units defending in the center of Berlin. By the end of the day on May 2, resistance in Berlin ceased, and individual groups of Germans who continued fighting were destroyed.

However, Hitler's suicide and the final fall of Berlin did not yet mean the surrender of Germany, which still had more than a million soldiers in the ranks.

Eisenhower's Soldier Honesty

The new German government, headed by Gross Admiral Karl Doenitz, decided to "save the Germans from the Red Army" Eastern Front, simultaneously with the flight of civilian forces and troops to the West. The main idea was capitulation in the West, while there was no capitulation in the East. Since, due to agreements between the USSR and the Western allies, it is difficult to achieve surrender only in the West, a policy of private surrenders should be pursued at the level of army groups and below.

On May 4, in front of the army of British Marshal Montgomery, a German group surrendered in Holland, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein and North-West Germany. On May 5, Army Group G surrendered to the Americans in Bavaria and Western Austria.

After that, negotiations began between the Germans and the Western allies for a complete surrender in the West. However, the American General Eisenhower disappointed the German military - the surrender should take place both in the West and in the East, and german armies must stop where they are. This meant that not everyone would be able to escape from the Red Army to the West.

The Germans tried to protest, but Eisenhower warned that if the Germans continued to play for time, his troops would forcefully stop everyone fleeing to the West, be they soldiers or refugees. In this situation, the German command agreed to sign unconditional surrender.

General Susloparov's improvisation

In this form, the act of surrender of Germany was signed from the German side by the chief of the OKW operational headquarters, Colonel-General Alfred Jodl, from the Anglo-American side by Lieutenant General of the US Army, Chief of the General Staff of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Walter Smith, from the USSR - by the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters under Allied Command Major General Ivan Susloparov. French Brigadier General François Sevez signed the act as a witness. The act was signed at 2:41 on May 7, 1945. It was supposed to come into force on May 8 at 23:01 CET.

The signing of the act was to take place at General Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims. On May 6, members of the Soviet military mission, General Susloparov and Colonel Zenkovich, were summoned there, and they were informed about the upcoming signing of an act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

Nobody would envy Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov at this moment. The fact is that he did not have the authority to sign the surrender. Having sent a request to Moscow, he did not receive an answer by the beginning of the procedure.

In Moscow, they rightly feared that the Nazis would achieve their goal and sign a surrender to the Western allies on terms favorable to them. Not to mention the fact that the very execution of the surrender at the American headquarters in Reims categorically did not suit the Soviet Union.

The easiest way for General Susloparov was not to sign any documents at that moment. However, according to his recollections, an extremely unpleasant collision could have developed: the Germans surrendered in front of the allies by signing an act, and with the USSR they remain at war. Where this situation will lead is not clear.

General Susloparov acted at his own peril and risk. In the text of the document, he made the following note: this protocol on military surrender does not exclude the signing of another, more perfect act of surrender of Germany in the future, if any allied government declares it.

In this form, the act of surrender of Germany was signed from the German side by the chief of the OKW operational headquarters, Colonel-General Alfred Jodl, from the Anglo-American side by Lieutenant General of the US Army, Chief of the General Staff of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Walter Smith, from the USSR - by the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters under Allied Command Major General Ivan Susloparov. French Brigadier General François Sevez signed the act as a witness. The act was signed at 2:41 on May 7, 1945. It was supposed to come into force on May 8 at 23:01 CET.

Interestingly, General Eisenhower avoided participating in the signing, citing the low status of the German representative.

Temporary effect

After signing, an answer came from Moscow - General Susloparov was forbidden to sign any documents.

The Soviet command believed that 45 hours before the entry into force of the document, German forces would be used to flee to the West. This, in fact, was not denied by the Germans themselves.

As a result, at the insistence of the Soviet side, it was decided to hold another ceremony of signing the unconditional surrender of Germany, which was organized on the evening of May 8, 1945 in the German suburb of Karlshorst. The text, with a few exceptions, repeated the text of the document signed in Reims.

