Berlin offensive operation. The last operation of the Red Army

In the winter and spring of 1945, the Soviet Army, together with the armies of its Western allies, conducted final strategic operations in Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria. The Nazi armies were completely defeated. Germany capitulated. May 9, 1945 became the day of Victory over Nazi Germany and the end of the war in Europe.

The Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation is one of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and World War II in Europe. The operation lasted 23 days - from April 16 to May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced westward to a distance of 100 to 220 km. The width of the combat front is 300 km. As part of the operation, the following frontal offensive operations were carried out: Stettin-Rostok, Seelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Stremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Ratenow.

In January-March 1945, troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, during the Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian, Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian operations, reached the border of the Oder and Neisse rivers.

The loss of the most important raw material areas caused a decline in industrial production in Germany. Difficulties in replacing the casualties suffered in the winter of 1944/45 increased. Nevertheless, the German armed forces still represented an impressive force. According to the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Red Army, by mid-April they included 223 divisions and brigades.

According to the agreements reached by the heads of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain in the fall of 1944, the border of the Soviet occupation zone was supposed to pass 150 km west of Berlin. Despite this, Churchill put forward the idea of ​​getting ahead of the Red Army and capturing Berlin.

Operation plan

The operation plan provided for the simultaneous transition of troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts to the offensive on the morning of April 16, 1945. The 2nd Belorussian Front, in connection with the upcoming major regrouping of its forces, was supposed to launch an offensive on April 20, that is, 4 days later.

The 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow with the forces of five combined arms and two tank armies from the Küstrin bridgehead in the direction of Berlin.

The 1st Ukrainian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow with the forces of five armies: three combined arms and two tank armies from the area of ​​​​the city of Trimbel in the direction of Spremberg.

The dividing line between the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts ended 50 km southeast of Berlin in the area of ​​the city of Lübben, which allowed, if necessary, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front to strike Berlin from the south.

The commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, K.K. Rokossovsky, decided to deliver the main blow with the forces of the 65th, 70th and 49th armies in the direction of Neustrelitz.

On the 1st Ukrainian Front, 2,440 sapper wooden boats, 750 linear meters of assault bridges and over 1,000 linear meters of wooden bridges for loads of 16 and 60 tons were prepared to cross the Neisse River.

At the beginning of the offensive, the 2nd Belorussian Front had to cross the Oder.

Disguise and disinformation

When preparing the operation, special attention was paid to the issues of camouflage and achieving operational and tactical surprise.

The arrival of reserves and reinforcement units was carefully disguised.

The basis of the defense was the Oder-Neissen defensive line and the Berlin defensive region.

In an effort to increase the resilience of their troops in defense, the Nazi leadership tightened repressive measures.

General course of hostilities

At 5 a.m. Moscow time (2 hours before dawn) on April 16, artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front.

The course of the battle on the first day showed that the German command attached decisive importance to holding the Seelow Heights. To strengthen the defense in this sector, by the end of April 16, the operational reserves of Army Group Vistula were deployed. All day and all night on April 17, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front fought fierce battles with the enemy. By the morning of April 18, tank and rifle formations, with the support of aviation from the 16th and 18th Air Armies, took the Zelovsky Heights. Overcoming the stubborn defense of German troops and repelling fierce counterattacks, by the end of April 19, front troops broke through the third defensive line and were able to develop an offensive on Berlin.

April 20 was marked by an artillery strike on Berlin, delivered by long-range artillery of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army.

The first to break into Berlin from the east were the troops that were part of the 26th Guards Corps of General P. A. Firsov and the 32nd Corps of General D. S. Zherebin of the 5th Shock Army. On the evening of April 21, the advanced units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army of P. S. Rybalko approached the city from the south. On April 23 and 24, fighting in all directions became especially fierce. On April 23, the greatest success in the assault on Berlin was achieved by the 9th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General I.P. Rosly.

Although the pace of Soviet advance had slowed by April 24, the Nazis were unable to stop them. On April 24, the 5th Shock Army, fighting fiercely, continued to successfully advance towards the center of Berlin.

