1945, units of the Red Army launched an assault on the Reichstag. French SS - the last defenders of the Reichstag

Everyone heard about the capture of the Reichstag by Soviet soldiers. But what do we really know about him? We will talk about who was sent against the Red Army, how they searched for the Reichstag and how many banners there were.

Who goes to Berlin

Those who wanted to take Berlin in the Red Army were more than enough. Moreover, if for the commanders - Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky it was, among other things, a matter of prestige, then for ordinary soldiers who were already "one foot at home" is another terrible fight. Participants in the assault will remember it as one of the most difficult battles of the war.

Nevertheless, the idea that their detachment would be sent to Berlin in April 1944 could only cause jubilation among the soldiers. The author of the book: "Who Took the Reichstag: Heroes by Default", Yamskoy N. talks about how they were waiting for a decision on the composition of the offensive troops in the 756th regiment:

“Officers gathered at the headquarters dugout. Neustroev burned with impatience, offering to send someone for Major Kazakov, who was supposed to arrive with the results of the decision. One of the officers joked: “What are you, Stepan, spinning around in place? Take off your boots - and go! During the time that you run back and forth, already, go, you would be near Berlin!”

Soon the cheerful and smiling Major Kazakov returned. And it became clear to everyone: we are going to Berlin!”

Attitude

Why was it so important to take the Reichstag and hoist a banner on it? This is the building where since 1919 the highest Legislature Germany, during the years of the Third Reich, de facto, did not play any role. All legislative functions were performed in the Krol-Opera, the building opposite. However, for the Nazis, this is not just a building, not just a fortress. For them it was last hope, the capture of which would demoralize the army. Therefore, during the storming of Berlin, the command focused precisely on the Reichstag. Hence Zhukov's order to the 171st and 150th divisions, which promised gratitude and government awards to those who set a red flag over a gray, unsightly and half-ruined building.
Moreover, its installation was a paramount task.

“If our people are not in the Reichstag and a banner is not installed there, then take all measures at any cost to hoist a flag or a flag at least on the column of the main entrance. At any price!"

- was an order from Zinchenko. That is, the banner of victory should have been installed even before the actual capture of the Reichstag. According to eyewitnesses, when trying to fulfill the order and install a banner on the building still defended by the Germans, many “lone volunteers, bravest people”, but this is what made the act of Kantaria and Yegorov heroic.

"Sailors of the SS Special Forces"

Even as the Red Army advanced towards Berlin, when the outcome of the war became obvious, Hitler either panicked or wounded pride played a role, but he issued several orders, the essence of which was that all of Germany should perish along with the defeat of the Reich. The "Nero" plan was carried out, which meant the destruction of all cultural property on the territory of the state, the evacuation of residents was difficult. Subsequently, the high command will utter the key phrase: "Berlin will defend itself to the last German."

So, for the most part, it didn't matter who they sent to their deaths. So, in order to detain the Red Army at the Moltke bridge, Hitler transferred to Berlin "sailors of the detachment special purpose SS”, who were ordered to delay the advance of our troops to government buildings at all costs.

They turned out to be sixteen year old boys, yesterday's cadets of the naval school from the city of Rostock. Hitler spoke to them, calling them heroes and the hope of the nation. His order itself is interesting: “to throw back a small group of Russians that broke through to this bank of the Spree and prevent it from reaching the Reichstag. It takes quite a bit to hold on. Soon you will receive new weapons of great power and new planes. Wenck's army approaches from the south. The Russians will not only be driven out of Berlin, but also driven back to Moscow.”

Did Hitler know about the real number of "a small group of Russians" and about the state of affairs when he gave the order? What did he expect? At that time, it was obvious that for an effective battle with Soviet soldiers, a whole army was needed, and not 500 young boys who did not know how to fight. Perhaps Hitler expected positive results from separate negotiations with the allies of the USSR. But the question of what secret weapon was discussed, and hung in the air. One way or another, hopes were not justified, and many young fanatics died without benefiting their homeland.

Where is the Reichstag?

During the assault, there were incidents. On the eve of the offensive, at night it turned out that the attackers did not know what the Reichstag looked like, and even more so, where it was located.

This is how the battalion commander, Neustroev, who was ordered to storm the Reichstag, described this situation: “The colonel orders:

"Come out quickly to the Reichstag!". I hang up. Zinchenko's voice still sounds in my ears. And where is he, the Reichstag? The devil knows! It's dark and deserted ahead."

Zinchenko, in turn, reported to General Shatilov: “Neustroev’s battalion took up its starting position in the semi-basement of the southeastern part of the building. Only now some house interferes with him - the Reichstag closes. We will bypass it on the right. " He replies in bewilderment: "What other house? crawl opera? But he should be on the right from the "Himmler's house". There can be no building in front of the Reichstag ... ".

However, the building was Squat in two and a half floors with towers and a dome at the top. Behind him, two hundred meters away, could be seen the outlines of a huge, twelve-story house, which Neustovev mistook for ultimate goal. But the gray building, which they decided to bypass, was suddenly met with advancing solid fire.