On behalf of the German side, the act was signed by: Field Marshal General, Chief of the High Command Wilhelm Keitel, Air Force representative - Colonel General Stupmf and the Navy - Admiral von Friedeburg. The unconditional surrender was accepted by Marshal Zhukov (from the Soviet side) and the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, British Marshal Tedder. US Army General Spaats and French General de Tassigny put their signatures as witnesses.

It is curious that General Eisenhower was going to come to sign this act, but he was stopped by the objection of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: if the allied commander had signed the act in Karlshorst without signing it in Reims, the significance of the Reims act would have seemed insignificant.

The signing of the act in Karlshorst took place on May 8, 1945 at 22:43 CET, and it entered into force, as agreed in Reims, at 23:01 on May 8. However, Moscow time, these events took place at 0:43 and 1:01 on May 9.

It was this discrepancy in time that was the reason that May 8 became Victory Day in Europe, and May 9 in the Soviet Union.

To each his own

After the entry into force of the act of unconditional surrender, the organized resistance of Germany finally ceased. This, however, did not prevent individual groups solving local problems (as a rule, a breakthrough to the West) from engaging in battles after May 9. However, such battles were short-term and ended with the destruction of the Nazis, who did not fulfill the terms of surrender.

As for General Susloparov, Stalin personally assessed his actions in the current situation as correct and balanced. After the war, Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov worked at the Military-Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, died in 1974 at the age of 77, and was buried with military honors at the Vvedenskoye cemetery in Moscow.

The fate of the German commanders Alfred Jodl and Wilhelm Keitel, who signed the unconditional surrender in Reims and Karlshorst, was less enviable. The International Tribunal at Nuremberg recognized them as war criminals and sentenced to death penalty... On the night of October 16, 1946, Jodl and Keitel were hanged in the gym of the Nuremberg prison.

That's how it ended. But it was very interesting for me to look at these photographs - the final point of the route to the West for our soldiers.

On May 1, 1945, the Victory flag was hoisted on the Reichstag building. On May 2, after fierce fighting, the Red Army completely cleared the building of the enemy. Over the next weeks, thousands of soldiers of the Soviet Army and many of the allies signed there.

After the unification of the two Germany in 1990, it was decided to move the united parliament to the Reichstag.

The English architect Norman Foster, who carried out the reconstruction, together with the construction of a new glass dome, decided to keep some of the Red Army graffiti. The inscriptions on the outer walls were erased, leaving several fragments in the gallery around the plenary hall and on the ground floor - with a total length of about 100 meters. The Germans claim that, using a unique technology, they transferred the original inscriptions to the inner walls of the Reichstag.

In the early 2000s, conservative deputies from the Christian Social Union tried to pass a decision to eliminate some of the inscriptions, but did not succeed. "These are not heroic monuments created by order of the authorities," the Social Democrat Eckard Bartel noted on this occasion, "but a manifestation of the triumph and suffering of a little man."

At the mention of the Reichstag, many have a very definite association - Second World War, a waving Soviet flag ... What was the Reichstag then, and what is it now?

Building history

In 1884, the Duke of Normandy, William I the Conqueror, laid the foundation stone for this building in the heart of the German capital. This was the beginning of a long, laborious construction of a highly controversial facility. It could have started earlier, if not for a major incident related to this. The problem was that the site chosen for the construction of the government building belonged to famous diplomat Radzinsky and his family, and he was not going to give up his territory. Thus, the state managed to take possession of the land only three years after his death, when the diplomat's son gave his permission.

Long before that, a competition had already been held among the best architects, according to the results of which a Russian candidate was elected. However, he simply did not live up to the start of work, so another competition had to be held. The German Paul Wollot won. And Emperor Wilhelm, who laid the first stone, did not wait for the completion of the construction, so the finished building was already accepted by Wilhelm II.

According to the architect Paul Wollot, the Reichstag was the most important symbol of the whole empire. Four towers at the corners served as the four German kingdoms, and the central dome symbolized the greatest Kaiser. Wilhelm was not happy about this, he thought it would be better if the dome was dedicated to Parliament.

