Battle in Berlin

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Main article: Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin was decided outside the city during the initial phases of the battle. The Battle in Berlin was fought once the city was surrounded and the Red Army of the Soviet Union forced their way thought to the centre of the city. The first Soviet ground forces started to penetrate the outer suburbs of Berlin on the 23 April 1945. The battle continued until the May 2 when General Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, surrendered to Marshal Georgiy Zhukov.

Contents 1 The Soviet offensive 1.1 The battle of the Oder-Neisse 1.2 The encirclement of Berlin 2 Battle in Berlin 2.1 Tactics 2.2 Battle 3 Conclusion 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 Footnotes

[edit] The Soviet offensive

[edit] The battle of the Oder-Neisse

Main article: Battle of the Oder-Neisse.

In the early hours on April 16, the offensive began with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery pieces and Katyusha rockets in a barrage which was sustained for several days. Shortly afterwards and well before dawn the 1st Belorussian Front attacked across the Oder. The 1st Ukrainian Front attacked across the Neisse before the dawn the same morning. The 1st Belorussian Front was the stronger force but it had the more difficult assignment and was facing the majority of the German forces.^[1][2]

On April 19, the fourth day the 1st Belorussian Front broke through the final line of the Seelow Heights and nothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin. The remnants of General Theodor Busse's IX Army which had been holding the heights and the remaining northern flank of the IV Panzer Army were in danger of being enveloped by elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front, these were the 3rd Guards Army and the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, which having broken through the IV Panzer Army turned north towards Berlin and the 1st Belorussian Front. Other armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front raced west towards the Americans. By the end of the 19th the German eastern front line had ceased to exist. All that remained were pockets of resistance. The cost to the Soviet forces had been very high between April 1 and April 19, with over 2,807 tanks lost. During the same period the Allies in the west lost 1,079 tanks.^[3][4][5]

[edit] The encirclement of Berlin

Main article Battle of Berlin: Encirclement of Berlin

On 20 April, Hitler's birthday, Soviet artillery of 1st Belorussian Front began to shell the centre of Berlin and did not stop until the city surrendered. After the war the Soviets pointed out that the weight of explosives delivered by their artillery during the battle was greater than the tonnage dropped by the Western Allied bombers on the city. 1st Belorussian Front advanced towards the east and north-east of the City.

1st Ukrainian Front had pushed through the last formations of the northern wing of Army Group Centre and had passed north of Juterbog well over halfway to the American front lines on the river Elbe at Magdeburg. To the north between Stettin and Schwedt, 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank of Army Group Vistula, held by the III Panzer Army.^[4]

By April 24 elements of 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front had completed the encirclement of the city.^[6]

The next day, 25 April, the 2nd Belorussian Front broke through III Panzer Army's line around the bridgehead south of Stettin and crossed the Rando Swamp. They were now free to move west towards the British 21st Army Group and north towards the Baltic port of Stralsund. The Soviet 58th Guards Division of the 5th Guards Army made contact with the US 69th Infantry Division of the First Army near Torgau, Germany on the Elbe River.^[7]

Throughout the day of 25 April, the encirclement of Berlin was tightened even more. Soviet spearheads entered Zehlendorf and Neukoelln. There was fighting at the Teltow Canal. The Berlin suburbs of Adlershof, Alt-Glienicke, Tegel, Wittenau, Reinickendorf, Mariendorf, and Lankwitz were over-run. German troops withdraw into positions in central Berlin. The new front line was Schoeneberg Town Hall, Halle Gate, and Belle-Alliance Square.^[8]

[edit] Battle in Berlin

[edit] Tactics

A Soviet combat group was a mixed arms unit of about eighty men in assault groups of six to eight men, closely supported by field artillery. These were tactical units which were able to apply the tactics of house to house fighting that the Soviets had been forced to develop and refine at each festung stadt (fortress city) they had encountered from Stalingrad to Berlin.^[9]

