Ours took Berlin three times. On October 9, 1760, during the Seven Years War (1756-1763), Russian troops under the command of Major General Count Gottlieb-Heinrich Totleben entered the capital of the then Prussia for the first time. The second time Berlin submitted to us was in February 1813 during the war with Napoleon. In April 1945, Berlin was to be taken by the forces of the Red Army.
Was it necessary to storm Berlin?
Marshal V. I. Chuikov believed that Soviet troops could have taken Berlin as early as February 1945. This would save hundreds of thousands of lives of our soldiers and officers. However, Marshal G. K. Zhukov judged differently: the troops were tired, and the rear was behind. Therefore, there will be no offensive on Berlin.
The Americans and the British, having calculated the possible losses, refused to storm the capital of Nazi Germany.
During the Berlin operation, the total number of killed and wounded Soviet soldiers and officers amounted to 352,475 people, the loss of two Polish armies - 8,892 people.
Socialist marshal competition
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Berlin was doomed, but the Soviet command decided to take it by storm. The offensive went from two sides: from the northeast - the 1st Belorussian Front of Marshal G. K. Zhukov, from the southwest - the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal I. S. Konev.
The two marshals, abandoning the plan to encircle the city, tried to get ahead of each other. According to the original plan, one half of Berlin was part of the Zhukov war zone, the other half of Konev.
On April 16, the Belorussian Front went on the offensive and left 80 thousand dead at the Seelow Heights. On April 18, the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Spree River on the move. And on April 20, Marshal Konev ordered the tankmen: "Be sure to break into Berlin first tonight!" And immediately Zhukov turned to his people: "No later than four o'clock in the morning on April 21, at any cost, break through to the outskirts of Berlin and immediately report the results to Comrade Stalin for a report." At any price!
And in the lines of the advancing infantrymen, due to the inconsistency of the actions of the two fronts, the soldiers died from their own fire. The "competition" ended in favor of Zhukov.
Gratitude announced in advance
For the troops storming the Reichstag, the staff of the 3rd Shock Army prepared in advance nine Victory banners at once - according to the number of divisions. One of these banners (No. 5) was transferred to the 150th division (commanded by Major General V. M. Shatilov), which fought the main battles on the approaches to the Reichstag. This banner was destined to fly over the building of the German Bundestag.
On April 30, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the division receives a secret order from Marshal Zhukov, in which gratitude was announced to the troops that had hoisted the Victory Banner. As if in advance. And before the Reichstag, by the way, it was necessary to overcome the Royal Square with a width of almost 300 meters, which was shot from all sides.
The first attempt gave nothing. But the most striking thing is that the secret order of the marshal indicated the exact time of hoisting the Soviet flag: 14:25 on April 30, 1945!
300 meters - in seven hours
And then V. M. Shatilov ordered the regimental commanders to take all measures and at any cost to plant a flag or at least a flag on the column of the front door of the Reichstag. Perhaps division commander Shatilov feared that another division commander - A. Negoda (171st division) - would not report before him about the capture of the Reichstag. And he reported about hoisting the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. The front commanders competed for Berlin, the division commander for the Reichstag.
Fulfilling the order, desperate lone volunteers with homemade flags of red teak German feather beds rushed to the Reichstag. Usually, during hostilities, they first capture the main point, and only then hoist their flag. Here everything was the other way around.
The task of hoisting an assault flag on the Reichstag building was given to the platoon commander of the 674th regiment (commander - Lt. Col. A. Plekhodanov) Lieutenant R. Koshkarbaev, who distinguished himself in the capture of "Himmler's house". To accomplish the task, he was given a group of soldiers from the reconnaissance company of Senior Lieutenant S. Sorokin.
Lieutenant R. Koshkarbaev and Corporal G. Bulatov slowly moved along the square under heavy fire and only in the evening found themselves on the marble steps of the Reichstag! It took them more than seven hours to overcome the Royal Square! Koshkarbayev pulled out a flag from under his tunic, Bulatov stood on his shoulders. And then a red piece of matter flashed on the gray wall of the building!
They were the first
So, the first to reach the Reichstag at 18 hours 30 minutes on April 30, 1945 were two soldiers of the 674th regiment R. Koshkarbaev and G. Bulatov.