At 12 noon on April 25, west of Berlin, the advanced units of the 4th Guards Tank Army met with units of the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. On the same day, another significant event occurred. An hour and a half later, on the Elbe, the 34th Guards Corps of General Baklanov of the 5th Guards Army met with American troops.

From April 25 to May 2, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles in three directions.

By the end of April 24, formations of the 28th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front came into contact with units of the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, thereby encircling General Busse's 9th Army southeast of Berlin and cutting it off from the city. The surrounded group of German troops began to be called the Frankfurt-Gubensky group.

Berlin strategic offensive operation - one of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted 23 days - from April 16 to May 8, 1945, during which Soviet troops advanced westward to a distance of 100 to 220 km. The width of the combat front is 300 km. As part of the operation, the following frontal offensive operations were carried out: Stettin-Rostok, Seelow-Berlin, Cottbus-Potsdam, Stremberg-Torgau and Brandenburg-Ratenow.

At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin when the 6th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 4th Guards Tank Army crossed the Havel River and linked up with units of the 328th Division of the 47th Army of General Perkhorovich.

By April 26, six armies of the 1st Belorussian Front and three armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front took part in the assault on Berlin.

By April 27, as a result of the actions of the armies of two fronts that had deeply advanced to the center of Berlin, the enemy grouping in Berlin stretched out in a narrow strip from east to west - sixteen kilometers long and two or three, in some places five kilometers wide.

On April 30, 1945, at 21.30, units of the 150th Infantry Division under the command of Major General V.M. Shatilov and the 171st Infantry Division under the command of Colonel A.I. Negoda stormed the main part of the Reichstag building.

In the early morning of May 1, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was raised over the Reichstag, but the battle for the Reichstag continued all day, and only on the night of May 2 did the Reichstag garrison capitulate.

At one o'clock in the morning on May 2, the radio stations of the 1st Belorussian Front received a message in Russian: “We ask you to cease fire. We are sending envoys to the Potsdam Bridge.”

At 6 a.m. on May 2, Artillery General Weidling, accompanied by three German generals, crossed the front line and surrendered.

Surrender of Germany

The Berlin and Prague operations ended the armed struggle on the Soviet-German front. The fall of Berlin thwarted the plans of the rulers of the Third Reich to prolong the fighting on the Eastern Front in order to find a way out of the current catastrophic situation and create conditions for a more favorable end to the war.

On April 29, the commander of Army Group C in Italy, Colonel General G. Fitingof-Scheel, signed the act of surrender of his troops in Caserta.

On May 5, Friedeburg arrived in Reims, where Eisenhower’s headquarters was located, on the instructions of Doenitz, who officially raised the question of surrender to the Americans of the southern group of the Wehrmacht.

On the night of May 7, a preliminary protocol on the surrender of Germany was signed in Reims, according to which, from 11 p.m. on May 8, hostilities ceased on all fronts. The protocol specifically stipulated that it was not a comprehensive agreement on the surrender of Germany and its armed forces.

Nevertheless, in the West the war was considered over. On this basis, the United States and England proposed that on May 8 the leaders of the three powers officially declare victory over Germany. The Soviet leadership could not agree with this on the grounds that fighting on the Soviet-German front was still ongoing.

The signing ceremony of the Act of Unconditional Surrender took place in the building of the military engineering school, where a special hall was prepared, decorated with the national flags of the USSR, USA, England and France.

Polesie offensive operation - an offensive operation of the Red Army against German troops during the Great Patriotic War. It was carried out from March 15 to April 5, 1944 by troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front with the goal of defeating the enemy’s Kovel group. Part of the Dnieper-Carpathian strategic offensive operation.

In the first half of March, in preparation for the upcoming operation, Soviet troops captured bridgeheads on the western bank of the Stokhod River and fought private battles to improve their positions. The extremely short time allocated for preparing the strike, the spring thaw and the underdeveloped road network did not allow the 2nd Belorussian Front to fully concentrate its troops. By the beginning of the operation, out of 25 divisions, only 13 were deployed. From the 6th Air Army, by March 18, 18 Il-2, 14 Yak-9, 5 Pe-2 and 85 Po-2 managed to relocate.
On March 15, the troops of the 47th and 70th armies went on the offensive with the available forces. The next day the 61st Army struck. Despite the extreme difficulties of advancing in wooded and swampy areas in the conditions of spring thaw, by March 18, the troops of the 47th Army managed to advance 30-40 km and encircle Kovel. By March 20, the 70th Army had covered 60 km. Well aware of the danger posed by the Soviet group reaching the flank and rear of Army Group Center, the German command began to take retaliatory measures. One tank and seven infantry divisions were transferred to the threatened direction. In addition, to improve command and control in the Kovel direction, on March 28, part of the troops of the 4th Tank Army were transferred to the 2nd Field Army, and the dividing line between Army Groups “South” and “Center” was moved south.
Having transferred additional forces to the Kovel direction, the German command began to launch counterattacks from March 23 in order to relieve the encircled Kovel garrison. As a result of ten days of fierce fighting and at the cost of heavy losses, German troops managed to break through the encirclement and push back the formations of the 47th and 70th armies. By April 5, the front line had stabilized at the line east of the cities of Kovel and Ratno.
On the right wing of the front, the troops of the 61st Army in 10 days of fighting managed to advance 4-8 km and clear the southern bank of Pripyat east of Stolin from the enemy.

At the end of the operation, the 2nd Belorussian Front was abolished, and its troops were transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front.
During the battle, the 2nd Belorussian Front lost 11,132 people, of which 2,761 were irreversible.

As a result of the operation, only the immediate task of the offensive was actually solved, namely reaching the Lyubeshov, Kamen-Kashirsky, Kovel line. The enemy managed to retain in his hands almost all major settlements in the front line of action. Nevertheless, having absorbed significant forces of German troops, the 2nd Belorussian Front contributed to a successful offensive in other directions, in particular the attack of the 1st Ukrainian Front on Chernivtsi.

Comments:

In his May Day speech, Stalin defined a common goal: to cleanse Soviet soil of the enemy. Day after day, week after week, the goal becomes clearer and clearer - Belarus. Moscow is increasingly inclined to the need to strike on the Central Front. This time the German Army Group Center must receive a blow from which it will not recover. The task will be carried out by the Western Front, which, in order to optimize leadership, is divided into two fronts - the 2nd and 3rd Belarusian. The first was appointed to command General Petrov, who fought a lot in the south, the second was General I.D. Chernyakhovsky, who was proposed by A.M. Vasilevsky.

The General Staff's plan is striking in its scale - the largest operation in world history was depicted on the maps. It was about joint actions of six fronts, from Narva in the north to Chernivtsi in the south. The main part of the operation is the offensive in Belarus with the goal of destroying Army Group Center. The final revision of offensive plans was completed in mid-May 1944. And on May 20, Stalin convened a meeting of senior military leaders in the Kremlin. Even minor details were discussed. At the end of a long day, Stalin was asked what the code name for the upcoming operation would be and he suggested calling it after the Georgian, the great patriot of Russia: “Bagration”.

The difference in the time of action of the four fronts was small, but it existed. The 1st Baltic Front was the first to act, followed by the 3rd Belorussian Front and then the 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts. At 4 o'clock in the morning on June 22, 1944, Marshal Vasilevsky reported to Stalin that the 1st Baltic Front I.Kh. Bagramyan and the 3rd Belorussian Front I.D. Chernyakhovsky are ready for battle. Zhukov sent long-range bomber aircraft to these fronts.

The 9th German Army took on an unbearable burden - it was physically unable to withstand the blow intended for the entire Army Group Center. In Minsk, the commander of the Army Group, Field Marshal von Busch, demanded freedom of maneuver and a guarantee of reinforcements from the Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces, Zeitzler. But the German military leadership failed to determine the degree of urgency of the situation in Belarus and the connection of this offensive with the fate of the Reich as a whole. The 2nd Belorussian Front (G.F. Zakharov) rushed east of Mogilev, the site of the Tsarist Headquarters in the First World War. Here the German 3rd Panzer Army was waiting for the Soviet attacking columns. After three days of ferocious battle, the Soviet 49th Army crossed the upper Dnieper and established a bridgehead north of Mogilev. The 92nd Bridge Battalion trucked the bridge, and on the afternoon of June 27, despite heavy German fire, two bridges were created across the river, allowing Soviet tanks to quickly expand the bridgehead on the west bank. This forced the commander of the German 4th Army, General Tippelskirch, to ignore Hitler’s order to “stand to the last” and begin evacuating his army beyond the Dnieper. The capture of Mogilev was a very bloody operation even by the standards of this most brutal of wars.

I.D. Chernyakhovsky (3rd Belorussian Front) followed in the footsteps of Napoleon to the Berezina. He had a fantastic assistant - the tank army P.A. Rotmistrova, unstoppable and legendary. The road to Minsk was and is one of the few good roads in Greater Rus', and tankers, like all Russians, loved fast driving. Three days after the start of the offensive, they were already deep in the rear of Army Group Center. This initiated the process of disintegration of the three German armies. The 3rd Tank, 4th Army and 9th Army began to lose their relationship, and given the existing balance of forces, it was like death.

Several bridges across the Berezina were captured intact, so fast and unexpected was the pace of the offensive. The 20th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, which tried to prevent this capture, was smashed to smithereens. Rokossovsky ordered his three armies (3rd, 48th, 65th) to block the withdrawal of 40 thousand Germans from Bobruisk. In the city, many German troops were engaged in fortification work, they built barricades and installed anti-aircraft guns. Several times the Germans tried to break through and General Gorbatov (3rd Army) had to cool his hot heads. 400 bombers of Rudenko's air army turned the relatively small Bobruisk into a version of Stalingrad. During the assault on Bobruisk on June 27, the most successful actions were not those of the straightforward supporters of the tank attack, but those who crossed the Berezina and struck from an unexpected direction. Batov and Romanenko entered the burning city, the Germans were surrendering in the neighboring forests, but everyone was more interested in the news about the capture of Osipovichi, a railway station on the way to Minsk. So, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk ended up in the hands of Soviet troops. The German defense line was swept away, German losses during a week of fighting amounted to 130 thousand killed, 60 thousand captured. 900 tanks and thousands of other equipment were lost. Of course, Soviet losses were also great.

Model took command and became convinced that the Russian fronts were driven by a very broad plan, that even the capture of Minsk was not their ultimate goal. Now they are trying to drive the 4th German Army into a trap. Their vanguard is already 80 kilometers from Minsk, and the 4th Army, fighting off the advancing enemy, is located about 120 kilometers from the capital of Belarus. On the day of Model's appointment, the Soviet Headquarters adopted updated directives to all four fronts. Bagramyan (1st Baltic) moves to Polotsk. Chernyakhovsky (3rd Belorussian) - to the Berezina and, together with Zakharov (2nd Belorussian), takes Minsk on July 7-8. Rokossovsky approaches Minsk from the south, but his main task is to cut off the Germans’ escape route to the southwest. Zakharov presses the 4th German Army frontally, while its neighbors cut off its flanks. Bagramyan insures Chernyakhovsky from a blow from the north.

On the morning of July 2, Marshal Rotmistrov, greatly weakened by battles and roads, drove along the Minsk highway straight to the capital of Belarus. Having traveled more than forty kilometers, his tankers found themselves in the northeastern suburbs of the city at night. Panov's 1st Guards Corps is approaching from the southwest. On July 3rd, troops enter the ghost town of Minsk. Ruins are everywhere. And around Minsk the 4th German Army is convulsing - 105 thousand soldiers and officers, divided into two parts. History is rarely so accurate - it was precisely in those forests east of Minsk, where in the terrible late June days of 1941, in severe shock, the soldiers of the Western Military District felt themselves surrounded, from where yesterday Stalin’s favorite, General Pavlov, was summoned to be shot, were now awaiting a terrible ships huge masses of aggressor soldiers. Exactly three years later in the same place. Some of them tried to break through to their own people - and more than 40 thousand died in senseless forest battles. German aircraft tried to airdrop supplies, only prolonging the agony. The commander of the German 12th Corps could not stand it; he announced general surrender. The capture of the remnants of four German corps continued until July 11, 1944. From Army Group Center, which in cheerful daring passed these lands without looking back three years ago in full confidence about a two-month war, now only eight badly battered divisions remained, unable to cover the four hundred-kilometer width of the breakthrough of the Soviet armies. Belarus, the most faithful and sacrificial sister, was liberated. Bagramyan liberated Polotsk, and Rokossovsky went to Brest.

Never before had the Wehrmacht suffered such a crushing defeat. 28 divisions and 350 thousand soldiers were lost in open battle. On July 17, something unusual happened. A huge column of 57 thousand German prisoners of war, mostly captured during Operation Bagration, passed through the harsh streets of the Soviet capital. At the head of the column were 19 generals, each with an “iron cross”. At the head of the column with the “knight’s cross” was General Gollvitser, the corps commander, captured in Vitebsk. They reached Moscow. The silent crowd looked at those who wanted to become the masters of Russia. It was a great moment. The outcome of the war was already irreversible. To quote German newspapers, the end was a battle of “apocalyptic” proportions. The fate of Germany was finally decided in unconquered Belarus. Brest, a symbol of defeat in the previous war with the Germans, was taken on July 28, 1944. In July 1944, Soviet troops reached the Soviet-Polish border over a wide area.

Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation- one of the last strategic operations of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. The operation lasted from April 16 to May 8, 1945, the width of the combat front was 300 km.

By April 1945, the main offensive operations of the Red Army in Hungary, Eastern Pomerania, Austria and East Prussia were completed. This deprived Berlin of support from industrial areas and the ability to replenish reserves and resources.

Soviet troops reached the border of the Oder and Neisse rivers, only a few tens of kilometers remained to Berlin.

The offensive was carried out by the forces of three fronts: the 1st Belorussian under the command of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, the 2nd Belorussian under the command of Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky and the 1st Ukrainian under the command of Marshal I.S. Konev, with the support of the 18th Air Army, Dnieper Military Flotilla and Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

The Red Army was opposed by a large group consisting of Army Group Vistula (generals G. Heinrici, then K. Tippelskirch) and Center (Field Marshal F. Schörner).

The balance of forces at the start of the operation is shown in the table.

On April 16, 1945, at 5 a.m. Moscow time (2 hours before dawn), artillery preparation began in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. 9,000 guns and mortars, as well as more than 1,500 BM-13 and BM-31 RS installations, crushed the first line of German defense in the 27-kilometer breakthrough area for 25 minutes. With the start of the attack, artillery fire was transferred deep into the defense, and 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on in the breakthrough areas. Their blinding light stunned the enemy, neutralized night vision devices and at the same time illuminated the way for the advancing units.

The offensive unfolded in three directions: through the Seelow Heights directly to Berlin (1st Belorussian Front), south of the city, along the left flank (1st Ukrainian Front) and north, along the right flank (2nd Belorussian Front). The largest number of enemy forces were concentrated in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front, and the most intense fighting broke out in the Seelow Heights area.

Despite fierce resistance, on April 21, the first Soviet assault troops reached the outskirts of Berlin, and street fighting broke out. On the afternoon of March 25, units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts united, closing a ring around the city. However, the assault was still ahead, and the defense of Berlin was carefully prepared and well thought out. It was a whole system of strongholds and resistance centers, the streets were blocked with powerful barricades, many buildings were turned into firing points, underground structures and the metro were actively used. Faust cartridges became a formidable weapon in conditions of street fighting and limited space for maneuver; they caused especially heavy damage to tanks. The situation was also complicated by the fact that all German units and individual groups of soldiers who retreated during the battles on the outskirts of the city were concentrated in Berlin, replenishing the garrison of the city’s defenders.