The Germans tactics used for the urban warfare that took place in Berlin was dictated by three considerations. These were: the experience that the Germans had gained during five years of war; the physical characteristics of Berlin; and the tactics used by the Soviets. Most of central districts of Berlin consists of city blocks with straight wide roads with several waterways, parks and large railway marshalling yards. It is predominantly flat but there are some low hills like that of Kreuzberg that is 66m above sea level. Much of the housing stock consisted of apartments blocks build in the second half of the 19th century most of those, thanks to housing regulations, and few elevators, were five stories high built around a courtyard which could be reached from the street through a corridor large enough to take a horse and cart or the small trucks used to deliver coal. In many places these apartment blocks were build around several courtyards one behind the other each one reached through the outer courtyards by a ground level tunnel similar to that between the first courtyard and the road. The larger more expensive flats faced the street and the smaller less expensive ones could be found around the inner countyards.

Just as the Soviets had learn a lot about urban warfare, so had the Germans. The Waffen SS did not use the makeshift barricades erected close to street corners, because these could be raked by artillery fire from guns firing over open sights further along the straight streets. Instead they put snipers and machine guns on the upper floors and the roofs because the Soviet tanks could not elevate their guns that high and they put men armed with panzerfausts in cellar windows to ambush tanks as they moved down the streets. These tactics were quickly adopted by the Hitler Youth and the First World War Volksstrurm veterans.^[10]

To counter these tactics the Soviets mounted sub-machine gunners on the tanks who sprayed every doorway and window, but this meant the tank could not traverse its turret quickly. The other solution was to rely on heavy howitzers (152mm and 203mm) firing over open sights to blast defended buildings and to use anti-aircraft guns against the German gunners on the higher floors. Soviet combat groups started to move from house to house instead of directly down the streets. They moved through the apartments and cellars blasting holes through the walls of adjacent buildings (for which the Soviets found abandoned German panzerfausts were very effective) while others fought across the roof tops and through the attics. These tactics took the Germans laying in ambush for tanks in the flanks. Flamethrowers and grenades were very effective, but as the Berlin civilian population had not been evacuated these tactics inevitably killed many civilians.^[10]

[edit] Battle

The forces available to Weidling for the city's defence included several severely depleted Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions, in all about 45,000 men. These divisions were supplemented by the police force, boys in the compulsory Hitler Youth, and the Volkssturm. Many of the 40,000 elderly men of the Volkssturm had been in the army as young men and some were veterans of World War I. The commander of the central district, SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, who had been appointed to this position by Hitler, had over 2,000 men under his command.^[11][12]

Weidling organized the defences into eight sectors designated 'A' through to 'H' each one commanded by a colonel or a general, but most had no combat experience.^[11] To the west of the city was the XX Infantry Division. To the north of the city was the IX Parachute Division To the north-east of the city was the Panzer Division Müncheberg (Werner Mummert). To the south-east of the city and to the east of Tempelhof Airport was the XI SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. The reserve, XVIII Panzergrenadier Division, was in Berlin's central district.^[13]

Berlin's fate was sealed, because the decisive stages of the battle were fought outside the city, but the resistance inside continued.^[14] By the 23 April some of Chuikov's rifle units had crossed the Spree and the Dahme south of Köpenick and by the 24 April were advancing along with Katukov's leading tanks were advancing towards Britz and Neukölln. Some time after midnight a corps of the 5th Shock Army crossed the Spree close to Treptow Park. At dawn on the 24 April the LVI Panzer Corps still under Weildling's direct command counter attacked, but were severely mauled by the 5th Shock Army, which was able to continue its advance around mid day.^[15] Meanwhile the first large Soviet probe into the city was put into operation. Kataukov's 1st Guard Army attacked across the Teltow Canal. At 06:20 a bombardment by 3,000 guns and heavy mortars began (a staggering 650 pieces of artillery per one kilometer of front). At 07:00 hours the first Soviet battalions were across and they were followed by tanks around 12:00 shortly after the first of the pontoon bridges were completed. By the evening Treptow Park was in Soviet hands and they had reached the S-Bahn ring railway.^[16]

While the fighting raged in the south east of the city, between 320 and 330 French volunteers commanded by Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg and organized as Sturmbataillon (assault battalion) "Charlemagne" were attached to XI SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. They moved from the SS training ground near Neustrelitz to the centre of Berlin through the western suburbs which apart from unmanned barricades across the Havel and Spree were devoid of fortifications or defenders. Of all the reinforcements ordered to Berlin that day only this Sturmbataillon arrived.^[17][14]

On 25 April, Krukenberg was appointed as the commander Defence Sector C which included the Nordland Division, whose previous commander Johachim Ziegler was relieved of his command the same day. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose Norge and Danmark regiments had been decimated in the fighting. Just midday as Krukenberg reached his command, the last German bridgehead south of the Teltow Canal was being abandoned. During the night Krukenberg informed General Krebs that within 24 hours the Nordland would have to fall back to the centre sector Z (for Zentrum).^[18]

Soviet combat groups of the 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army fought their way through the southern suburbs of Neukölln towards Tempelhof Airport which was located just inside the S-Bhan defensive ring. Defending Sector D was Panzer Division Müncheberg. This division, down to its last dozen tanks and thirty APCs had been promised replacements for battle losses but only stragglers and Volkssturm were available to fill the ranks. The Soviets advanced cautiously using flamethrowers to overcome defensive positions. By dusk the Soviet T43 tanks had reached the airfield, only six kilometres (four miles) south of Führerbunker, where they were checked by stiff German resistance. The Müncheberg Division managed to hold the line until the afternoon of the next day, but this was the last time that they were able to check the Soviet advance for more than a few hours.^[19][20]

On the 26 April With Neukölln heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. The two understrength German divisions defending the south east were now facing five Soviet armies. From east to west they were the 5th Shock Army, advancing from Treptow Park, the 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army advancing through Neukölln north were checked at Tempelhof Airport and Konev's 3rd Guards Tank Army was advancing from Mariendorf. As the Nordland Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one hundred Hitler Youths attached to their group destroyed fourteen soviet tanks with panzerfausts, and one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advances in that area for forty-eight hours. The Nordlands remaining armour, eight tiger tanks and several assault guns, were ordered to take up positions in the Tiergarten, because although these two divisions of Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps could slow the Soviet advance they could not stop it.^[21]

Hitler summoned Field Marshall Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin to take over command of the Lufwaffe from Goering. While flying over Berlin in a Fieseler Storch, von Greim was seriously wounded by Soviet anti-aircraft fire. Hanna Reitsch, his mistress and a crack test pilot, landed von Greim on an improvised air strip in the Tiergarten near the Brandenburg Gate.^[8][22][23]

On the same day that Reitsch and von Greim landed in Berlin, 26 April, German General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling was appointed commander of the Berlin Defense Area.^[8] Hitler had ordered that Weidling be executed by firing squad only four days earlier on 22 April. This was due to a misunderstanding concerning a retreat ordered issued by Weidling as commander of the LVI Panzer Corps. Weidling had been appointed commander of the LVI Panzer Corps on 20 April. Weidling replaced Oberstleutnant Ernst Kaether as commander of Berlin. Only one day earlier, Kaether had replaced Generalleutnant Helmuth Reymann, who had held the position for only about a month.

Marshal Zhukov appointed Colonel General Berzarin to start to organize the German civil administration in the areas that they had captured. Bürgermeisters like the directors of the Berlin utilities were summoned to appear before Berzarin's staff. The next day (27 April) 2,000 German women were rounded up and ordered to help clear Tempelhof Airport of debris so that the Red Army Air Force could start to use it.^[24]

As the Soviet armies of the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front converged on the centre of the city there were many accidental friendly fire incidents involving artillery shellings because the spotter planes and the artillery of the different Soviet Fronts were not co-ordinated and they frequently mistook, assault groups in other armies as enemy troops. Indeed the rivalry between the Soviet armies to capture the city centre was becoming intense a corps commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front joked with laconic humour "Now we should be scared not of the enemy, but of out neighbour ... There's nothing more depressing in Berlin than learning about the successes of your neighbour". Beevor suggests that the rivalry went further than just jokes and says that Chuikov deliberately ordered the left flank of the 8th Guards Army (of 1st Belorussian Front) across the front of the 3rd Guards Tank Army (of the 1st Ukrainian Front), blocking its direct path to the Reichstag. As Chuikov did not inform Rybako, commander of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, that the 8th was doing this, the troops ordered to carry out this manoeuvre suffered disproportionate casualties from the "friendly" fire.^[25]

By the 27 April the Soviet Armies had penetrated the German's S-Bahn outer defensive ring from all directions. The Germans had been forced back into an pocket about eight kilometres (five miles) long from west to east and about one and a half kiliometres (one mile) wide at its most narrow, just west of the old city centre, near the Tiergarten. In the north west Lieutenant-General Gusev's 47th Army was now approaching Spandau, and was also heavily involved in a battle to capture Gatow airfield which was defended Volkssturm and Luftwaffe cadets using the feared 88mm anti-aircraft guns in their anti-tank role. In the north Colonel-General Bogdanov's 2nd Guards Tank Army was bogged down just south of Siemensstadt. Lieutenant-General Simonyak 3rd Shock Army had bypassed the Humboldthain flak tower, (leaving it to follow up forces) and had reached the north of the Tiergarten and Prenzlauerberg.^[13][26][27]

In the south west Colonel-General Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army, (supported by Lieutenant-General Luchinsky's 28th Army) were advancing through the wooded park and suburbs of the Grunewald attacking what remained of the XVIII Panzergrenadier Division, and on their eastern flank, were just entering Charlottenburg. In the south Lieutenant-General Chuikov's 8th Guards Army, Colonel-General Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Army breached the Landwehr Canal on the 27 April, the last major obstical between them and the Führerbunker next to the Reich Chancellery less than two kilometres away (a little over a mile). In the south east Colonel-General Berzarin's 5th Shock Army had bypassed the Friedrichshain flak tower and was now between Frankfurterallee and the south bank of the Spree where its IX Corps was fighting.^[13][26]

On the morning of the 27 April the Soviets continued the assault with a heavy bombardment of the inner city. The 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army were ordered to take Belle-Allianceplatz (named after an alternative name for the Battle of Waterloo) and in a twist of history defended by French SS soldiers of the Nordland Division. That night Weidling gave a battle situation report to Hitler, and presented him with a detailed breakout plan which would be spearheaded just under 40 tanks (all the combat ready German tanks in Berlin). Hitler rejected the plan saying he would stay in the bunker and that Weidling would carry on with the defence.^[28]

In sectore Z (centre) Krunebberg Nordland divisional headquarters was now a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. The Norland's armour was reduced to four captured Soviet APCs and two half-tracks, so Krunebberg's men's chief weapon was now the panzerfausts which were used for close quarters battles against both Soviet armour and in house to house fighting against Soviet combat groups.^[29]

By the 28 April the Müncheberg Division had been driven back to Anhalter railway station less than one kilometre (half a mile) south of Führerbunker. To slow the advancing Soviets, allegedly on Hitler's orders the bulkheads under the Landwehr Canal were blown up. It caused a panic in the U-Bahn tunnels under Anhalter railway station in which some were trampled to death. But the water level only rose suddenly by only about a metre (yard) and after that much more slowly. Initially it was thought that many thousands had drowned, but when the tunnels were pumped out in October 1945 it was found that most of the bodies were of people who had died of their wounds not from drowning.^[30]

The Soviet advance to the city centre was along these main axes: from the south east, along the Frankfurter Allee (ending and stopped at the Alexanderplatz); from the south along Sonnen Allee ending north of the Belle Alliance Platz, from the south ending near the Potsdamer Platz and from the north ending near the Reichstag. The Reichstag, the Moltke bridge, Alexanderplatz, and the Havel bridges at Spandau were the places where the fighting was heaviest, with house-to-house and hand-to-hand combat. The foreign contingents of the SS fought particularly hard, because they were ideologically motivated and they believed that they would not live if captured.

At some point on 28 April or 29 April, General Gotthard Heinrici, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula, was relieved of his command. Heinrici disobeyed Hitler's direct orders to hold Berlin at all costs and to never order a retreat. As a result, Heinrici was replaced by General Kurt Student. General Kurt von Tippelskirch was named as Heinrici's interim replacement until Student could arrive and assume control. Student was captured by the British and never arrived.

Also on 28 April, German General Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff, made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker. He called General Wilhelm Keitel at the new Supreme Command Headquarters in Fuerstenberg. Krebs told Keitel that, if relief did not arrive within 48 hours, all would be lost. Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on Generals Wenck and Busse. Meanwhile, Martin Borman wired to German Admiral Karl Dönitz: "Reich Chancellery (Reichskanzlei) a heap of rubble."^[8] Borman was the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and Hitler's private secretary.

Later on 28 April, Hitler learned of Himmler's contacts with Count Folke Bernadotte in Luebeck. Himmler had asked Bernadotte to convey a peace proposal to US General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Enraged at Himmler's duplicity, Hitler ordered von Greim and Reitsch to fly to Dönitz's headquarters at Ploen. Von Greim was ordered to arrest the "traitor" Himmler.^[8]

During the night of 28 April, General Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his XXII Army had been forced back along the entire front. This was particularly true of XX Corps which had been able to establish temporary contact with the Potsdam garrison. According to Wenck, no attack on Berlin was now possible. This was even more so as support from the IX Army could no longer be expected.^[31]

On 29 April, von Greim and Reitsch flew out from Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 trainer. Fearing that Hitler was escaping in the plane, troops of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army which was fighting its way through the Tiergarten, tried to shoot the Arado down. The Soviet troops failed in their efforts and the plane took off successfully.^[32][33]

On 29 April, in the Führerbunker, General Wilhelm Burgdorf, Goebbels, Krebs, and Bormann witnessed and signed the last will and testament of Adolf Hitler. Hitler dictated the document to Traudl Junge.

Late in the evening of 29 April, Krebs contacted General Alfred Jodl (Supreme Army Command) by radio: "Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended to attack. Thirdly of the location of the IX Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the IX Army will break through. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolph Holste's spearhead."^[31]

In the early morning of 30 April, Jodl replied to Krebs: "Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Secondly, XII Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of IX Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive."^[31]

On 30 April, as the Soviet forces fought their way into the centre of Berlin, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun. They then committed suicide. Braun by taking cyanide and Hitler by shooting himself. Per instructions, the bodies were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. In accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Joseph Goebbels, the Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, became the new "Head of Government" and Chancellor of Germany (Reichskanzler). At 3:15 am, Reichskanzler Goebbels and Borman sent a radio message to Admiral Karl Dönitz informing him of Hitler's death. Per Hitler's last wishes, Dönitz was appointed as the new "President of Germany" (Reichspräsident).

At abour 03:00 am on 1 May, Krebs talked to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov. Krebs returned empty handed after refusing to agree to an unconditional surrender. Only Reichskanzler Goebbels now had the authority to agree to an unconditional surrender. In the late afternoon, Goebbels had his children poisoned. At about 8:30 pm, he orderered an SS guard to shoot he and his wife in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. Like Hitler and Braun, their bodies were burned. At 9:00 pm, Borman, SS-Brigadeführer Erich Naumann, and the remaining Führerbunker guards tried to break out from the Reich Chancellery. General Burgdorf, who played a key role in the death of Erwin Rommel, committed suicide.^[31]

For a brief period after Hitler's suicide, Goebbels was Germany's Reichskanzler. On 1 May, after Goebbels' own suicide, Reichspräsident Admiral Karl Dönitz appointed Ludwig von Krosigk as Reichskanzler. The headquarters of the Dönitz government were located around Flensburg, along with Mürwik, near the Danish border. Accordingly, the Dönitz administration was referred to as the Flensburg government.

