Dr Gustav Hendrich

“Our soldiers have broken into Berlin” were the words of Soviet mayor-general Vladimir Antonov which reverberated through Soviet Russia and the world after their breakthrough into the city.

In defence of their capital, the Germans were determined to fight to the end, while the Russians would fight to liberate Europe from the shackles of Nazism. Yet, to the British historian, John Pimlott it was the epitome of an ideological clash, because “a victory [in Berlin] would symbolise more than just the winning of a battle – it would represent a triumph of one political ethic over another”.

With the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Berlin and end of the Second World War in Europe in May 1945, it is fitting to reflect on this final pivotal confrontation. The famed Soviet general of the Red Army, Georgi Zhukov described this battle as “one of the most difficult of the war”.

Retreat from Stalingrad

After the decisive battle of Stalingrad in 1943 the tide of the war turned irrevocably against Nazi-Germany. By April 1945 the Russians reached Berlin. Stalin ordered generals Zhukov and Ivan Koniev to take the city. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler decided to stand, believing the illusion that, “the Russian would fall before Berlin”. The retreating soldiers, veterans and young inexperienced recruits of the Volkssturm, or home army, would put up a fanatical resistance. Hundreds of artillery pieces, tanks, and boys carrying the Panzerfaust, or self-propelled rocket-launcher almost their size were bracing the Russian onslaught.

Armageddon at the Reichstag

On 14 April the Russians launched their offensive that broke through the inner-ring of German defenses. It was the most intense fighting imaginable. The Russian mayor, Anna Nikulina shared her eyewitness account: “the Battle of Berlin was extremely difficult. It had to be taken street by street, house by house, some of them nine or 10 stories high, and there were lots of those houses. The fascists held out on every floor, and also setup barricades on every street”.

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Reflecting on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Berlin: A pivotal moment in World War II