The fighting in the city did not stop day or night; almost every house had to be stormed. However, thanks to superiority in strength, as well as the experience accumulated in past offensive operations in urban combat, the Soviet troops moved forward. By the evening of April 28, units of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Reichstag. On April 30, the first assault groups broke into the building, unit flags appeared on the building, and on the night of May 1, the Banner of the Military Council, located in the 150th Infantry Division, was hoisted. And by the morning of May 2, the Reichstag garrison capitulated.

On May 1, only the Tiergarten and the government quarter remained in German hands. The imperial chancellery was located here, in the courtyard of which there was a bunker at Hitler's headquarters. On the night of May 1, by prior agreement, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, arrived at the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army. He informed the army commander, General V.I. Chuikov, about Hitler’s suicide and the proposal of the new German government to conclude a truce. But the categorical demand for unconditional surrender received in response by this government was rejected. Soviet troops resumed the assault with renewed vigor. The remnants of the German troops were no longer able to continue resistance, and in the early morning of May 2, a German officer, on behalf of the commander of the defense of Berlin, General Weidling, wrote a surrender order, which was duplicated and, with the help of loudspeaker installations and radio, communicated to enemy units defending in center of Berlin. As this order was communicated to the defenders, resistance in the city ceased. By the end of the day, the troops of the 8th Guards Army cleared the central part of the city from the enemy. Individual units that did not want to surrender tried to break through to the west, but were destroyed or scattered.

During the Berlin operation, from April 16 to May 8, Soviet troops lost 352,475 people, of which 78,291 were irretrievable. In terms of daily losses of personnel and equipment, the Battle of Berlin surpassed all other operations of the Red Army. In terms of the intensity of losses, this operation is comparable only to the Battle of Kursk.

The losses of German troops, according to reports from the Soviet command, were: about 400 thousand people killed, about 380 thousand people captured. Part of the German troops was pushed back to the Elbe and capitulated to the Allied forces.

The Berlin operation dealt the final crushing blow to the armed forces of the Third Reich, which, with the loss of Berlin, lost the ability to organize resistance. Six days after the fall of Berlin, on the night of May 8-9, the German leadership signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

The Berlin operation is one of the largest in the Great Patriotic War.

List of sources used:

1. History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945. In 6 vols. – M.: Voenizdat, 1963.

2. Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. In 2 vols. 1969

4. Shatilov V. M. Banner over the Reichstag. 3rd edition, corrected and expanded. – M.: Voenizdat, 1975. – 350 p.

5. Neustroev S.A. The path to the Reichstag. – Sverdlovsk: Central Ural Book Publishing House, 1986.

6. Zinchenko F.M. Heroes of the storming of the Reichstag / Literary record of N.M. Ilyash. – 3rd ed. - M.: Voenizdat, 1983. - 192 p.

Storming of the Reichstag.

The storming of the Reichstag is the final stage of the Berlin offensive operation, the task of which was to capture the building of the German parliament and hoist the Victory Banner.

The Berlin offensive began on April 16, 1945. And the operation to storm the Reichstag lasted from April 28 to May 2, 1945. The assault was carried out 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 addition, two regiments of the 207th Infantry Division were advancing in the direction of the Krol Opera.

The last strategic operation carried out by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War was the Prague offensive operation (May 5-12, 1945), during which the capital of Czechoslovakia, the ancient city of Prague, was liberated and the last major Wehrmacht grouping, Army Group Center, was defeated. .

After the defeat of the enemy in the Berlin direction and the surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2, the only Wehrmacht force that could still resist the Red Army was Army Group Center (commander Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner) in Czechoslovakia and part of Army Group Austria (commander Lothar Rendulic). Schörner, after the encirclement of Berlin, received orders from Hitler to withdraw troops to the area of ​​​​the capital of Czechoslovakia and turn Prague into a “second Berlin”. Rendulic also refused to capitulate and withdrew his troops to the west. Schörner had up to a million people, about 10 thousand guns, about 1900 tanks and 1000 aircraft.

