History of Berlin: Encyclopedia II - History of Berlin - The war comes to Berlin

History of Berlin - The war comes to Berlin

Allied bombardment of Berlin started in earnest in 1943, though an earlier raid for propaganda purposes had been conducted in 1940. Raids on German major cities grew in scope and raids of over 1,000 4-engined bombers were not uncommon by 1944. (On March 18, 1945 alone, for example, 1,250 American bombers attacked the city). In April 1945, the German capital was an obvious objective for Allied troops. In a controversial decision, General Eisenhower halted Anglo-American troops on the Elbe River. The whereabouts of Adolf Hitler were in doubt, and some (including Eisenhower's chief of staff, General Walter Bedell Smith) felt that the German government may in fact have moved to the Bavarian alps to establish a redoubt. German forces west of Berlin had - against Hitler's orders - established a corridor to the city free of major defensive works, but by mutual agreement, Berlin was earmarked for the Red Army, who converged on Berlin with several Fronts (the equivalent of Army Groups in the German and Anglo-American armies), intent on taking the city as its final prize. The Germans refused to surrender unconditionally, despite the inability of understrength and ill-equipped armies to prevent the fall of the city. Hitler remained in supreme command until April 30, 1945, when he committed suicide in the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery. Resistance did not end with Hitler's death, though most of the city was in Soviet hands by that point. On May 2, the city finally capitulated to the Soviet army. The Germans had undergone phenomenal suffering during Soviet operations on their soil, beginning with the first battles in East Prussia in the autumn of 1944. In particular, hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to rape by Soviet service personnel. The anonymous "A Woman in Berlin" (ISBN 1-844-08111-7) is a harrowing personal account of survival. The battle itself has been well chronicled; "The Fall of Berlin" by A Beevor (ISBN 0-670-03041-4) gives a detailed account with particular attention paid to civilian suffering. Cornelius Ryan also published an earlier book on the the fall of Berlin entitled "The Last Battle". Other books include "Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich" by Earl Ziemke (Ballantyne Books, 1968), "Berlin 1945: The Final Reckoning" by Karl Bahm (ISBN 0-760-31240-0) as well as books by After the Battle Magazine and the Osprey Campaign series.

Destruction of buildings and infrastructure was nearly total in parts of the inner city business and residential sectors. The outlying sections suffered relatively little damage. This averages to one fifth of all buildings (50% in the inner city) for overall Berlin.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The war comes to Berlin", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki