Week 296- The Battle of Berlin! - WW2 - April 27, 1945

yeah and they took M on the 26th eh M is in the south you've never heard of om but that's where that famous Baro composer is from who Yan bet py Devon aern gasn schlitter Chris cran Bron libre Digger dingle dangle dongle dungle burin vaugh Thrasher Apple Banger Horwitz tickle lensic grer naughty spell jingle gr Growl Meer spelter voser he bag gut and bitb BR see G and mitz Vine Maka Luba HF goba Alba sh and D C de hi hi ok, it's really reaching the limit in Europe now this

week

not only sees the Soviets and Western Allies come together but this

week

the fight for Hitler's capital is in full swing the

battle

for Berlin I'm Indie nidel this is World War II last week the fighting in okanawa continued although things They were difficult for the Americans.

The invaders, the British and Indians were advancing in Burma, the Japanese were in western Hunan, the Allies made a breakthrough in Italy, they were advancing everywhere on the Western Front and more than 300,000 Germans surrendered. in the RAR and in the east, the Soviet advance moved ever closer to Berlin. and Adolf Hitler As this week begins, the people of Berlin hide in crowded bunkers as the Soviets rain more and more shells on the city. The forces of Gori Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front are trying to storm directly into the city from the northeast. A Soviet tank regiment has broken through. in visen Z opening a route for the entire tank core to advance even as other units move to flank Berlin from the north, all armies attacking the city are reorganizing on the 21st into

battle

groups and assault groups to prepare for the upcoming street fighting groups. often as small as companies but with a few 76mm guns a few tanks or self-propelled guns a few sappers a platoon of flamethrowers used extensively for fumigating bunkers and other strongpoints as the day progresses shab units advance in the north and northwest but in fact, they are controlled in the east, as Ivan KV, the first Ukrainian front heading towards Berlin from the south, its advance cuts off the German army group Vistula, moving away from army group Center, the center armor captures SAA on the 21st, this is the German command headquarters, the phones are still ringing, but the German officers have already left on the afternoon of the 21st, both Pav Ralco's third tank army and Demitri Leno's room have cut off Rob's ring and are within striking distance of Berlin's southern defenses on the 21st Hitler orders Felix Steiner to destroy zov. front with a newly formed Army Detachment Steiner attacking from EOS Valder but Steiner refuses to attack.

He can round up a dozen old captured French tanks, some real soldiers, some Hitler Youth Luft bafa ground staff and CS Marin dock workers, but that's it, it's not like that. so much so that he refuses to attack, although he does not even have command of this Force with a couple of those divisions already at the front, the next day Hitler discovers that Steiner has not launched his attack and Hitler explodes to the astonishment of his entourage. Hitler declared the war lost and lost his own life. His destiny was to remain in Berlin and, if necessary, end his life with a pistol shot and announced his intention to spread the fact that he is fine.

Chief of Operations Alfred Yodel, who points out that a dead man leaves an army without a leader and also that you know there are still forces available like Valter Van's 12th Army on Elba, facing west. Hitler orders Van's army to turn east and join up with Teodor Bus's 9th Army and relieve the city on the 22nd, although there. There are five Soviet rifle armies and four Soviet tank armies attacking Berlin now from all sides and the noose is tightening, however, the Soviets realize that any idea of ​​taking the city out of the March is pure fantasy and the fighting street will have to be the 9th guard tank court unit.

Around the north of the city it crosses the Haval Canal and settles east of Henningsdorf cutting an escape route out of the city to the west. They are now in position to attack south towards Pdam and join up with Kev's forces. Runo's tanks break. towards the southern suburbs litz and Maran felda are only 12 km from vasel chuikov's guard army of the zov front fighting in the eastern suburbs far back on the flank of CV cotus finally falls on the 22nd bottling up the southern germans both Hitler and Stalin leaned over their maps at this critical juncture of the Battle of Berlin, although the contrast in their approach to reality was their own cruel commentary Hitler manipulating Phantom Forces and decimated divisions Stalin and the stavka calmly supervising the movement of twenty After twenty divisions, massive artillery batteries and huge columns of tanks just after midnight that night, Stalin issues an order establishing a defined boundary in Berlin between the 1st Russian B Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front.