Units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front (Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky), 4th Ukrainian Front (Army General A.I. Eremenko) fought against this group; they, having completed the liberation of Slovakia, liberated the territory of the Czech Republic. From the north were units of the 1st Ukrainian Front, most of its troops were in the Berlin area at the beginning of May, the remaining units occupied defense on a front 400 km in the foothills of the Ore Mountains and the Sudetenland. The 3rd American Army (General D. Patton) was moving from the west to the border of the Czech Republic; it had the task of occupying the line Ceske Budejovice, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, previously agreed upon with the Soviet command.

Start of operation in Czechoslovakia

As Germany was defeated in Czechoslovakia, local resistance, previously quite invisible, intensified. In April, approximately 120 partisan detachments were already operating, although their total number was small - 7.5 thousand people. There was no single leadership center, no constant communication with the Soviet command, the activities were of a defensive nature. At the end of April, they were able to create the Czech National Council (CNC), it consisted of representatives of different political forces, and was headed by A. Prazhak, a professor at the University of Prague. The ChNS was not going to immediately start an uprising, since there were no serious forces for this.

But on May 5, a popular uprising began in Prague; it was prepared by former soldiers of the Czechoslovak army, led by General K. Kutyavashr (Bartos organization). At the beginning of May, they came into contact with the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), with the commander of the 1st division, General S.K. Bunyachenko. The ROA went west, hoping to surrender to the Americans. Bunyachenko and his commanders hoped for political asylum in Czechoslovakia and on the 4th agreed to support the uprising. Vlasov did not believe in success, but did not interfere. But already on the night of the 8th, most of the Vlasovites began to leave Prague, without receiving guarantees regarding their allied status. Schörner was forced to withdraw troops to Prague to suppress the uprising.

Soviet forces, operation plan

On May 1, I. S. Konev received an order to transfer the line along the Elbe River to the 1st Belorussian Front by May 4, and transfer the released forces to the Prague direction. The regrouping of forces and preparations for the strike began. The front was supported from the air by the 2nd Air Army, the 6th Army (Lieutenant General V.A. Gluzdovsky) surrounded the Breslau garrison. He was supported by the 4th Ukrainian and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts.

By the beginning of the operation, the 3 Ukrainian fronts had: 20 combined arms armies (including two Romanian and one Polish army), 3 tank armies and 3 air armies, one cavalry-mechanized group, 5 tank, 1st mechanized and one cavalry separate corps . Their total number was more than 2 million people with approximately 30.5 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, 3 thousand aircraft. Our forces outnumbered the enemy almost twice in manpower, in aviation and artillery by three, and in armored vehicles the forces were almost equal.

They planned to carry out several attacks on the enemy’s flanks, the main attacks were carried out by the 1st Ukrainian, it hit from the area northwest of Dresden, and the 2nd Ukrainian, it hit from the area south of Brno. The Wehrmacht forces wanted to dismember, encircle and defeat.

Progress of the operation

The strike was planned for the 7th, but events in Prague forced the strike earlier, without completing the regrouping of forces. The rebels were able to capture most of the city, capturing rocks with weapons, disarming several small enemy units. The Field Marshal ordered the suppression of the uprising, since the rebels were blocking the escape route to the west. On the 6th, the Wehrmacht captured most of the city, using artillery, aviation and tanks; on the same day, Bunyachenko’s division came out on the side of the Czechs. Russian ROA soldiers drove the Wehrmacht out of the western part of the city. On the 7th, ROA units crossed the Vltava River and cut the Wehrmacht positions into two parts. But the ChNS, after some hesitation, thanked the Vlasovites and refused help. Bunyachenko was ready to stay if the Czechs at least broadcast a message on the radio about the reasons for joining the Wehrmacht units, about their actions at the present time, about their readiness to continue to fight the Nazis, but the Czechs refused. In the evening of the 7th, parts of the ROA began to retreat to the west, only some of the fighters remained with the Czechs. After the departure of the ROA division, the Wehrmacht again became the master of the situation in the city.

Therefore, Marshal Konev gave the order to march on the morning of the 6th. The 13th and 3rd Guards Armies, together with the 25th and 4th Guards Tank Corps, as well as units of the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, advanced through the Ore Mountains. By evening, the 5th Guards Army also joined them. This was a feature of the Prague offensive operation - the simultaneous introduction of combined arms and tank armies into the offensive zone. On the same day, the German group in Breslau capitulated. On May 7, the most successfully attacking 4th Guards Tank and 13th Armies reached the northern slopes of the mountains, units of the 3rd Guards Tank and 5th Guards Combined Arms Armies began fighting for Dresden.