It is rightly said that one head is good, but two is better. The mystery of the location of the Reichstag was resolved upon arrival at Neustroev Zinchenko. As the commander himself describes:

“Zinchenko looked at the square, and at the hidden gray building. And then, without turning around, he asked: "So what's stopping you from going to the Reichstag?" "This is a low building," I replied. "So this is the Reichstag!"

Battles for rooms

How was the Reichstag taken? Plain reference literature does not go into details, describing the assault as a one-day “attack” by Soviet soldiers on a building, which, under this pressure, was just as quickly surrendered by its garrison. However, things were different. The building was defended by selected SS units, which had nothing more to lose. And they had an advantage. They were well aware of its plan and the layout of all its 500 rooms. Unlike the Soviet soldiers, who had no idea what the Reichstag looked like. As the private of the third company I.V. Mayorov said: “We knew practically nothing about the internal location. And this made it very difficult to fight with the enemy. In addition, from the continuous automatic and machine-gun fire, explosions of grenades and faustpatrons in the Reichstag, such smoke and dust from the plaster rose that, mixing, they obscured everything, hung in the rooms with an impenetrable veil - nothing is visible, as in the dark. One can judge how difficult the assault was, that the Soviet command set the task on the first day to capture at least 15-10 rooms out of the 500 mentioned.

How many flags were

The historical banner hoisted on the roof of the Reichstag was assault flag 150th Infantry Division of the Third Shock Army, installed by Sergeant Yegorov and Kantaria. But it was far from the only red flag over the German parliament. The desire to reach Berlin and set the Soviet flag over the defeated enemy lair of the Nazis was dreamed of by many, regardless of the order of the command and the promise of the title of "Hero of the USSR". However, the latter was another useful incentive.

According to eyewitnesses, there were neither two, nor three, nor even five victory banners on the Reichstag. The whole building literally "blushed" from Soviet flags, both homemade and official ones. According to experts, there were about 20 of them, some were shot down during the bombing. The first was set up by senior sergeant Ivan Lysenko, whose detachment built a banner from a mattress of red matter. Ivan Lysenko's award list reads:

“April 30, 1945 at 2 p.m. Comrade. Lysenko was the first to break into the Reichstag building, exterminated more than 20 German soldiers with grenade fire, reached the second floor and hoisted the banner of victory. For his heroism and courage in battle, he deserves the title of Hero Soviet Union».

Moreover, his detachment fulfilled its main task at the same time - to cover the standard-bearers, who were instructed to hoist the victorious banners on the Reichstag.

In general, each detachment dreamed of setting its own flag on the Reichstag. With this dream, the soldiers went all this way to Berlin, each kilometer of which cost lives. Therefore, is it really so important whose banner was the first, and whose "official". All of them were equally important.

The fate of autographs

Those who failed to hoist the banner left reminders of themselves on the walls of the taken building. As eyewitnesses describe: all the columns and walls at the entrance to the Reichstag were covered with inscriptions in which the soldiers expressed feelings of joy of victory. They wrote to everyone - with paints, charcoal, a bayonet, a nail, a knife:

“The shortest way to Moscow is through Berlin!”

“And we girls were here. Glory Soviet soldier!"; “We are from Leningrad, Petrov, Kryuchkov”; “Know ours. Siberians Pushchin, Petlin"; "We are in the Reichstag"; "I walked with the name of Lenin"; "From Stalingrad to Berlin"; "Moscow - Stalingrad - Orel - Warsaw - Berlin"; "Got to Berlin."

Some of the autographs have survived to this day - their preservation was one of the main requirements for the restoration of the Reichstag. However, today their fate is often called into question. So, in 2002, representatives of the conservatives Johannes Singhammer and Horst Günther proposed to destroy them, arguing that the inscriptions "aggravate modern Russian-German relations."

Who goes to Berlin

Those who wanted to take Berlin in the Red Army were more than enough. Moreover, if for the commanders - Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky, this was also a matter of prestige, then for ordinary soldiers who were already "one foot at home" this was another terrible battle. Participants in the assault will remember it as one of the most difficult battles of the war.

Soon the cheerful and smiling Major Kazakov returned. And it became clear to everyone: we are going to Berlin!”

Attitude

Why was it so important to take the Reichstag and hoist a banner on it? This building, where the highest legislative body of Germany sat since 1919, during the years of the Third Reich, de facto, did not play any role. All legislative functions were performed in the Krol-Opera, the building opposite. However, for the Nazis, this is not just a building, not just a fortress. For them, this was the last hope, the capture of which would demoralize the army. Therefore, during the storming of Berlin, the command focused precisely on the Reichstag. Hence Zhukov's order to the 171st and 150th divisions, which promised gratitude and government awards to those who set a red flag over a gray, unsightly and half-ruined building.
Moreover, its installation was a paramount task.

“If our people are not in the Reichstag and a banner is not installed there, then take all measures at any cost to hoist a flag or a flag at least on the column of the main entrance. At any price!"

- was an order from Zinchenko. That is, the banner of victory should have been installed even before the actual capture of the Reichstag. According to eyewitnesses, when trying to fulfill the order and install a banner on the building still defended by the Germans, many “lone volunteers, the bravest people” died, but this is what made the act of Kantaria and Yegorov heroic.

"Sailors of the SS Special Forces"

So, for the most part, it didn't matter who they sent to their deaths. So, in order to detain the Red Army at the Moltke Bridge, Hitler transferred to Berlin “sailors of the SS Special Forces Detachment”, who were ordered to delay the advance of our troops to government buildings at any cost.

They turned out to be sixteen-year-old boys, yesterday's cadets of the naval school from the city of Rostock. Hitler spoke to them, calling them heroes and the hope of the nation. His order itself is interesting: “to throw back a small group of Russians that broke through to this bank of the Spree and prevent it from reaching the Reichstag. It takes quite a bit to hold on. Soon you will receive new weapons of great power and new planes. Wenck's army approaches from the south. The Russians will not only be driven out of Berlin, but also driven back to Moscow.”

Where is the Reichstag?

During the assault, there were incidents. On the eve of the offensive, at night it turned out that the attackers did not know what the Reichstag looked like, and even more so, where it was located.

This is how the battalion commander, Neustroev, who was ordered to storm the Reichstag, described this situation: “The colonel orders:

"Come out quickly to the Reichstag!". I hang up. Zinchenko's voice still sounds in my ears. And where is he, the Reichstag? The devil knows! It's dark and deserted ahead."

However, the building was Squat in two and a half floors with towers and a dome at the top. Behind him, two hundred meters away, the outlines of a huge, twelve-story house could be seen, which Neustovev took as his final goal. But the gray building, which they decided to bypass, was suddenly met with advancing solid fire.

It is rightly said that one head is good, but two is better. The mystery of the location of the Reichstag was resolved upon arrival at Neustroev Zinchenko. As the commander himself describes:

Battles for rooms

How was the Reichstag taken? The usual reference literature does not go into details, describing the assault as a one-day “attack” by Soviet soldiers on a building, which, under this pressure, was just as quickly surrendered by its garrison. However, things were different. The building was defended by selected SS units, which had nothing more to lose. And they had an advantage. They were well aware of its plan and the layout of all its 500 rooms. Unlike the Soviet soldiers, who had no idea what the Reichstag looked like. As the private of the third company I.V. Mayorov said: “We knew practically nothing about the internal location. And this made it very difficult to fight with the enemy. In addition, from the continuous automatic and machine-gun fire, explosions of grenades and faustpatrons in the Reichstag, such smoke and dust from the plaster rose that, mixing, they obscured everything, hung in the rooms with an impenetrable veil - nothing is visible, as in the dark. One can judge how difficult the assault was, that the Soviet command set the task on the first day to capture at least 15-10 rooms out of the 500 mentioned.

How many flags were

The historical banner hoisted on the roof of the Reichstag was the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division of the Third Shock Army, set by Sergeant Yegorov and Kantaria. But it was far from the only red flag over the German parliament. The desire to reach Berlin and set the Soviet flag over the defeated enemy lair of the Nazis was dreamed of by many, regardless of the order of the command and the promise of the title of "Hero of the USSR". However, the latter was another useful incentive.

Moreover, his detachment fulfilled its main task at the same time - to cover the standard-bearers, who were instructed to hoist the victorious banners on the Reichstag.

The fate of autographs

“The shortest way to Moscow is through Berlin!”

“And we girls were here. Glory to the Soviet soldier!”; “We are from Leningrad, Petrov, Kryuchkov”; “Know ours. Siberians Pushchin, Petlin"; "We are in the Reichstag"; "I walked with the name of Lenin"; "From Stalingrad to Berlin"; "Moscow - Stalingrad - Orel - Warsaw - Berlin"; "Got to Berlin."

(This is a staged photo taken between May 4 and 8, 1945. None of the photographers accompanied the soldiers in the Reichstag!_

Secondly, it turned out why the German troops defended the Reichstag building for so long and staunchly until the end of May 2, 1945 (already after the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945) and the general surrender of the German garrison on May 1, 1945.

For all that, the Reichstag building had no military or political significance in the defense of Berlin after the surrender by the Germans themselves of the main defense headquarters located in the Reich Chancellery (Hitler's bunker)! For since 1933, parliament meetings were no longer held in this building, which was actually abolished by Hitler in view of the concentration of all power in his hands! And if he was going to, then in another place.

When the daily bombing of Berlin and the massive destruction of buildings began (autumn 1944-spring 1945), the central Berlin hospital (Charite Clinic) was placed in the Reichstag building along with the maternity ward (where, as you know, von Stirlitz himself was operating, saving the Soviet radio operator-intelligence Kate! ) and already the military authorities, when the Red Army troops approached the outskirts of Berlin, placed a large military hospital in its cellars.

Not to know this fact in Moscow, the then top leaders of the Soviet Union could not.

Nevertheless, the command in the person of Marshal Zhukov drove the Soviet soldiers to storm the Reichstag building, promising as an "incentive" to those participants in the assault, from among the first who break into the Reichstag building and hoist the "red banner of Victory" over it, conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ! In general, another Soviet fetish! Give!!! Another gift to the Motherland by May 1!!!

This criminal undertaking for the Red Army then cost additional victims, because “irrecoverable losses” in the three-day battles from 30.04-02.05.1945 in the area of \u200b\u200bonly one Reichstag became more than 2000 soldiers and officers, and this is about two rifle regiments

But first I will describe in general view the course of the battle from April 30 to the end of the day on May 2, 1945, namely, what happened in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Reichstag building and the Reichstag itself, and after that I will proceed to the announcement of documentary evidence of the new participants in the assault on the Reichstag that I found.

If you take the word of Soviet historians or the current Russian, claiming to be strict documentary, then all the events of April 30, 1945 in connection with the battles of the Red Army around the Reichstag building, then instead of documenting accurate description, with exact definition location and concrete action each assault group we have only a rich fairy tale artistic descriptions storming the "fascist lair"!.

It features "tens of thousands of soldiers impatiently awaiting the order to start the assault"; "muzzles of hundreds of guns aimed at the Reichstag" or even "shooting direct fire"; “Young fanatics from the Hitler Youth rushing to the armor of our tanks”, and most importantly, two fearless scout heroes Egorov and Kantaria rushed ahead of everyone to the Reichstag with the Red Banner in their hands!

But, in fact, if you look at least in the 5th volume (of the Soviet spill) of the six-atomic “History of the Great Patriotic War”, you can find out there that about 89 units of guns (mainly 45 caliber) took part in the artillery preparation of the decisive assault on the Reichstag , and this for the walls of the Reichstag meant that all their shells were like shots for an elephant!), besides, they worked mainly from closed positions and there was no accuracy in hitting targets. And alas, there was no way to put the available guns on direct fire due to the fact that almost all the passages between the buildings on the Royal Square - and especially the entire space in front of the Reichstag - were under dense aimed enemy fire from the so-called anti-aircraft towers.

This is essentially a fortification, concrete forts built in the city itself gave an excellent overview of the battlefield .. And they showed highest efficiency on the defensive. Not a single such tower was captured by storm. The garrison either surrendered after the shooting of ammunition (there was only one such case with the Zoobunker tower), or they fought to the end, undermining the equipment of the tower with them, or, if possible, left through underground passages, into the city metro and to a new line of defense.

About where and how the troops of the Red Army attacked the Reichstag, wine is good here on this plan-scheme.

It is no coincidence that in the post-war scientific and practical conference Commander Perevertkin and Regimental Commander Zinchenko unanimously emphasized that the entire area adjacent to the Reichstag was shot through, in addition to artillery, by machine-gun fire from nearby buildings, by faustpatrons.

And he was shot through so that it was impossible to raise his head, and not just full up and run to the attack with a red banner in his hands!

« Our artillery, - I quote Zinchenko, - could not shoot through it (the approaches to the Reichstag) ” .

So, judging by all of the above, only a small part of our artillery of 86 guns could provide really effective “targeted” support to the assault groups that reached the Reichstag!) the same number of M-31 rockets.

Both those and others were dragged in the hands of soldiers to the 1st and 2nd floors of the Ministry of the Interior.

Forty-five were installed in the gaps for direct fire. And rockets had to be launched almost from the tables.

So the accuracy of the hit was appropriate.

Just as little could help in the capture of the Reichstag, our tanks and self-propelled guns. They were instantly knocked out!!!

One of the participants in the assault, who left descriptions of the battle around the Reichstag, Minin wrote that during all the time of these movements along the perimeter and into the depths of the Royal Square (in front of the Reichstag), he saw only two red-star tanks.

Moreover, neither one nor the other even reached the "channel" (water barrier in front of the Reichstag).

The crew of the first one died in the morning, somewhere around ten, right in front of Minin. The tank at low speed and with closed hatches was moving 10-12 meters from the building, when, apparently pushing through its own weight, the ceiling of some flooded underground facility, together with the crew went like a stone into the abyss.

As a result, the resulting huge failure completely blocked the passage from the Moltke bridge to the Royal Square for our heavy equipment ...

Minin watched the second tank closer to six o'clock in the evening. His crew tried to make their way along the opposite passage - between the "Himmler's house" and the Krol Opera.

The tankers even managed to bring their combat vehicle to the square and advance 40-50 meters along the eastern wall of the "Himmler's house".

But here, without even having time to turn its frontal part towards the Reichstag, the tank was immediately burned by a Faust shell.

Thus, as early as the morning of April 30, 1945, after the first unsuccessful attack, it was clear to any more or less competent, experienced commander, and it was these, in the main, who led the units that had reached the Reichstag, that they could rely on "our powerful superiority in formidable technique should not be. So the Soviet command had the erroneous opinion that, together with the garrison, the Reichstag area was defended by selected enemy units with a total number of about six thousand people!

In reality, everything was not so and the Germans were in a very bad position with the defense!

The defense of the Reichstag was an experienced soldier holder of two German orders of the Iron Cross (senior lieutenant) of the SS troops Babich. And at first, he could rely solely on the cadets of the naval school, transferred from the city of Rostock, consisting of 300 people. Which of these teenage cadets are fighters, I don’t even want to say. They were not taught to fight. As part of the infantry, and fight at sea! No experience, no combat cohesion !!! Nothing but German military discipline!

From the cadets of this school, as well as from scattered parts of the Wehrmacht, by April 28, 1945, a “consolidated” SS battalion of about 900 people was formed in the Reichstag. The actions of the battalion were supported by a division of 105-mm guns and 23 anti-aircraft guns mounted on reinforced concrete towers in the Tiergarten park.