On 2 May, General Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, contacted General Chuikov at 8:23 am. Chuikov asked: "You are the commander of the Berlin garrison?" Weidling replied: "Yes, I am the commander of the LVIIth Tank Corps." Chuikov then asked: "Where is Krebs?" Weidling replied: "I saw him yesterday in the Reichs Chancellery." Weidling then added: "I thought he would commit suicide."^[31] In the discussions which followed, Weidling agreed to an unconditional surrender of the city of Berlin. He agreed to order the city's defenders to surrender to the Soviets. Per Chuikov's and Soviet General Vasily Sokolovsky's direction, Weidling put his order to surrender in writing. But, despite this order, heavy fighting continued as a large number of the Germans did not wish to surrender or still believed it was possible to break out.

On 8 May, as a result of the German nation's unconditional surrender, the last German troops in Berlin finally surrendered. This included Mohnke, commander of the Reich Chancellery's defence.

[edit] Conclusion

The battle ended after a week of heavy fighting because the Germans ran out of men and supplies. The German supply dumps were located outside the outer defence line (the Inner Ring) and were captured quite early in the battle by the Soviets. In the battle for the city the Soviets lost about 2,000 armoured vehicles, in good part due to the effective shoulder-firing recoilless gun known as the Panzerfaust, mass numbers of which were supplied to German civilians, though countermeasures such as armor and wire skirts were being deployed. The Germans had only a few tanks.

In many areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops (usually rear echelon units) looted, raped an estimated 100,000 women and murdered civilians for several weeks (see under Marta Hillers and Red Army atrocities).^[34] After the summer of 1945 Soviet soldiers caught raping were usually punished to various degrees.^[35] The rapes continued however until the winter of 1947-48, when the problem was eventually resolved when the Soviet troops were confined to strictly guarded posts and camps.“^[36]

The Soviets sustained 20,000–25,000 dead in the city and 81,000 for the entire operation, which included the Battles of Seelow Heights and the Halbe. Another 280,000 were reported wounded or sick during the operational period. The Germans sustained as many as 450,000 killed, wounded or missing, civilians included.

Following Hitler's wishes in his last will and testament, on his death Admiral Karl Dönitz became the new Reichspräsident and Joseph Goebbels the new Reichskanzler. However Goebbels' suicide on May 1, left the new head of state to orchestrate negotiations of national surrender on his own. The German high command and most German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on 8 May 1945, which became known as V-E Day. Although a few German units kept fighting a few days longer, the war in Europe was effectively over, and with it went the Third Reich.

[edit] See also

• German Instrument of Surrender, 1945
• Flak Tower
• Race to Berlin
• Decisive victory
• End of World War II in Europe

[edit] References

• Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
• Dollinger, Hans. The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047
• Krivosheev, G. F. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century, Greenhill Books, 1997, ISBN 1-85367-280-7
• Naimark, Norman M. The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949, Cambridge: Belknap, 1995, ISBN 0-674-78405-7
• Ziemke, Earl F. Battle For Berlin: End Of The Third Reich, NY:Ballantine Books, London:Macdomald & Co, 1969.

[edit] Further reading

• Hastings, Max; Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945, Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 0-333-90836-8
• Hillers, Marta; A Woman in Berlin: Six Weeks in the Conquered City Translated by Anthes Bell, ISBN 0-8050-7540-2
• Read, Anthony; The Fall of Berlin, London: Pimlico, 1993. ISBN 0-7126-0695-5
• Ryan, Cornelius; The Last Battle, ISBN 0-684-80329-1
• Sanders, Ian J. ; Photos of World War 2 Berlin Locations today
• Shepardson, Donald E.; "The Fall of Berlin and the Rise of a Myth", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 62, No. 1. (1998), pp. 135–153.
• Remme, Tilman; The Battle for Berlin in World War Two BBC article
• White, Osmar By the eyes of a war correspondent Alternative account of crimes against civilians

[edit] Footnotes