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75 Years of Victory: Capture of Berlin by Soviet Forces in 1945

12:00 GMT, 7 May 2020
Sputnik

On 2 May 1945, Soviet forces took control of the German capital during the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation. The operation lasted from 16 April to 8 May 1945.

Overnight from 30 April to 1 May, the victory banner was hoisted above the Reichstag. During the fighting, 125,000 of Berlin's 2 million inhabitants were killed and a large part of the city was destroyed. Of the city's 250,000 buildings, about 30,000 were completely demolished, over 20,000 were partially dismantled, and over 150,000 sustained medium level damage. Over one-third of the city's metro stations were flooded and destroyed, and 225 bridges were demolished by the Nazis.

Fighting with separate groups attempting to break out of Berlin to the west ended on 5 May. On the 8 of May, Nazi forces signed the Act of Military Surrender.

The operation came at a very high cost for the Soviet forces. In the battle for Berlin some 78,291 soldiers were killed and 274,184 others were injured.

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Soviet forces in Berlin. In the spring of 1945, combat operations in Nazi Germany were conducted by Soviet, US, British, and French forces.
© Sputnik / Viktor Temin
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Overnight from 30 April to 1 May, the victory banner was hoisted above the Reichstag. The fighting for the Reichstag continued until the morning of 1 May, while some enemy groups, entrenched in the basement, only surrendered on 2 May.
© Sputnik / Vladimir Grebnev
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Soviet soldiers stand at an entrance to the Berlin U-Bahn (underground railway). Many of the underground stations were used as air-raid shelters. Allied bombs damaged or destroyed large parts of the U-Bahn system.
© Sputnik / Grigory Kapustyanskiy
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Soviet troops fighting on the streets of Berlin. Even though it was clearly doomed, the Berlin group put up stiff resistance. It was dissected by the Soviet forces into three isolated parts in fierce street fighting on 26-28 April.
© Sputnik / Evgeny Haldei
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Soviet artillery gunners preparing for the battle for Berlin. The Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation took place from 16 April to 8 May 1945, during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
© Sputnik / Oleg Knorring
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Soviet aircraft heading for Berlin. The Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation took place from 16 April to 8 May 1945, during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
© Sputnik / Mark Redkin
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A volley of Katyusha rocket launchers in Berlin, 1945. The Berlin operation began on 16 April 1945 with powerful artillery fire and airstrikes.
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A detachment of NKL-27 speed boats from the Dnieper military flotilla on the Spree River, 1945.
© Sputnik / Sergey Shimanskiy
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The ruined office of Adolf Hitler in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, 1945.
© Sputnik / Eugene Tihanov
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Soviet soldiers listen to a melodeon in the streets of Berlin, 1945.
© Sputnik / Peter Bernstein
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A Soviet soldier helping a wounded Berliner.
© Sputnik / Eugene Tihanov
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Soviet sailors, the heroes of the storming of Berlin, pose for an American war correspondent.
© Sputnik / Sergey Shimanskiy
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The Soviet soldiers’ path from the main entrance to the Reichstag to the roof was marked by red flags, big and small. Overnight from 30 April to 1 May, the victory banner was hoisted above the Reichstag.
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Camels harnessed to carts trot along the suburbs of Berlin, where they came from Stalingrad. After the Battle of Stalingrad, many military units of the Soviet Red Army started using camels in order to transport ammunition, fuel for tanks and aircraft, products, and even wounded Red Army soldiers.
© Sputnik / Alexander Kapustyanskiy
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On the night of 30 April-1 May, the victory banner was hoisted above the Reichstag.
© Sputnik / Viktor Temin
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Soviet soldiers Mikhail Egorov (right) and Meliton Kantaria, who hoisted the banner of victory over the Reichstag in May 1945.
© Sputnik / Vladimir Grebnev
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Soviet soldiers in the Reichstag building in May 1945.
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Berlin residents return home along a street littered with debris after the fighting ended.
© Sputnik / Alexander Kapustyanskiy
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Soviet artist Lidia Ruslanova performs a concert in front of soldiers on the steps of the Reichstag, 1945.
© Sputnik / Georgiy Petrusov
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A Soviet soldier gives bread to the women of Berlin on 7 May 1945.
© Photo : Oleg Knorring
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Soviet soldiers celebrate victory in Berlin, 1945.
© Sputnik / Peter Bernstein
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Representatives of the Allied Command, who arrived to sign the German Instrument of Surrender at the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.
© Sputnik / Georgiy Petrusov
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Soviet tank crews celebrate victory in Berlin, 1945.
© Sputnik / Mark Redkin
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