It runs from Luben, where the old line ended through Mariendorf and then to the city via the Anal Bonhof Kev front. It is thus isolated from the dog of the Reich whose capture will actually symbolize the capture of the city and the defeat of Germany. This will go to Zukov although the border will not come into effect until 6:00 a.m. m. Kev's right is fighting everywhere south of the city and his center and left are heading towards the commonwealth. Ralo's tanks are now on the banks of the Tech Loov canal waiting for the big guns to be brought in to crush the large number of enemy positions on the other side it brings. 650 guns per kilometer of the attack front are needed to do the job on the 23rd.

More and more Soviet forces approach the Spree preparing the assault. Crossings Chuikov's army begins to cross that afternoon and the two fronts are even closer to uniting in the southeastern suburbs of Berlin on the night of the 24th Chuikov receives a call from Zukov wondering about the news he has been hearing that the forces of CV are also in town Chuikov says his units have been in contact with Pavo front rebels Kev Zukov is skeptical but then Ralco shows up in person at Chuikov's headquarters and then calls Zukov, which is quite proof Good thing Kev's forces are also in the city.

This contact completes the ninth army's total encirclement outside the city and the larger outer ring is closing and the battle was lost. They would have surrendered had it not been for a man who aged prematurely, paralyzed and buried 20 feet from the Earth and without cement, out of sight and sound of the destruction that was coming upon him, demanded and obtained absolute obedience. Berlin was not Stalingrad; could resist through fanaticism and terror. for a few days no more than noon on the 25th, the first Ukrainian front and the first Russian front Beller join in Keten and the siege of Berlin is complete, but well, on the 25th the Soviets also join with the American troops in the Elba cutting Germany in two conia. informs Stalin that this happens at 1:30 near STA and his units of the 58th Guards Rifle Division of the 5th Guards Army meet a reconnaissance group of the 69th Infantry Division of the fifth corps of the first army, although there is another link this day near Toral about 30 km north of Stala, so the official connection is held at 4:40 in the afternoon on the 25th, the telephone lines with Berlin are cut and incoming and outgoing German communications are now in shortwave line of sight.

Transmissions from a balloon near the Okw Valter headquarters. V's 12th Army has two Panzer cores and two Army Corps, so even if they are battered they are a force to be reckoned with and KV must not only prevent them from reaching Berlin, but he and Zukov must eliminate the Remnants of the 9th and 4th Panzer armies surrounded. southeast of Berlin, but they want to escape and get to Venk, which is like 200,000 men with maybe 300 tanks and 2,000 big guns and the Five Armies of the two fronts that surround them have like 275,000 men, 280 tanks and self-propelled guns, but more than 7,000 large guns on On the 25th both sides give orders for the great battle that will soon take place there at 8:00 a.m. m.

The 26th begins with the Germans attacking for the first time near Halba and within a couple of hours they have cut off the main road to Barut Saen, the supply route for Kev. forces in Berlin, however, the Soviets resist and managed to push the Germans towards Circle V. Circle V attacks towards Berlin on the 26th slow down. KV has the idea that he might be going through the motions, in reality Venk doesn't think he can do much more than Instead of pushing a wedge into Berlin to allow people to escape, as for Hitler in his bunker, he's suddenly worried.

That the Ninth Army's attacks will move it westward beyond Berlin, something Army Group Commander Gothard Henritzi said last week could be an option. Hitler has ordered them. To get to Wards, the city, Steiner is taking a lot of time north of the city, but he can't manage much more than the small attacks he has been making. Ferdinand Sher's Army Group Center attacks to reach the 9th Army from the south stop 60 km away. He and H van Manel's Third Panzer Army in the north are now in grave danger from Constantine Rosovsky. Bellow's second Russian offensive. Remember last week when they unsuccessfully attacked well 20.