The Reichstag itself was part of common system defense of this area, which consisted of three strongholds located in the Friedrichshain and Humboldhain parks and in the zoological garden.

These strongholds were interconnected by communications. Their garrisons numbered up to 150 people each and were armed, in addition to automatic weapons and faustpatrons, up to 25 guns of various calibers.

And speaking of the scattered parts of the Wehrmacht defending the Reichstag, I had in mind the fact that the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery were defended by the howl of the division of the SS division "Nordland" (citizens of Holland and Norway), they were joined by the French battalion Fene from the division "Charlemagne" and the Latvian battalion 15 th grenadier division SS. In general, such a German military international! A. Hitler trusted them (as the surviving soldiers recalled in his memoirs) he chose these soldiers for himself, focusing solely on their high morale and fighting qualities) knowing that they had nowhere to run from Berlin and they would fight to the last bullet and die in battle but not retreat! By the way, only 30 fighters were waiting from the French Fresnet battalion in battles, but half of them were later shot by the French themselves during their deportation to France.!

For example, the story of why the soldiers of the Red Army did not storm the Reich Chancellery !! But because the time of the last, senseless and merciless battle around the bunker of the Reich Chancellery and the Reichstag, the French once again proved that now no one desired efficiency.

Only for the day of fighting on April 28 in Berlin by three hundred Charlemagne fighters. was destroyed 108 Soviet tanks, of which 62 - (and in total 500 Soviet tanks were shot down by the Germans in Berlin). Four members of the battalion were awarded the Knight's Iron Cross on April 29, 1945, at one of the last award ceremonies in the Reich, which had already ceased to exist.

Thus, we can now state that the Reichstag ganison was 900-1000 people. But only half of the fighters were combat-ready. The rest were unshooted newbies and teenagers with faust-cartridges in their hands!

And Soviet and Russian historians, describing the forces of the Red Army, write: “Our 150th, 171st and 207th divisions entered the battle with them. In addition, from the central Berlin quarters from the east and south to the Reichstag advanced units of the 5th shock army of Colonel-General N. Berzarin and the 8th Guards Army Colonel General V. Chuikov. Strength, in general, is incomparable with the defending enemy!

But, unfortunately, in the story of his taking because of the writer's exorbitant love for large-scale battle scenes, a very important fact was somehow erased in the public mind.

Its essence is that the Reichstag itself was stormed not by named divisions and not even by their regiments, but by three hastily understaffed battalions advanced to the first echelon and at the forefront of the attack . From which, after the first unsuccessful assault on the Reichstag, 20-25% of the personnel remained !!!

Therefore, on the morning of April 30, 1945, when Neustroev's attempt to take the Reichstag with a swoop ended in failure, the disposition was as follows.

In the center - in the direction from the "Himmler's house" to the Reichstag - the "Shatilovites" acted: the battalions of S. Neustroev and V. Davydov.

At the junction between them, the assault group of Captain V. Makov aimed at the enemy's lair. A little to the left, from the side of the Swiss embassy, a battalion from the 171st division of Colonel Negoda pulled up to the starting point.

In the order of this battalion, commanded by Senior Lieutenant N. Samsonov, was the second assault group of Major M. Bondar sent from the headquarters of the corps.

So, only three battalions and two assault groups.

Add to this the absence of tanks and not "hundreds", but less than a few dozen artillery pieces - and it becomes clear why the next attempt by our soldiers to capture the Reichstag was also not successful.

And now about what really happened!

Middle of a day. The commander of the Waxes of the Red Army in Berlin, K. Zhukov, received a report "The Reichstag is taken!"

Although it was at this time that the regrouped units of the Red Army received a new order "Prepare (for the first) assault on the Reichstag!"

« Why storm what has already been taken? the discerning reader will ask. And from the point of view of formal logic and common sense will be absolutely right.

Nevertheless, such a command sounded that day. But we will start nevertheless by finding out what preceded it. And it was preceded by the fact that the Soviet command, despite the two completed assaults, already really wanted to distinguish themselves, and they began to drill holes for orders on their uniforms!

And therefore, at about 13.00, the battalions of Neustroev, Samsonov and Davydov for the third time, at the signal of soaring red rockets and noticeably increased artillery support, again went on the attack. It was understood that now they would be able to advance on a broad front.

And - according to the plan - break through: Neustroev's battalion - to the main western entrance; Samsonov - to the north, Davydov - to the "deputy" entrance located in the southern end. More or less significantly, only the group of scouts operating in the Davydov battalion under the command of Captain Sorokin managed to move forward.

And even then only to that place on the right flank of the attack, where the moat filled with water ended. There, of course, it was possible to slip through to the Reichstag "on land", but on the other hand, they immediately came under flank fire, which hit almost point-blank range.

The rest did not even have time to get close to the "channel", as the area literally drowned in the explosions of German shells and mines. And very soon, those who survived had to lie down first.

And then, firing back and using the folds of the area pitted with craters, littered with fallen trees, metal and stones, again retreat to the original one.

Thus, this, the third attack in a row, did not give any result.

Further repetition not so much promised the desired result as guaranteed new losses.

