The Battle of Berlin: An Essay

[This was part of a History assignment that, apparently, didn't have to be done...... Oh well, waste not, want not].

The Second World War – The Battle of Berlin

The last hoorah for the Wermacht and the Großdeutsches Reich.

Soviet forces from the east. American and British forces from the west. This was the reality for millions of Berliners and top Nazis assembled in the Führerbunker.
Their fate had already been decided at the Yalta Conference two months earlier - in which Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt dissected the Greater German Reich according to their various whims. Churchill, at odds with the Communist practice of Stalin tacitly supported by Roosevelt, sought free elections in Eastern and Central Europe and contrasted magnificently with “Uncle Joe”, who sought a Soviet sphere of influence. Importantly, the Yalta Conference was the genesis for the idea of splitting up Germany into four zones that would prove to be so contentious during the Cold War.
The battle was one-sided from the very beginning. Soviet forces simply overwhelmed the remnants of the Germany Army. Master tactician and strategist Gotthard Heinrici made do with what he had to keep the Russians at bay – in the end, that was all he could do.
Allied forces penetrated Berlin and the surrounding areas from above dropping more tonnage of bombs than raids in Britain. These raids continued for 36 successive nights ending on the 21st of April, neatly allowing the Soviets to enter the next day.
The 20th of April was the Führer’s birthday. On this glorious day placards amongst the fire-bombed city proclaimed: “Die Kriegsstadt Berlin grüsst den Führer!” (Berlin, the city of war, welcomes the Führer!)
Of course, many leading Nazis had to determine their loyalties. Himmler spoke to the Western Powers to come to some sort of an agreement with them, Göring’s attempt to take charge was immediately dismissed by Hitler. Bormann, the private secretary, and Goebbels remained fiercely loyal right until the very end; marked by the disappearance of the former and the suicide of the latter. Hitler chose Grand Admiral Dönitz as his successor and he got to work creating the so-called Flensburg government – the name represented the locality of the administration. Positioned on the border with Denmark, Dönitz acted as President – a post not held since the demise of von Hindenburg in 1933.
The Germans were outnumbered in every imaginable way possible: men, – although the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) were used as well - artillery and aircraft to just name a few.
The only possible advantage that the Germans had was their intricate knowledge of inner-city Berlin. The Berlin Zoo was set up to provide flak support while the very last battle – if one can define it as a battle – was fought inside the Reichstag. Here, Meliton Kantaria played his part in the iconic photograph of the Soviet flag being raised over the building. Kantaria was part of the division chosen to storm the Reichstag and record a place in the annals of Soviet hagiography.
The aftermath was similarly horrific. Over a million Berliners were homeless and many more were living in substandard shelters. The Red Army pillaged and raped its way through the capital, with city dwellers unable to cope with actions best seen as primitive. Suicide was prevalent among German residents, who only three years earlier were celebrating the glory of the 1000-year Greater German Reich. The Battle of Berlin, then, was suitable in ending the war in Europe.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• Beevor, Antony, Berlin: The Downfall 1945
• Slowe, Peter and Richard Woods, Battlefield Berlin: Siege, Surrender and Occupation, 1945