Now they have five army corps and two tank corps. about the smell of the west on the Paval Bov bridge. Rosovsky's orders to surround Berlin from the north are canceled on the 23rd by Stalin, as Zukov is already doing so. Now Rosovsky is supposed to drive west and also take steton and he comes to it by taking steton and breaking up. across Manel's front and reaching the ROV Manel knows that he can't last more than another day or two. Rosovsky moves to surround it from the south and southwest and completely cut it off from Berlin. The head of his army group, Henritzi, is aware of this and authorizes Menel to retreat against all Hitler's orders back to Berlin on the 26th.

Almost half a million Soviet troops, 1,500 tanks and self-propelled guns. 21,000 rocket launchers and 12,700 large guns and mortars prepare for the final assault on the center of Berlin. Civilian casualties are coming. By now, a staggering number of both tank armies have crossed the tlav. Ralco clears steglitz and schandorf. Chuikov's army also forces the tlav and heads to templehof. The Soviets do not know if Hitler has any escape plans, so they plan to deny him this airfield on the 26th. The runways and airport buildings fall into the hands of Chuikov's forces today, as the week ends, the Germans still control a Berlin strip of about 15 km from east to west and perhaps six from north to south in his bunker.

Hitler receives indications that Ven's army is approaching Potam, which is still holding out, and to the north of the city, the Rosovsky Front begins to advance westward, taking Prenzlau and Angam Munda even as Manel's army retreats toward the Western Allies. . Steiner doesn't even bother to follow Hitler's orders to help the city, he and Manto just want to save the lives of their men. an hour and a half before midnight manoel called the army group and reported that half of his divisions and artillery had stopped fighting and 100,000 men were fleeing west he had not seen anything like it even in 1918 hundreds of officers would be needed to stop it, the war was over, the soldiers had spoken, there is also politicking and mixing of nations in the German command this week on the 23rd Herman Garing sends a message to Hitler in the bunker asking to be named Hitler's successor, he says that if he does not receive a response before At 10 p.m. he will assume that Hitler is out of combat and assume command of the Reich.

Hitler, angry, strips him of all positions on June 24. Himler ignores Hitler's orders and makes a secret surrender offer to the Allies as long as the Red Army is not involved. rejected when Hitler finds out about the betrayal he will order Himler to be shot that will happen tomorrow this contact actually already occurs on the 22nd with Himler meeting with the Swedish Count Bernad of the Red Cross giving him a message offering a surrender to the British and Americans is on the 24th the allies receive the message that today the 27th categorically reject these events. Well, all this kind of stuff is covered in a lot more depth in an episode that's coming out in 3 days, another regular episode in 3 days, on April 30, and Sparty and I co-present that together and it covers in depth what's happening in the bunker, there is fighting right there.

Elsewhere on the Eastern Front this week in East Prussia. Alexander Vasileski launches the 11th Guards Army to try to finally overwhelm the fanatical German defenses of the Samand group in pilot six. Long, bloody days followed that cost both sides dearly before the fighting ceased amid the piles of shattered equipment and the litter of corpses strewn across the Sands and piled up in the pine forests, the lastspasm of 105 days of ferocity of carnage and almost incessant bombardment. which had sustained the East Prussian campaign on the 25th finally falls The fourth offensive of Andre Yo's Ukrainian front continues this week in Czechoslovakia finally taking opava on the 22nd and attacking Moravian Ostrava from the 26th although the city resists as the week ends Falon Malinowski's Second Ukrainian Front is also on the move in Czechoslovakia this week targeting Berau.

They launch their attacks on the morning of the 23rd and commit their reserves as early as the 24th. They suffer a lot of damage, but on the 26th they are clearing the city after blocking any escape to both the North and West, so the powerful defenses in that region have finally been cracked and both the second and fourth Ukrainian fronts set their sights on Olot. Advances in the West continue although, as I said, the West actually meets the East this week on the 22nd. Army units cross the Danu at Dingan on the 24th the 1st US Army takes Desau in the commonwealth the 2nd British Army begins attack near Breman in the south The seventh army takes on the 26th the British take Breman the third American army takes Rensburg and other units of that army enter Austria that same day the first French army arrives at Lake Constant.