And right from the top! Indeed, in the middle of the day, the front headquarters received a message from the commander of the 3rd shock army, Colonel-General V. Kuznetsov: the Reichstag was taken.

Here is how Marshal Zhukov described this event in the first edition of his famous book "Memoirs and Reflections" a quarter of a century later:

“This historically important event was personally observed by Army Commander V.I. Kuznetsov, who kept in continuous communication.

- On the Reichstag - the Red Banner! Hurray, Comrade Marshal! .

The report on the capture, having instantly slipped on the command from the bottom up, quickly flew to Moscow. From there came congratulations from I. Stalin.

War Council 1st Belorussian Front without delay issued a congratulatory order to troops No. 06.

It noted: “The troops of the 3rd shock army of Colonel General Kuznetsov ... occupied the Reichstag building and today, April 30, 1945, at 14:25, they raised the Soviet flag on it.

In the battles for the area and the main building of the Reichstag, the 79th Rifle Corps of Major General Perevertkin, his 171st Division of Colonel Negoda and the 150th Division of Major General Shatilov distinguished themselves " .

Meanwhile, something happened on the Royal Square in front of the Reichstag that later, in subsequent reprints, forced Zhukov to shift the time for hoisting the banner and the joyful report of the commander of the 3rd shock army by as much as seven hours!

The unpleasant and, apparently, not immediately revealed to Zhukov, the truth was that at 14.25 (recall: both here and beyond, local time) there was not a single Soviet soldier in the Reichstag.

Assault units, having retreated to their starting points, sadly waited for the next command to attack. And those few who did not manage to move away were buried in the funnels, took cover behind the transformer box, or simply sprawled on the ground.

How this could happen has long been known to inquisitive military historians. More difficult with the awareness of the general public ...

Here is how the commander of the 756th regiment F. Zinchenko explains what happened in his memoirs: “The hasty, unverified reports are to blame. The fighters of the units that lay down in front of the Reichstag went on the attack several times, making their way forward alone and in groups. It might have seemed to some of the commanders that his fighters, if not achieved, then are about to achieve their cherished goal ... After all, everyone so wanted to be the first! .. "

It is possible that fake information slipped to the very top and along the line of political agencies, which were usually eager to be the first to bring the long-awaited news to the high authorities.

From now on, that's the only way to be.

To some extent, the memoirs of Zinchenko and Shatilov suggest the same idea.

True, everyone in the same place, on the same “historical” 14.25, completely different events occur.

In Shatilov's story, everything exactly fits into the "canon" in time.

“From my position on the fourth floor, I could see how the scattered figures of people rose, ran, fell, rose again, or remained motionless. And they all drew together, as if to the two poles of a magnet, to the front entrance and to the southwestern corner of the building, behind which was the deputy entrance, hidden from my eyes.

I saw how, above the steps, at the right column, the Banner suddenly glowed with a scarlet speck. And then, at 2:30 p.m., I received two reports almost simultaneously - from Plekhodanov and Zinchenko.

- One and a half of our companies broke into the Reichstag! one reported. - Time - 14 twenty-five!

- At fourteen twenty-five, Syanov's company broke into the main entrance of the Reichstag! another reported.

Well, God bless him with Shatiloov.

He was far away and could not see and understand everything that was happening! And in this connection, let's better dwell on the report of Zinchenko, who, according to Shatilov, Syanov's company, formed, by the way, only on the evening of April 30, managed to “break into the main entrance” five hours earlier.

Zinchenko himself, in his own memoirs about his report to the division commander “at 14.30,” says nothing. But he reports that at 15.00 the units in front of the Reichstag did not advance a meter. And he refers to a rather curious call from Shatilov. I quote. Shatilov:

"Why don't you report anything? Are your people already in the Reichstag?

“Our people are not yet in the Reichstag,” I answer, somewhat puzzled by the general’s question. -

The battalions lie a hundred and fifty meters from him. Both my regiment and Plekhodanov's regiment repulsed counterattacks all this time, and the 380th regiment had just come out to us from the left ... ".

And here - again I quote the text - Shatilov's question follows:

“- And if, after all, our people are really in the Reichstag?

“They are not there, Comrade General.

“Very well, I allow a ten-minute artillery attack. Beginning at 17.15. Prepare for the assault"

And so it was born, if not in life, then in the general’s memoirs, a paradoxical phrase, where the words of the same person, uttered in the same place, but with a difference of half an hour, come into a fantastic and therefore insurmountable for common sense contradiction: “The Reichstag is taken. Prepare for the assault!"

In the meantime, the famous "soldier's telegraph" had already conveyed the news of Order No. 06 to the very bottom. including up to leading edge, to the regiments and battalions of the divisions of Shatilov and Negoda.

There, on the soldiers who rolled back after so many unsuccessful attacks on the original, this order made a discouraging impression.

Even earlier, this unpleasant feeling was experienced by the junior command staff. Here is what S. Neustroev recalled about this:

“At about three o’clock in the afternoon, Colonel Zinchenko again came to my observation post and embarrassedly said:

- There is an order of Marshal Zhukov, which declares gratitude to the troops who hoisted the Banner of Victory, including all soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals of the 171st and 150th rifle divisions.

I asked the regimental commander:

- The Reichstag has not been taken, the Banner of Victory has not been hoisted, and gratitude has already been announced?

“So it turns out, comrade battalion commander,” Zinchenko answered thoughtfully and immediately asked me: “Maybe one of ours did enter the Reichstag after all?” Maybe because of the explosions of shells and mines, you did not notice what was happening on the steps of the main entrance?

It was difficult for me to answer this question. Thought flashed:

"Maybe someone really got in, maybe not».

On the phone I asked the company commanders to report on the situation, they reported: there are no ours in the Reichstag. General Shatilov called my observation post and ordered me to hand over the handset to the regiment commander.

The division commander demanded from Zinchenko:

- If our people are not in the Reichstag and the banner is not installed, then take all measures to ensure that at any cost hoist the flag, or at least a flag on the column of the main entrance.

At any price! repeated the general. and added that if Zhukov finds out that the banner has not been hoisted, then his wrath will fall on our heads.

Shatilov himself in his memoirs does not mention this “somewhere”, “somehow”, “at least a flag”.

But Zinchenko recalls the Banner of the Military Council No. 5 located at his headquarters.

In his presentation, at 10 am on May 1, 1945, he “ordered: the intelligence officer of the regiment, Captain V.I. Kondrashev, take the two best scouts and arrive with them at the command post.

Here they will be handed the Banner of the Military Council of the Army for hoisting it on the dome of the Reichstag.

A few minutes passed, and the scouts were already standing in front of me, but not two, but ... a whole platoon!

... I looked in surprise and even somewhat angrily at Kondrashev: was the order given incomprehensibly?

... Kondrashev looked at me for a long time, then at the scouts, as if he had received an unsolvable task. Then he sighed with regret, looked at his eagles once more, and ordered in a resolute, firm voice:

- Yegorov and Kantaria! To the commander of the regiment!

... I called Yegorov and Kantaria closer to me, led me to the window:

- Here is the Reichstag in front of you, look at it carefully. Do you see the dome?

“Yes, Comrade Colonel.

– Your task is to install the Banner of the Military Council of the Army on this dome

... Then he ordered Kondrashev:

“You are responsible for hoisting the banner. With a group of scouts, you will accompany Yegorov and Kantaria.

You will enter the Reichstag immediately after the first battalion.

A completely different picture appears in Shatilov's memoirs.

“At about 2 pm,” he writes, “I called Plekhodanov. He didn't have much of a change. Contacted Zinchenko. He reported that Syanov's company was fighting on the other side of the ditch, but could not yet break through to the main entrance.

- And the Banner? I asked. - Where is the Banner of the Military Council? After all, as soon as they break in, they must immediately hoist it up!

“I have the banner on the enpe. There is no one to send him with, comrade general, there are no people ...

- All right, now I will hand over the Banner to Plekhodanov. He will find. As soon as I hung up, the machine hummed insistently.

“Well, that’s the same,” I chuckled, “there will always be people for a holy cause.”

So two completely different stories about the same event. What is documentary in them, and what is fiction - I do not presume to judge.

The discrepancies in time and facts are such that it is difficult to believe both.

But with a high degree of probability I would venture to suggest that before the prospect of arousing Zhukov's anger with a premature report, not only Shatilov and Zinchenko, but also Perevertkin and Commander Kuznetsov were not at all up to ceremonies with the Banner of the Military Council.

The premature report had to be somehow confirmed!

It was not in vain that Shatilov was actually squeezing a confession out of Zinchenko that his battalions were already in the Reichstag.

And Commander Kuznetsov, in pursuance of Zhukovsky order No. 6, hastily signed his own order to encourage personnel, which included the following words:

“In commemoration of the victory won, distinguished generals, officers, sergeants and Red Army soldiers should be presented for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and for awarding orders. Long live the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union Comrade Stalin!”

(This is a staged photo taken between May 4 and 8, 1945. None of the photographers accompanied the soldiers in the Reichstag!)

Having found out the same thing happened in the ranks of the Soviet troops, we can look at opposite side and let's see what they did for the defense of Berlin at the Headquarters of A. Hitler.

But they didn't do anything! A. Hitler admitted defeat and the senselessness of defense and decided to commit suicide so as not to be captured.

So, in "historical 14.25 04.30.45":

And we will be transported to the dungeon of the Imperial Chancellery, where at that moment the last act of Germany's military agony was being played out.

The office, from which the defense of Berlin was controlled, after the loss of the communications center of the main command, located in a shelter on Benderstrasse, lost telegraph and telephone communications and was left only with poorly functioning radio communications.

Contacting General Wedling via this channel at 14.30, Hitler gave him freedom of action and allowed him to attempt a breakthrough from Berlin. It seemed that, realizing his complete collapse, the Fuhrer seemed to be saving the army, but at the same time drawing a line under his fate, the fate of the Imperial Chancellery, the Reichstag and all of Berlin.

However, after about three hours, Wedling, whose attempts to escape from the capital with at least part of the troops failed, received a new order from Hitler.

It canceled the previous one and reaffirmed the task of defending Berlin to the last man.

Apparently, Wedling, like the rest of the army, did not yet know that in essence it was a message from the other world.

