During World War II, when the battle for Berlin was going on, Soviet troops stormed the walls of the Reichstag and on May 1, 1945, the Victory Banner was hoisted.
On the walls of the greatness of the Aryan nation, Soviet soldiers left a large number of inscriptions, some of them were left during the restoration work.
After German reunification in October 1990, the German Federal Assembly, the Bundestag, moved to Berlin and settled in the Reichstag building.
"... A particularly fierce battle broke out for the Reichstag. Its building was one of the most important points of defense in the center of Berlin; hoisting the Soviet red banner over it marked our historic victory. At 13:30, battalions of captains S. A. Neustroev, V. I. Davydova, K. Ya. Samsonova went to storm the Reichstag ... with a swift attack, Soviet troops burst into the Reichstag ...
By the end of the day on May 1, the Reichstag was completely taken. "
(from the memoirs of Captain S. A. Neustroev)
From the memoirs of an eyewitness to the events of V.M. Shatilova:
The intensity of the battle in the huge building continued unabated. In the dark (the windows were walled up, and the small loopholes let in very little light) here and there fierce clashes arose - in the rooms, on the stairs, on the platforms. Grenades burst, automatic bursts scattered. Guided by the sounds, one group of fighters came to the aid of another. Fires started in some premises. Cupboards with papers and furniture flashed. They were extinguished as best they could - overcoats, quilted jackets, raincoats.
Meanwhile, Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria, under the cover of a small group of Berest, began to climb up. Each step had to be done with caution and caution. Several times they ran into the Nazis. And then the machine gun began to knock, grenades were thrown.
The day was drawing to a close. But the cannonade did not stop. The dust in the air tickled his nostrils. All my thoughts were now in the Reichstag.
And there the entire second floor had already been cleared. Egorov and Kantaria, under the cover of Berest's group, continued to make their way to the upper floors. Suddenly the stone staircase broke off - the whole march was broken. The confusion was short-lived. "I am now," shouted Kantaria and darted down somewhere. Soon he appeared with a wooden stepladder. And again the fighters stubbornly climbed up.
Here is the roof. They walked along it to the enormous rider. Beneath them lay houses wrapped in smoky twilight. Flashes rushed around. Shrapnel pounded on the roof. Where to attach the flag? Near the statue? No, it won't do. After all, it was said - to the dome. The staircase leading to it was wobbling - it was broken in several places.
Then the soldiers climbed over the rare ribs of the frame, which was exposed from under the broken glass. It was difficult and scary to move around. They climbed slowly, one after another, clinging to the iron in a death grip. Finally we reached the top platform. They fastened the Banner with a belt to a metal crossbar - and down the same way. The return journey was even more difficult and took longer.
The building, crowned with a scarlet cloth, caused a quite definite reaction from the enemy - he began shelling him. Yes, they themselves opened fire on the Reichstag, which the Germans defended so stubbornly and at which we had recently fired.
Each company that fought put its assault flag here. One even flutters on the pediment, next to the figure of the horseman. And above the dome, above all, is the Victory Banner.
Those who surrendered went through the Brandenburg Gate - in formation, led by officers, and without formation, in small groups. And a white flag floated in front of each group. On the other side of the gate, a pile of abandoned weapons grew and grew - about 26 thousand people laid them down there. And on this side, to the Reichstag, to the Moltke Bridge, an unarmed crowd was arriving, spreading at the beck of the girls-traffic controllers into separate streams, towards the commandant's offices.
A huge crowd of women, children and old people gathered around the headquarters building - no less than fifteen thousand. Not understanding what was the matter, I stopped the Jeep. The people were silent. Then a middle-aged woman turned to me:- We came here to find out what punishment awaits us for the suffering inflicted on the Russian people by the German army.
I have had to answer such questions more than once in Pomerania, and yet they always caught me by surprise.
“Yes, your soldiers,” I began, carefully choosing my German words, “have committed a terrible crime. But we are not Hitlerites, we are Soviet people. We are not going to take revenge on the German people ... You need to quickly get down to work on cleaning the streets so that you can start up city transport, open shops, restore normal life ...
At first, the townspeople did not understand me. But then, when the meaning of my words finally reached them, their faces brightened, smiles appeared on many.
Lydia Ruslanova performs Katyusha on the steps of the fallen Reichstag.
The infantry soldier reached Berlin. 
Already peaceful post-war Berlin.
Reichstag today.
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 Norman, William I the Conqueror, laid the foundation stone for this building in the heart of the German capital. This was the beginning of the long laborious construction of a highly controversial facility. It could have started earlier, if not for a major incident associated with this. The problem was that the place chosen for the construction of the government building belonged to the 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 construction to be completed, so the finished building was already accepted by Wilhelm II.
According to the architect Paul Wollot, the Reichstag was the main symbol of the whole empire. The four towers in the corners served as the four German kingdoms, and the central dome symbolized the greatest Kaiser. Wilhelm was not happy about this, he considered it better if the dome was dedicated to Parliament.
Burning down of the Reichstag in 1933
At the beginning of the year, Hitler was appointed 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 election date, a message came that the building was on fire. 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 the 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 censored were 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 does 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 restoration work, as a result of which the building acquired its current appearance. However, now the Parliament did not sit there, but the Institute of Historical Sciences was founded. 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-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 many 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 lighting. 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 also plays a functional role - energy.
For tourists, the Reichstag is open from 08:00 to 00:00 daily, but only as part of excursion groups. The last group calls in at 22:00. The restaurant is open on the top floor from 9 am to 4:30 pm. To climb the dome to the observation deck, you need to climb a 40-meter high spiral staircase. From the site at any time of the day or night, a unique view of the capital opens. 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 horrific war will never repeat itself.
From the very beginning, the real events around the storming of the Reichstag were carefully hushed up and distorted by official Soviet historiography. There were more than enough reasons for this. First, the "infallible" leader, 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. Panzer Corps Babajanyan received a combat mission to break through to the Reichstag. At the same time, the corps had 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 utility 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 excavation for 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.
A photo. You can clearly see how dirty the square in front of the Reichstag is with outbuildings.
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 persistence 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 "lair of the beast", all political agencies, military and civilian, tirelessly reiterated 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 of 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 denied 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 group of authors who worked on the six-volume "History of the Great Patriotic War Soviet Union 1941-1945 ". Head of the Memoir Group of the Press Department of the Main Political Directorate Soviet army and the Navy, Colonel A. G. Kashcheev cited this very argument (while the direct participants can tell something) in favor of writing a detailed and scientifically grounded 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 varying quality and varying degrees of reliability. Many managed to bypass censorship in some key episodes. And even following the instructions of the Communist Party overseers in a disciplined manner, 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 illumination of 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 that culminated 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" - main floor. The name speaks for itself. This floor housed the meeting room of the Reichstag - the German parliament. "Obergeshos" - top floor. (According to our third). Some of the great halls of the Hauptgeshos had high ceilings ending at the same level as the Obergeshos ceilings. And, finally, the last floor - "tsvishengeshos", which is most often translated as mezzanine. Our fighters mistook Tsvishengeshos for an attic. It is worth recalling that the Germans, like the British, call the second floor the first, the third second, and so on. And the first floor is called "earthen". In order not to conflict with the 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 through a large circular lobby, in the center of which was 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 structure of the building was conceived in such a way that the servants, moving around in the performance of their duties, did not intersect with the gentlemen deputies. Therefore, the Reichstag had a large number of service ladders and ladders, along which it was possible to reach 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. There were 150-200 rooms in the building 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. It 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 meeting rooms for 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 these points were 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 with 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 recently counterattacked us, from here, with the support of the foreign embassy quarter, could make a new sortie 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.
The western main entrance remained, it is also the main entrance. 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, only the front door was suitable, as someone joked.
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 617, 403, 407th and 421st battalions of the Volkssturm.
Map. A rather rough diagram of the storming of the Reichstag.
A 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, tk. 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" the Volkssturm for 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 "Himmler's house". Received ammunition, commanders set tasks, accepted replenishment. There were regiments - one name: in 756, in the battalion of Captain Neustroev there were 35 people, 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 weren't 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 the task not only to Davydov, but also to 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.
SA Neustroev writes in his memoirs that on the morning of April 30, his battalion was accommodated 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 perfectly 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 the "Himmler 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, the fatigue accumulated.
The 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. 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 in 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 preparation 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, were soldiers of two battalions who 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 the left side of the building.
The German troops defending Berlin adhered to the following tactics: they took refuge 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 up 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. Individual 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 -signal ceasefire 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 appeared first at the columns. He turned to face the soldiers who were 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, who ran 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. SavenkoThe 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. "
A 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 "The 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. REMEMBERING THE NAMES OF THE BRAVERS : lieutenant Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev, 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 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 along 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 for 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 in 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 soldiers came running up, but the doors did not budge. Finally, a log found nearby managed to knock out the doors and the soldiers rushed inside 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. (4 service stairs are visible around the lobby, on the building layout). 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 to General Perevertkin by radio. (The battalions did not have radios, but the groups of Makov and Bondar had them!).
At 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 the 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. The sculptural group "Germany", the central element of the front facade of the Reichstag, would be about fifty meters away.
But on this sculpture the flag of the 79th Corps was already fluttering, and 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, misfortune could have happened and the history of the "Victory Banner" would have looked quite 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 a large equestrian figure not far away 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 Bondar to report to Perevertkin. Banners (about 24.00 their banner on the same sculpture of the German "motherland" was 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, around 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. The 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. After all, it was the last day of the 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 he was crawling towards them from the Tiergarten german tank... 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.
A 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 away - it was intensively splashing with jets 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 break out of 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 negotiations. After brief negotiations on surrender, the Germans said they would think about it. At 7:00 am, the commander of the Berlin defense, 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 were thrown 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.
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April 30, 1945... the storming of the building of the German parliament began. For any Russian, this phrase looks even shorter - the storming of the Reichstag. It means the end of the war, Victory. And, although complete victory came a little later, it was this assault that became the apogee of the whole long war ...
The storming of the Reichstag is a combat operation of the Red Army units 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.
In preparation for repelling the Soviet offensive, Berlin was divided into 9 defense sectors. The central sector, which includes government buildings, including the Reich Chancellery, the Gestapo and the Reichstag, was well fortified and defended by select SS units.
It was to the central sector that the armies of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts strove to break through. As the Soviet troops approached specific institutions, the command of the front and the armies set tasks for mastering these objects.
On the afternoon of April 27, the 11th Guards Tank Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army was assigned the task of capturing the Reichstag. However, on the next day, the tankers failed to complete it due to strong resistance from German troops.
Operating as part of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 3rd Shock Army under the command of V.I.Kuznetsov was not originally intended to storm the central part of the city. However, as a result of seven days of fierce fighting, it was she on April 28 that was closest to the Reichstag area.
It should be said about the aspect ratio in this operation:
The Soviet group included:
79th Rifle Corps (Major General Perevertkin S.N.) consisting of:
150th Infantry Division (Major General V.M. Shatilov)
756th Rifle Regiment (Colonel F.M. Zinchenko)
1st battalion (captain S. A. Neustroev)
2nd Battalion (Captain Klimenkov)
469th Rifle Regiment (Colonel Mochalov M.A.)
674th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Plekhodanov A.D.)
1st battalion (captain Davydov V.I.)
2nd battalion (Major Logvinenko Y.I.)
328th Artillery Regiment (Major Gladkikh G.G.)
1957th anti-tank regiment
171st Infantry Division (Colonel Negoda A.I.)
380th Rifle Regiment (Major Shatalin V.D.)
1st battalion (senior lieutenant Samsonov K. Ya.)
525th Infantry Regiment
713th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Mukhtarov M.G.)
357th Artillery Regiment
207th Rifle Division (Colonel Asafov V.M.)
597th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Kovyazin I.D.)
598th Rifle Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Voznesensky A.A.)
Attached parts:
86th Heavy Howitzer Artillery Brigade (Colonel N.P.Sazonov)
104th High Power Howitzer Brigade (Colonel P.M. Solomienko)
124th High Power Howitzer Brigade (Colonel Gutin G.L.)
136th Cannon Artillery Brigade (Colonel A.P. Pisarev)
1203rd self-propelled artillery regiment
351st Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
23rd tank brigade (Colonel Kuznetsov S.V.)
tank battalion (Major Yartsev I.L.)
tank battalion (Captain Krasovsky S.V.)
88th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Mzhachikh P.G.)
85th Tank Regiment
The Reichstag was defended by:
Part of the forces of the 9th defense sector of Berlin.
Consolidated battalion of cadets of the naval school from Rostock
In total, the Reichstag area was defended by about 5,000 people. Of these, the garrison of the Reichstag was about 1000 people
We can talk about the capture of the Reichstag by the minute, since each of them was accomplished by the soldiers who performed a feat! I will try to restore the chronology by day ..
So:
By the evening of April 28, units of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army occupied the Moabit area and from the northwest approached the area where, in addition to the Reichstag, the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Krol-Opera theater, the Swiss embassy and a number of other structures were located. Well fortified and adapted for long-term defense, together they constituted a powerful node of resistance.
The task of capturing the Reichstag was set on April 28 at the combat disposal of the commander of the 79th rifle corps, Major General S.N. Perevertkin:
... 3. 150th rifle division - one rifle regiment - defense on the river. Spree. Two rifle regiments continue the offensive with the task of crossing the river. Spree and capture the western part of the Reichstag ...
4. 171st Infantry Division to continue the offensive within its borders with the task of crossing the river. Spree and seize the eastern part of the Reichstag ...
Another water obstacle lay in front of the advancing troops - the Spree River. Its three-meter-high reinforced concrete banks excluded the possibility of crossing on improvised means. The only way to the southern bank was through the Moltke Bridge, which was blown up by German sappers when the Soviet units approached, but did not collapse, but only deformed.
At both ends, the bridge was covered with reinforced concrete walls one meter thick and about one and a half meters high. It was not possible to capture the bridge on the move, since all approaches to it were shot through with multi-layered machine-gun and artillery fire. It was decided to re-assault the bridge after careful preparation. Powerful artillery fire destroyed the emplacements in the buildings on the Kronprinzen-ufer and Schlieffen-ufer embankments and suppressed German batteries that were shelling the bridge.
By the morning of April 29, the forward battalions of the 150th and 171st Infantry Divisions under the command of Captain S. A. Neustroev and Senior Lieutenant K. Ya. Samsonov crossed over to the opposite bank of the Spree. After the crossing, the Soviet units started fighting for the block located southeast of the Moltke Bridge.
Among other buildings in the quarter was the building of the Swiss Embassy, \u200b\u200bwhich faced the square in front of the Reichstag and was an important element in the general system of German defense. On the same morning, the building of the Swiss embassy was cleared of the enemy by the companies of Senior Lieutenant Pankratov and Lieutenant MF Grankin. The next target on the way to the Reichstag was the building
Ministry of the Interior, nicknamed by Soviet soldiers "Himmler's House". It was a huge six-story building that occupied an entire block. The solid stone building was additionally adapted for defense. To capture Himmler's house at 7 o'clock in the morning, a powerful artillery preparation was carried out, immediately after which Soviet soldiers rushed to storm the building.
For the next day, units of the 150th Infantry Division fought for the building and by dawn on April 30 captured it. The road to the Reichstag was opened.
The assault on the Reichstag began before dawn on 30 April. The 150th and 171st rifle divisions, commanded by General V.M. Shatilov, rushed to the building of the German parliament. and Colonel Negoda A.I. The attackers were met with a sea of \u200b\u200bfire from various types of weapons, and soon the attack was drowned.
The first attempt to take possession of the building on the move ended in failure. Thorough preparations for the assault began. To support the infantry attack only for direct fire, 135 guns, tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts were concentrated. Dozens of more cannons, howitzers and rocket launchers fired from covered positions. From the air, the attackers were supported by squadrons of the 283rd fighter aviation of the division of Colonel Chirva S.N.
At 12 o'clock, artillery preparation began. Half an hour later, the infantry went to the assault. She had only 250 m left to overcome the target, and it seemed that success was already assured.