Stormed the Reichstag and S. Neustroev's battalion of the 756th regiment of the same 150th division. Three attacks were unsuccessful. The fourth attempt to storm the Reichstag was a success. The deputy commander of the regiment, Major Sokolovsky, with two soldiers made his way to the building, and there he fell into the arms of Koshkarbaev and Bulatov.
However, there is information that Private Pyotr Pyatnitsky, the commander of Neustroev's commander, was the first to run in with a flag on the steps of the Reichstag, but was immediately killed. And he tied the flag to one of the columns, as Neustroev later testified, Pyotr Shcherbina, also a private. But was he the first ?!
The command did not want to recognize the superiority of Koshkarbaev and Bulatov. And by seven o'clock in the evening, the Reichstag already had hundreds of soldiers from both regiments of the 150th division. After breaking down the front door, they rushed into the building and engaged in a furious firefight with the desperately resisting fascists.
Egorov and Kantaria
By evening, the commander of the 756th regiment, Colonel F. Zinchenko, arrived in the Reichstag. Congratulating the soldiers and officers on the seizure of the building, he ordered the delivery of banner No. 5 from the regiment headquarters to hoist it over the dome. Apparently, Zinchenko ordered to select two future Heroes of the Soviet Union to hoist the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. They were Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria. Of course, Russians and Georgians were supposed to hoist the Victory Banner.
At about 9:30 pm, they made their way to the roof of the building and first reinforced the banner on the pediment, above the main entrance. And then, having received the appropriate order, under fire, risking a breakdown, we climbed up the ribs of the broken dome and hoisted the symbol of victory there. And it was about one in the morning, strictly speaking - already on May 1. This is the official version of the hoisting of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.
Researchers have doubts
But this version, according to the historian A. Sychev, does not correspond to reality. On the basis of archival materials and personal meetings with the participants in the storming of the Reichstag, he established that there was another home-made Victory Banner, which belonged to the group of S. Sorokin. This banner after 6 pm on the sculptural group above the main entrance to the Reichstag was hoisted by scouts of the 674th regiment G. Bulatov and V. Provatorov. Thus, the Victory Banner ascended over the Reichstag at about 19 hours. It was the first banner to appear over the Reichstag, and within a few hours - the only one. Archival documents of the 674th regiment confirm this.
And in the documents of the 756th regiment about the storming of the Reichstag and hoisting the banner over it by Yegorov and Kantaria, there are contradictions. For example, the time for hoisting the banner is indicated in different ways - either the evening of April 29, then the 30th. By the way, the scouts of S. Sorokin's group were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union immediately after the storming of the Reichstag. Their feat was described in detail in the award lists signed by the corps command, but they did not receive the Hero Stars. Because together with Egorov he was “appointed” to become the Hero of Kantaria, and no more heroes hoisting the Victory Banner were required.
It turns out that G. Bulatov and V. Provatorov were the first to hoist the banner over the pediment of the Reichstag. And on the dome of the Reichstag - Yegorov and Kantaria under the leadership of the political commander of the battalion Alexei Berest. The fighters took off the assault flag of Koshkarbaev and Bulatov and divided the shreds from it for memory.
Victory Parade without the main symbol
Unfortunately, there was no Victory symbol at the historical parade on June 24, 1945! The famous group was removed during the dress rehearsal. The combined front regiments had been preparing for the Victory Parade for a whole month, and the heroes of the storming of the Reichstag arrived just two days before it was held. Rokossovsky commanded the parade, Zhukov received him.
During the rehearsal, the parade was started by three: S. Neustroev with the Banner of Victory in his hands, and on the sides Egorov and Kantaria. When the military march rang out, Neustroev had the hardest time. At 22, he was almost disabled due to wounds received at the front. Just before the podium, he suddenly knocked off his feet, began to tremble, stopped and saw that he was far away from the consolidated regiment marching behind him. A colonel ran up to him and said: "Marshal Zhukov ordered - neither the banner nor the standard-bearers will be released tomorrow at the parade!"
Today, the homemade Victory Banner, sewn from two pieces of thin matter, is in perpetual storage in the Museum of the Russian Armed Forces. We hope that on May 9 he will be carried across Red Square.
Valentin Dubin. Secrets of the 20th century magazine