On May 7, the 4th Ukrainian Front also struck, the 7th Guards Army immediately broke through the enemy’s defenses, and on the 8th the 6th Guards Tank Army, which was advancing on Prague, entered the breakthrough.

The situation of the rebels in Prague worsened, the Wehrmacht mercilessly suppressed resistance, advanced to the city center, and some of the rebels panicked and abandoned their defensive structures. The rebels also experienced a shortage of ammunition. On the afternoon of May 7, Schörner received Keitel’s order to surrender, but did not bring it to the troops; on the contrary, he ordered the resistance to be tightened. On the same day, American officers arrived at the rebel headquarters. They reported Germany's surrender and advised stopping the battle in Prague. Negotiations began with the head of the German garrison, R. Toussaint, who agreed to surrender heavy weapons upon leaving the city if the Germans were not prevented from withdrawing their troops.

On the 8th, units of the 4th Ukrainian Front captured the city of Olomouc and began an attack on Prague; The 1st Ukrainian entered the territory of Czechoslovakia, units of the 4th Guards Tank Army destroyed Schörner's headquarters, depriving Army Group Center of coordination. By the end of May 8, the 5th Guards Army captured Dresden, and several more cities were liberated on the same day.

The Czechs greeted Soviet soldiers with joy, many decorated houses and squares with red banners, invited them into their homes, gave flowers, and expressed their joy in every possible way.

On the evening of the 8th, the Soviet command offered the Wehrmacht to capitulate, but there was no answer. The Germans wanted to surrender to the Americans and accelerated their retreat. On the night of the 9th, Soviet tank units (4th and 3rd Guards Tank Armies) made a 90-km throw, and in the morning the first tanks entered Prague. They were followed by other units that entered the city - the 302nd Infantry Division (Colonel A. Ya. Klimenko) in vehicles, the 1st Czechoslovak Tank Brigade from the 60th Army and the advance detachment of the mobile group of the 38th Army under Colonel General K. S. Moskalenko. At lunchtime, units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front entered the city from the south: the 6th Guards Tank Army and the infantry of the 24th Rifle Corps, mounted on vehicles, and later the 7th Mechanized Corps. With the support of Prague residents, Soviet units “cleared” the city of the Nazis. Army Group Center's retreat routes to the west and south were cut off, only a few divisions were outside the encirclement, and most of the German forces found themselves in a "cauldron" east of Prague. On the 10th our units met with the Americans, on May 10-11 the Germans capitulated, thus ending the war as the last strong group of the Wehrmacht. The shooting continued in the vicinity of Prague until the 12th.

Results

Approximately 860 thousand people were captured, about 40 thousand died in battle and were wounded. A large amount of equipment and weapons were captured: 9.5 thousand guns and mortars, 1.8 thousand tanks and assault guns, and so on. Our losses: approximately 12 thousand killed and missing, about 40 thousand wounded and sick. During the liberation of the city itself, about a thousand Red Army soldiers died.

In total, for the liberation of all of Czechoslovakia, the Red Army paid a “price” of 140 thousand soldiers killed.

The Prague offensive operation once again demonstrated to the whole world the high skill of the Red Army and its commanders; in the shortest possible time the defense was broken, significant enemy forces were surrounded and captured. A victory point was reached in the Great Patriotic War. The medal “For the Liberation of Prague” was awarded to 390 thousand people.

The Americans did not allow the Vlasovites into their zone; some of them, upon learning about this, shot themselves. Most surrendered to Soviet units. Vlasov and other leaders of the ROA were awaiting trial in Moscow.

Sources:
For the liberation of Czechoslovakia, M., 1965.
Konev I. S. Notes of the front commander. 1943-1945. M., 1982.
Konev I. S. Forty-fifth. M., 1970.
Pliev I. A. On the roads of war. M., 1985.