confrontation between the Anglo-Saxons and the USSR are not justified
The civilian population of Berlin and Soviet technology (SU-152)
Distribution of hot food to the inhabitants of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin. The beginning is April 16, 5 am. In the south – the troops of Marshal Konev, in the north – Rokossovsky, in the center – Zhukov. The most powerful artillery preparation, 1000 wagons of shells, did not have such an effect as before; who learned from the captured Soviet soldier the time of the assault, the German troops retreated to the second line of defense. Marshal Zhukov uses a hundred searchlights of air defense to blind the enemy and his night vision sights, but, according to eyewitnesses, in the continuous smoke and dust, there was not much benefit from them. The offensive stops at a number of hills surrounding the city of Seelov; they are protected by German units numbering 80,000 people, sheltered in bunkers, with 500 tanks and 2,500 guns. It took the effort of an additional two tank armies and Ilyushin storm troopers to take Seelow Heights, but this victory cost the Soviet Army 12,000 men and 500 tanks. From the south to Berlin, «as in the parade,» almost without resistance, troops of Marshal Konev are coming, from the north – Rokossovsky, in fact, the only Soviet marshal who really cares about soldiers’ lives. Desiring one to win the laurels of the winner, Zhukov does not allow them to participate in the assault of the German capital; besides, Konev’s armies have to repel the attacks of General Wenck’s 200,000th group hastily thrown from the Western Front. 36,000 tons of artillery shells fall on Berlin. Heavy tanks suppress firing points, passing through houses. Buildings are burning, their heat is boiling water in ponds and canals. The subway was flooded, by order of the Fuhrer, to avoid penetration into the rear of the Soviet troops, or from bombing, it is not known; 400 wounded, women and children are killed in the water. Soviet ground-attack aircraft and fighter planes masterfully pass through the streets of the capital (as well as to all the «straights» of other German cities), almost touching the wings of the walls of the building, hunting for the remaining resisting soldiers. Mighty air defense towers shine with searchlights on both sides, they let out into the sky the routes of shells, howling by sirens: thus dying dark, but majestic titan. May 1 – the beginning of negotiations that turned out to be unsuccessful, then the artillery preparation and storming of the Imperial Chancery, May 2 – surrender of the garrison of Berlin. The forces of the parties at the beginning of the operation: the USSR – 2.35 million people, 6,250 tanks, 7,500 aircraft, Poland – 156,000. Wehrmacht – 0, 85 million people, including Volkssturm and Hitler Youth, 1,500 tanks, 2,100 aircraft. Irrevocable losses: the USSR – 85 000 people, 2,000 tanks, 920 aircraft, Poland – 3000 people. Wehrmacht – 150,000 troops, 150,000 civilians, 300,000 prisoners, and all military equipment.
On May 2, before the half-destroyed Reichstag, the performance of Russian artists will take place. Speaker, in particular, Lydia Ruslanova, the voice of Russia. Georgy Zhukov removes from his chest the Order of the Red Star and hands the folk singer. Later, on the orders of Stalin, Ruslanov was arrested, knocking out the testimony of the Marshal of Victory, and, having achieved nothing, they were sent to the «ten» in the Magadan Region.
Who could speak here, now from the Anglo-Saxons, without a special link to the context and time, but in complete unison of the melody of everything that is happening now? Perhaps, the fighters of the Soviet Union would have listened to the modern Christina María Aguilera with the song Hurt.
The first act of surrendering Germany was signed on May 7, in the French city of Reims. Before that, the German leadership wanted to surrender only to the Allied forces, but the commander-in-chief, Dwight Eisenhower, withdrew the offer. The German side was represented by the Chief of Staff, General Jodl, who was commissioned by the Grand Admiral Dönitz (who became the Reich Chancellor of Germany), the British and American – Eisenhower, the USSR – a member of the Soviet mission, General Susloparov.
Susloparov made a written reservation, perhaps saving his life: «… this act should not preclude the possibility of signing another act at the request of one of the allied countries.» Stalin refused to accept such a document, insistently demanding that capitulation be accepted in the «den of the beast,» Berlin. The Allies had to yield. The repeated signing of the act took place in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, in the dining room of the former engineering school. D. Eisenhower sent his deputy, Marshal Tedder (Great Britain), the Soviet side was represented by K. Zhukov, the German side – the commander of the high command of the Wehrmacht V. Keitel. Time of surrender and cease-fire – May 8 23.01. Soviet citizens learned about the Victory from the message of Sovinformburo speaker Yu. Levitan at 22 hours on May 9.
Total losses of the parties: according to official data, the Wehrmacht lost 5.6 million people on the Eastern Front, with 6. 5 million on all fronts, the rest of the Axis countries about 1.6 million. Another 1, 1 million civilians killed during the Anglo-American carpet bombing (by 1945 all major cities in Germany turned to dust), the United States – 400,000, in all theaters of operations, Britain – 286,000 (civil and military), Poland – 5.5 million people. The losses of the USSR are 12.5 million servicemen, including 4 million people who died in German captivity. and 12—14 million people civilian population (near each occupied Soviet city or village there appeared ditches filled with bodies, on average 25% of the inhabitants were killed).
It should be taken into account that German commanders and historians tend to underestimate the number of losses in the «war with non-Germans», and the actual number of dead German soldiers on the Eastern Front, according to the calculation of demobilization resources, the ratio of the number of wounded and killed reaches 6.8 million.
On average, taking into account the number of dead servicemen of all countries that fought on the side of Germany, the ratio of human losses to Hitler’s Europe-USSR is 1: 1.4, for military equipment in comparable units – 1: 3.6 (including guns, aircraft and tanks, lost at the beginning of the war). If we take data from alternative sources, according to which 15 million Red Army soldiers died, this fraction is 1: 2. However, independent sources of a different kind show the same figure for the Wehrmacht, who at the end of the war replenished their ranks with old men for 65 years and 13-year-olds.
German captivity survived 1.5 – 1.7 million people (death rate 72%).
At the same time, 250,000 people (that is, every sixth) recognized by the GUGB of the NKVD, in particular by the counter-intelligence departments SMERSH, are guilty of anything, receive from 8 to 10 years of imprisonment. From the Nazi concentration camps, these people, who had been confused (most likely in the confused early part of the war), had already been encouraged by the meeting with their relatives, are moving to the Soviet camps.
It should be recognized that the Stalinist government completely refuses to cooperate in any way with the International Red Cross (ICC). Through this, of course, respectable, at all times, an international, neutral organization, it is entirely possible to send prisoners of war to prisoners of war; in particular, so necessary for the maintenance of life of glucose (sugar).
In one way or another, the Nazis cooperate with the IWC with respect to the Poles, the French, the British, and the Americans. We do not know how the government of Hitler would react to the proposals of Stalin sent through the ICC to feed the captured citizens of the USSR. There were simply no such proposals.
The appeals of other Axis countries, in particular Romania and Finland, to send food for the feeding of prisoners of war, also remain unanswered. It should be noted that the most