There are also big allied advances this week in Italy. The emergence of the 10th Mountain Division into the Po Valley was the beginning of the end for Vermont in Italy. In fact, everywhere along the line. The Allies advance both the Fifth and Eighth Armies the wheels have fallen off the German defenses on the 21st the Second Polish Corps takes Bologna at this time Once the units of the Fifth Army have reached the Lombard plain Modena Falls on the 22nd the day 24th both the Fifth and Eighth Armies are crossing the Po River Ferrara Falls now that the Allies are finally in open ground the Germans can't even stop them on the 25th Manua and Parma are liberated the 88th Division wins a 16-hour race to defeat the 85th to liberate Verona from there it goes to Venza and to the Alps the Germans begin to surrender en masse there are partisan uprisings in Milan and Genoa 26 units of the Fifth Army head for Brener's past and even towards Milan the 8th army heads to Venice and Trieste on the 27th Genoa is actually liberated on the 25th with the imminent collapse of its puppet government Bonito musolini and his lover head to Switzerland where they will try to capture a plane for Spain, they are captured by partisans today the 27th When the news spreads, telegrams arrive from the Allied command asking that Musolini be handed over to them.

This is under the terms of the armistice of September 1943, but it does not seem that this is going to happen and things look dark for Bonito Musolini. The allies are also advancing to the other side of the world in Burma Bill Slim's 14th Army gets a bonus starting in mid-April as pro-British Kons rebel against the Japanese, suddenly there are thousands of ruthless guerrilla warriors harassing the Japanese everywhere in this At the moment near Rangoon, in southern Burma, the Japanese are generally beginning to withdraw through Pegu, so they will be able to reach Thailand if the Allied advance continues to be reduced.

Before Operation Dracula, an airborne amphibious assault may do so first, which is scheduled for May 5, but was moved to second due to a poor weather forecast for after that day, so this week the divisions begin of Frank Messer's 4th Corps have about 320. km to cover in 11 days to win the race Slim launches the Caren gorillas at the enemy along the road to tangu, which would normally be a tough nut to crack for them, they launch Ambush after Ambush, this is part of the character operation you really need. A good book was written on how to disorganize and weaken the Japanese and after covering 80 km in 3 days, the 5th Division leading the 4th Corps enters the city on the 22nd, the next day, 45 km south in PE, they received the formal surrender of Chandra's first division.

Bose's Indian National Army, who have been fighting the Japanese but have decided it is a hopeless cause, on the 24th, the 5th are penu another 30 km to the south, but they are exhausted, so the 17th Division It passes through them and heads to Dau on the 26th. They have 120. There are still kilometers until May 2, but as the week ends things get complicated. Japanese commander Haaro Kimura decides that a defense at Rangoon is not feasible, so he will defend at Pegu and today the 27th 17th Division is busy clearing minefields and fighting suicide squads before. They may even think about resuming their advance in China.

The Japanese have launched an invasion of Western Honan. The basic objectives are to capture or neutralize the Xiang airfield near Hua, which is not only a base for American bombers, but the American and Chinese aircraft flying from there give the Allies local air superiority. They also want to secure the Hunan railways. Gangi and guanga Hana now in March started building roads between xiaoyang and hangyang and shangan and storing all kinds of supplies in xiaoyang earlier this month isher obanai 20th core 880,000 strong was based there and it is only 100 km from the base air, although the Japanese are losing in Burma and are constantly harassed in the Chinese countryside, so there are really no reserves for this operation that can be deployed, that is partly a result of success.

The Ishigo offensive that unfolded in the second half of last year took eastern Hunan and Henan and gave the Japanese a north-south corridor through China. It also gave them much more territory to be harassed and a weakened army in China to fight with. It also didn't help logistics much, since with the severe lack of fuel and only one train this month from Wuhan to Guanga, the Japanese mainly go from one place to another on foot, whereas since the Burma and Leo roads were reopened , the Chinese have brought in about 50,000 tons of oil and gas and enough supplies to re-equip a couple dozen divisions, the Chinese are already planning a serious counteroffensive on Honan.

