Figure 1.--The Panzerfaust (armor fist) was a very inexpensive, single shot, recoilless German anti-tank weapon. It was badly needed because so much of German anti-tank artillery was divered to serrve as anti-aircraft artillety to protect German cities from Allied bombing. The Panzerfaust was a highly effective weapon. A small boy could destroy a Soviet tank. Its major weakness wa that the firer had to get close. Most of the Panzerfausts had to be fired out in the opemn within 30 meters of the tank. The Germams made 6.7 million in several variants. Here we see a Hitlerjugend boy hiding in the ruins of Berlin with his Panzerfaust. It was, however, very dangerous to use this weapon in confined locations like basements, buolding rooms etc. because of the exhaust fumes. That is why most attacks on the Soviet tanks in Berlin were made in the open. Rooftops were preferablke for the firer, but usually not within the 30 m effective range. Foxholes were ideal, but digging a foxhole in the city was difficult. Often the fier had to jump out in the open which took considerable courage.

The fight for the Zeelow Heights could be clearly heard in Berlin. And the city telephpone system could be used to monitor the Red Army entry into the city suburbs and then Berlin itsef. Adolf Hitler refused to leave the capital, and decided to spend the last days pf his life underground in the Führerbunker at the center of the city. He last appeared above ground on his 56th birthday just a the battle for Berlin began (April 20). He awarded medals to those defending the city. That same day, Soviet forces began to shell the city centre. Speer flew into Berlin, landing on Unter-dem-Linden for a last meeting with Hitler (April 22). Hitler told him of his determination to remain in the city. Hitler appointed General Helmuth Weidling to commander the Berlin Defence Area, replacing Lieutenant General Reymann April 24). The Soviet investment of Berlin was consolidated (April 25). The leading Red Army units penetrated the S-Bahn ine which ringed the city (April 25). No one had any illusions that the German defence could not do anything but slow the Soviets seizure of the city. A depleted and disorganised garrison of about 95,000 faced two full Soviet army groups attacking from the east and south. Some 1.5 million Soviet troops encircled and were now assaulting the capital. It was the last major offensive of the war in Europe. After the Battle for the Zeelow hights, Schörner's command was separated from the Berlin offensive. Schörner was popular with Hitler and Goebbels for his harsh measures--he ordered the execution of more of his own men than any other German commander before finally deserting his post in Prague. After seizing the Zeelow Heights, the 1st Belorussian Front pushed forward into to Berlin itself. The battle became a bloody building to bulding struggle. There were already piles of rubble from the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The building to building fighting reduced the structures still standing to rubble. Soon bodies were dangling from lamposts, hung by SS squads executing men seen as desertersor avoiding combat. The civilian population was more endangered by these SS squads than the Red Army soldiers, although mass rape would soon begin. One author wrote that there has never been a city so desperately contested. We are not sure this was the case. Stalingrad might have been a more desperate battle, with more matched forces, and lasted longer. Lenningrad even longer. Then the Soviets relentlessly pressed forward, driving toward central Berlin where the Reichstag and the Chancellery were located and Hitler was awaiting the end in his bunker. Hitler's relaced Heinrici who defied his orders to never order a retreat, and replaced him as commander of Army Group Vistula with General Kurt Student (April 28). General Kurt von Tippelskirch was named interim commander until Student could get to Berlin. It made little differemnce what was left of the Army Group was distengrating. Hitler married Evaa Braun (April 29). The next day Soviet forces captured the shell-damaged Reichstag. A famous staged photo shows a Soviet soldier lifting the Soviet flag above the historic building (April 30). Hitler that morning had informed Jodl that no relief was possible. Hitler and his new wide committed suiside in his bunker the same day. Hitler took cyinide and shot himself to make sure. Their bodies were taken above ground and burned in a bomb crater nearby. The Whermacht commander, defying Hitler's orders to fight to the death, finally surrendered. The Soviets finally captured the Reich Chancellery (early morning May 2). , General Weidling surrendered with his staff. (06:00 hours). He was taken to see General Vasily Chuikov where Weidling ordered the city's defenders to surrender. [Beevor, p. 386.] The 350 men in the Zoo flak tower with drew from the building. Berlin was left in ruins and it was not all the work of the Allies ans Soviets. As a result of Hitler's Nero Decree (March 19), Berlin's food supplies had been mostly destroyed. Over half (128) of Berlin's 226 bridges were blown. Some 87 pumps weredisabled. A quarter of the subway stations were under water, flooded on Hitler's orders. Thousands and thousands who had sought shelter in them had drowned when the SS had carried out the blowing up of the protective devices on the Landwehr Canal." [Engelmann, p. 266.] It could have been even worse. Workers managed to prevent the blowing up of the Klingenberg power station, the Johannisthal waterworks, and other pumping stations, railroad facilities, and bridges tht the SS had rigged with dynamite by the SS. Occupying Soviet troops gave out bread and essentials to the tarving civilians, but some soldiers also committed atrocities against civilians. Huge numbers of women were brutally rapped.

Sources

Bahm, Karl. Belin: The Final Reckoning (2014).

Beevor, Antony. (2003), Berlin: The Downfall 1945 (Penguin Books; 2003).

Engelmann, Bernt (1986), Berlin – Eine Stadt wie keine andere (Berlin – A City Like No Other) in German (München: Bertelsmann Verlag, 1986).

Ryan, Cornelius. The Last Battle (Simon andSchuster: New York, 1966), 571p.

Created: 7:07 AM 4/30/2021
Last updated: 7:07 AM 4/30/2021