Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.[lower-alpha 6]

Quick facts: Battle of Berlin, Date, Location, Result, Ter... ▼

Battle of Berlin
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Raising of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag, May 1945
Date 16 April – 2 May 1945 (2 weeks and 2 days) Location Berlin, Nazi Germany 52°31′07″N 13°22′34″E Result Soviet victory Collapse of the Third Reich Suicide of Adolf Hitler and deaths of other high-ranking Nazi officials Unconditional surrender of the Berlin city garrison on 2 May Capitulation of German forces outside Berlin on 8/9 May as part of unconditional surrender of all forces End of World War II in Europe Territorial changes Soviets occupy what would become East Germany during the Partition of Germany
Belligerents
Soviet Union Poland	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Georgy Zhukov Konstantin Rokossovsky Ivan Konev Stanislav Poplavsky	Gotthard Heinrici Kurt von Tippelskirch [lower-alpha 1] Ferdinand Schörner Hellmuth Reymann Helmuth Weidling [lower-alpha 2]
Units involved
1st Belorussian Front 2nd Belorussian Front 1st Polish Army Second Army (Poland) 1st Ukrainian Front	Army Group Vistula Army Group Centre Berlin Defence Area
Strength
Total strength: 2,300,000 soldiers (155,900–200,000 Polish People's Army)[1][2] 6,250 tanks and SP guns[2] 7,500 aircraft[2] 41,600 artillery pieces.[3][4] For the investment and assault on the Berlin Defence Area: about 1,500,000 soldiers[5]	Total strength: 36 divisions[6] 766,750 soldiers[7] 1,519 AFVs[8] 2,224 aircraft[9] 9,303 artillery pieces[7][lower-alpha 3] In the Berlin Defence Area: about 45,000 soldiers, supplemented by the Berlin police force, Hitler Youth, and 40,000 Volkssturm[5][lower-alpha 4]
Casualties and losses
Total: 361,367 Archival research (operational total) 81,116 dead or missing[10] 280,251 sick or wounded Material losses: 1,997 tanks and SPGs destroyed[11] 2,108 artillery pieces 917 aircraft[11]	Total: 917,000–925,000 92,000–100,000 killed 220,000 wounded[12][lower-alpha 5] 480,000 captured[13] 125,000 civilians dead[14]

Part of a series on the
History of Berlin
Margraviate of Brandenburg (1157–1806)
Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918)
German Empire (1871–1918)
Free State of Prussia (1918–1947)
Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
1920s Berlin Assassination of Talat Pasha Greater Berlin Act
Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Welthauptstadt Germania Deportation of Jews from Berlin Bombing of Berlin in World War II Battle of Berlin
West Germany and East Germany (1945–1990)
West Berlin and East Berlin Berlin Wall Berlin Blockade (1948–1949) Berlin Crisis of 1961 "Ich bin ein Berliner" (1963) "Tear down this wall!" (1987) Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
Federal Republic of Germany (1990–present)
History of Germany and History of Europe
See also
Timeline of Berlin
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After the Vistula–Oder offensive of January–February 1945, the Red Army had temporarily halted on a line 60 km (37 mi) east of Berlin. On 9 March, Germany established its defence plan for the city with Operation Clausewitz. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were made on 20 March, under the newly appointed commander of Army Group Vistula, General Gotthard Heinrici.

When the Soviet offensive resumed on 16 April, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city after successful battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. On 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday, the 1st Belorussian Front led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, advancing from the east and north, started shelling Berlin's city centre, while Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front broke through Army Group Centre and advanced towards the southern suburbs of Berlin. On 23 April General Helmuth Weidling assumed command of the forces within Berlin. The garrison consisted of several depleted and disorganised Army and Waffen-SS divisions, along with poorly trained Volkssturm and Hitler Youth members. Over the course of the next week, the Red Army gradually took the entire city.

On 30 April, Hitler and several of his officials committed suicide. The city's garrison surrendered on 2 May but fighting continued to the north-west, west, and south-west of the city until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May (9 May in the Soviet Union) as some German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets.[15]