Burning down of the Reichstag in 1933

At the beginning of the year, Hitler was appointed as Reich Chancellor, and the first thing he did was order the dissolution of the Reichstag and organize new elections. But a week before the expected date of the elections, a message came that there was a fire in the building. It spread quickly, and soon the entire Reichstag was engulfed in flames. It was possible to extinguish it only at about midnight.

As it turned out, the arson was organized by a former communist pyromaniac. True, there is a version according to which a whole assault detachment took part in it, using the underground passages. The arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe was released from prison in 2008 under an amnesty.

Reichstag during Hitler's time

Under the Weimar Republic, the building was used as a base for the Air Force, which was led by Hermann Goering. This man, in general, played a significant role in the history of the building - in particular, he connected his palace with it through an underground tunnel. This was the reason that the Soviet troops sought to capture the Reichstag. It seemed that its destruction would symbolize the destruction of all fascist beliefs. Many Russian shells had phrases like "Across the Reichstag!" In 1945, they finally managed to hoist a banner over the Nazi stronghold.

Taking of the Reichstag and surrender

In 1945 in the Reichstag it was already difficult to recognize the majestic building that it was before the war - numerous bombings practically razed it to the ground along with the soldiers inside.

The Nazis tried to defend the building to the last, and Soviet soldiers put into the assault all the hatred that had accumulated over the four war years. The Reichstag was so associated in their eyes with evil that even after the capture they continued to shoot at it for a long time. In addition, all the walls were covered with insults to Hitler and his henchmen (after the restoration, only the most censorship was left, without racism and immorality).

For the Germans, the main "wall of memory" also symbolizes the deliverance from the tyranny of Hitler. Soldiers of the Soviet army left their signatures on it - they wrote their names, the names of their lovers, cities, dates. In the 1990s, there was talk of removing the wall so that it would not remind of the horrors of war, but the majority voted against such a decision. Today the wall has been treated with a special protective solution so that the environment does not harm it.

Photo: Flag over the Reichstag in 1945

Recovery process

The Reichstag stood in a dilapidated state until 1954, when it was decided to blow up the ruins. Two years later, the government ordered the restoration work, as a result of which the building acquired its current appearance. However, now the Parliament did not sit there, but an institute was founded historical sciences... However, from 1991 to 1999, another reconstruction was carried out, and the Parliament was returned to the Reichstag. The building has got two elevators and a glass and steel dome with an observation deck. A total of 600 million marks have been invested in the global renovation.

Reichstag today

If possible, it is worth visiting this building, because nowadays there are quite a lot of interesting things here. Of course, first of all, these are Russian messages on the wall of memory, but also a huge 23-meter high dome, made in high-tech style, inside which there is a cone of mirrors. A special computer program constantly adjusts the tilt of the mirrors to create the perfect illumination. Architect Norman Foster won the Pulitzer Prize for his ability to create a groundbreaking new building while retaining the spirit of the old. With its large enough size, the building looks quite light, even airy.

I must say that at first it was planned to build a building with a flat roof, but such a project clearly lacked something, but the transparent dome fit in just perfectly, giving grandeur. In addition, it plays a functional role - energy.

For tourists, the Reichstag is open from 08 to 00 hours daily, but only as part of excursion groups. The last group calls in at 22 o'clock. The restaurant is open on the top floor from 9 am to 4:30 pm. To climb the dome on observation deck, you need to climb a spiral staircase of 40 meters height. A unique view of the capital opens from the site at any time of the day or night. The entrance to the building is free, but you must first register on the official website, preferably at least a month in advance.

The Reichstag is the most visited parliamentary building on the planet; about eight thousand people come here every day. There is even an opportunity to attend the plenary session. Another way to get inside the Reichstag is to book a table at a restaurant. Reviews about him are very good - snow-white tablecloths, great food, friendly service and, of course, a beautiful view from the window. Remember that when visiting the Reichstag, it is imperative to have an ID with you.

For both residents of Germany and its guests, the Reichstag is an incredibly symbolic building. A glance at him fills the soul with memory, sorrow and desire so that this terrible war will never repeat itself.