“Everything around was roaring and roaring,” recalled Colonel FM Zinchenko, whose regiment was part of the 150th Infantry Division. “Some of the commanders might think that if they had not yet reached, then they were about to reach the cherished goals ... So the reports flew at the command. After all, everyone so wanted to be the first! .. "
General Shatilov V.M. first by telephone, and then in writing, he informed the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, General Perevertkin S.N., that at 2:25 pm the rifle battalions under the command of captains S.A. Neustroev. and Davydov V.I. broke into the Reichstag and hoisted a banner on it. At this time, the units continue to clear the building of the Germans.
The long-awaited news rushed further - to the headquarters of the 3rd Shock Army and the 1st Belorussian Front. This was reported by Soviet radio, followed by foreign radio stations. The Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front, by order of April 30, already congratulated the soldiers on the victory won, declared gratitude to all soldiers, sergeants, officers of the 171st and 150th rifle divisions and, of course, General Perevertkin S.N. and ordered the Military Council of the army to present the most distinguished for awards.
After receiving news of the fall of the Reichstag, military cameramen, photojournalists, journalists rushed to him, among them the famous writer B.L. Gorbatov. What they saw disappointed: the assault battalions were still fighting on the outskirts of the building, where there was not a single Soviet soldier and not a single flag.
The third attack began at 6 pm. Together with the attacking battalions of the 674th and 380th rifle regiments, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Plekhanov, F.M. Zinchenko, two groups of volunteers were advancing, led by the adjutant of the 79th rifle corps commander, Major M. Bondar. and the battery commander of the corps artillery commander, Captain Makovetsky V.N. On the initiative of the command and the political department of the corps, these groups were created specifically for hoisting flags made in the corps over the Reistag.
"This attack was crowned with success: battalions of captains S. A. Neustroev, V. Davydov, senior lieutenant K. Samsonov and a group of volunteers broke into the building, which F. M. Zinchenko reported to General V. M. Shatilov. in the afternoon, he repeatedly demanded to break into the Reichstag and, what worried him most of all, to plant a banner on it.
The report made the division commander happy and at the same time upset: the banner had not yet been erected. The general ordered to clear the building of the enemy and "immediately place the banner of the Army Military Council on its dome!" To speed up the task, the division commander appointed F.M. Zinchenko. commandant of the Reichstag ". (R. Portuguese V. Runov" Boilers of the 45th ", M.," Eksmo ", 2010, p. 234).
However, Colonel F.M. Zinchenko understood, as he wrote after the war, "that neither in the evening nor during the night the Reichstag can be completely cleared, but the banner must be erected at any cost! ..". He ordered before dark to recapture as many rooms as possible from the enemy, and then give the personnel a rest.
The banner of the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army was instructed to hoist the scouts of the regiment - M.V. Kantariya and M.A. Egorov. Together with a group of fighters led by Lieutenant Brest, with the support of Syanov's company, they climbed onto the roof of the building and at 9.50 pm on April 30, 1945, hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.
M.V. Kantaria
Two days later, the banner was replaced by a large red banner. The removed flag was sent to Moscow on a special plane flight with military honors on June 20.
On June 24, 1945, the first parade of the troops of the active army, the Navy and the Moscow garrison took place in Moscow on Red Square to commemorate the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War. After participating in the parade, the Victory Banner is still kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces.
It should also be noted that in addition to the banner of the Military Council of the Army, many other flags were attached to the Reichstag building. The first flag was hoisted by the group of Captain Makov V.N., which attacked together with the battalion of Neustroev. Led by the captain, the volunteers senior sergeants A.P. Bobrov, G.K. Zagitov, A.F. Lisimenko. and sergeant Minin M.P. immediately rushed to the roof of the Reichstag and fixed the flag on one of the sculptures on the right tower of the house. It happened at 22 hours 40 minutes, which is two to three hours before the hoisting of the flag, which history was destined to become the Banner of Victory.
For the skillful leadership of the battle and heroism, V.I. Davydov, S.A. Neustroev, K.Ya. Samsonov, as well as M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria, who hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The battle inside the Reichstag continued with great tension until the morning of May 1, and individual groups of fascists who had lodged in the cellars of the Reichstag continued to resist until May 2, when Soviet soldiers finally finished with them. In the battles for the Reichstag, up to 2,500 enemy soldiers were killed and wounded, 2,604 prisoners were captured.