The Japanese have been advancing for the last 10 days or so in multiple columns, taking ground fairly easily in Hunan, taking the brilliant The 16th Donga, the 26th and their General advance, but the Chinese have over 100,000 men in 20th division supported by about 400 aircraft and their counterattack is about to begin. The allies have had mixed luck this week in the Philippines and on Okanawa with the 22nd 31st Infantry Division. lands in Moro Gulf at Mindo joining the 24th Division which landed last week and advanced inland almost reaching Kabacan on Luzon on the 23rd. Units of the 37th Division finally reached the outskirts of Bagio and they released him today, when the week ends.

I know that in the past month or so I haven't talked much about the fight for the Philippines, which is very active in several places, but lately with the Battle of Berlin and the German collapse in Europe taking priority, I haven't had time to delve into it. . I'll make it up to you in a few weeks and we'll back off a bit as for Okanawa, the American attacks on the Japanese shuri defense line that began last week will finally make at least some progress this week. Kakazu Ridge was eventually surpassed as was Nishar Ridge. but the Japanese are holding back the entire three divisions of the 24th Corps quite well.

An American task force made up of reserves invaded the Kakazu pocket on the 24th, but that is because the Japanese have withdrawn and they themselves lose a good opportunity for a counterattack, although since the Americans have no more reserves, they have all been committed and here are some notes to end the week on the 21st a treaty of mutual assistance is signed between the Soviets and the Polish government in Lublin Donald Somerville writes this is a further indication that Stalin will not be scrupulous about his Yalta promises to organize free elections and political processes in Eastern Europe on the 25th a conference begins in San Francisco to draft a constitution for the United Nations organization the conference will last many weeks on the 26th Philip Pon is arrested when crossing the border from Switzerland into France he will face a trial for treason and collaboration he was Head of State of the French government vishi after France fell to Germany in 1940 and that is the week in which a great advance in Italy advances in Burma and the Germans seem to collapse on all fronts in Europe simultaneously the battle being fought over Berlin Germany cut in two turning a two front war into something more here's a point about that from Robert Satino in The Vero's Last Stand the two fronts The war had long been the planning of the German strategic nightmare to avoid one and fighting one successfully if necessary was the basis of the German style of war fighting on interior lines taking advantage of the central position fighting Bon's C these were the keys to German success the German planners had not simply chosen those methods among the men of options surrounded on all sides Prussia Germany had to make a virtue of necessity.

German commanders had to identify the most dangerous enemy pressing them, concentrate against them, and leave other, less threatened portions of the front weak. A two-front war could under the right circumstances become a manageable series of one-front wars, but if that approach fails, what is Plan B? What happens if you crush an enemy's army and they still don't reach an agreement or if all these enemies offer each other support even tons of material support? What if they coordinate well enough to launch offensives against your weak points or they attack all at the same time everywhere or they have a huge aerial advantage that makes you IM mobile because that's what Germany has been facing lately increasingly compressed? air cover and little fuel men and boys now in uniform who clearly have no business being in uniform and now the two fronts have become one.

I also read this anecdote in satin in February, people in Berlin were joking, you know what would be practical if you could just take the link from the eastern to the western front. Now there is a new variant. You know, what would be practical if you could run from the eastern front to the western front. Well, a bunch of German soldiers are about to find out whether or not that's true, the Italian front is collapsing and Musolini is on the run and hey, if you want to see what Musolini was doing 10 years ago, here's an episode of between two wars of our ghost of time History Channel about the second Italo-Abyssinian war, our ghost of time.

Army Member of the Week is Martin Jowers. It's the Army, Martin Jowers, it's the world that funds all our content, so for more great stuff like this, join the Army on time.tv or patreon.com, don't forget to subscribe, see you around. The next time will be in three days. See you in three days.