Because at 15.30 in his deep underground bunker Hitler, having given the last orders, committed suicide.

Only half a century later, the circumstances of this suicide will become public knowledge.

And then it will become known that the first person who saw Hitler after the shot was his valet, SS Sturmbannführer G. Lange.

According to documents, during an interrogation conducted in mid-May 1945 by investigators of the Soviet military counterintelligence SMERSH, he showed:

“Hitler was sitting on the left side of the sofa. He was dead. A bloody stain was clearly visible on the right temple - the place where the bullet had hit. Both of his pistols (caliber 6.35 and 7.65) lay on the floor. Right hand hung from the back of the sofa. There were blood splatters on the wall, on the edge of the sofa, and on the carpet. Sitting next to Hitler, cross-legged, was his wife. She, too, was dead. Her boots were on the floor. There was no wound visible on her corpse ... "

Hitler died, but the troops, loyal to their oath and military discipline, continued to fight!

Just as desperately, they fought for the Reichstag - the very object that, according to the reports of the command of the 3rd shock army, "has already been taken."

However, the Reichstag - no matter what else was happening around it - had already been "taken" for G. Zhukov.

Because at 16.30, the marshal sent a combat report to Comrade Stalin in Moscow, in which he solemnly announced:

“Continuing the offensive and breaking the resistance of the enemy, units of the 3rd shock army occupied the main building of the Reichstag and at 14.25 on April 30, 1945 raised the Soviet flag on it"

“In the battles for the Reichstag area and its main building, the troops of the 3rd shock army, Colonel General Kuznetsov, the commander of the 79th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Perevertkin, the commander of the 171st Rifle Division, Colonel Negoda, and the commander of the 150th Rifle Division, Major General Shatilov, distinguished themselves. The offensive in Berlin continues, the troops of the front continue to carry out the tasks you have set.

Now back to the Reichstag.

(This is a staged photo taken between May 4 and 8, 1945. None of the photographers accompanied the soldiers in the Reichstag!)

And General Perevertkin decided to suppress the defenders of the Reichstag with a maximum of firepower, which the corps had in abundance and start a new assault.

By 16.30 all the basements of the corner part of the "Himmler's house", hitherto occupied only by the farms of Neustroev and Davydov, were occupied by tank officers and artillerymen. They installed stereo tubes, established communication by telephone and walkie-talkie.

The news of the capture of the Reichstag brought here a bunch of absolutely superfluous people for the assault: representatives of various political departments, numerous correspondents and cameramen not only from the army and the front, but also from Moscow itself.

In addition, either Zinchenko, or Plekhodanov, or the commander of the battalion of the 380th regiment, Samsonov, repeatedly appeared in the room.

“All of them,” according to M. N. Minin, “demanded the resumption of the assault, repeatedly stated that the one who first reached the Reichstag would be presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

We understood that the command of the 150th and 171st rifle divisions decided to take over the Reichstag at any cost in order to get out of an awkward situation.

As if to prove this truth, the powerful artillery preparation appointed by Shatilov at 17.50 again did not bring about such a desired turning point. Seemingly, the hurricane fire seemed to have swept everything from the square. And as soon as our companies leaned forward, and the artillery ceased fire because of the risk of covering their own, the trenches were immediately filled with German machine gunners, the seemingly suppressed firing points on the square and in the Reichstag itself came to life.

In a word, this time the enemy did not let him approach him.

Meanwhile, in the late afternoon, the joyful news of the capture of the Reichstag was published by Moscow radio.

And foreign broadcasting immediately carried it around the world.

While mankind was discussing this good news, in Berlin it became more and more obvious to the Soviet command: our soldiers would have a real chance to approach and break into the Reichstag only after dark.

Sunset hour that day in the capital of Germany began at 20.26 local time. Therefore, it was decided to start the assault at dusk with a powerful and sufficiently long artillery preparation, involving the maximum number of batteries located in closed positions.

From about 6:30 p.m., the skirmishing in the Reichstag area began to weaken, and by 7:00 p.m. it had almost completely stopped.

The commanders of the battalions and assault groups were told that the command of the corps had decided to conduct the last decisive assault on the Reichstag. The 30-minute artillery preparation will begin at 21:30 local time.

At 22.00 on a signal - a green rocket - the beginning of the assault.

They tried to use the pause in the battalions and assault groups to better prepare for the attack. The infantrymen reloaded the disks of their machine guns, restocked grenades, and helped the gunners to carry boxes of shells.

In Moscow, half an hour remained until midnight, when in Berlin the hands on the commander's clock showed 21.30.

And immediately clogged my ears sound wave from powerful explosions on the Royal Square, the massive walls of the "Himmler's house" were shaking. Flashes from bright, similar to frequent flashes of hundreds of lightning discharges burst through the gaps in the basement windows.

A gigantic fiery tornado was walking around the Reichstag and adjacent areas. The calculation was based on the fact that during shelling the enemy - as it had already been during previous attacks - would leave the trenches, move away from the loopholes in order to wait out the raid in the dungeon.

As a result, the attackers were able to approach the building relatively unhindered.

It was only necessary to slip through those few hundred meters as quickly as possible, which now equally separated the battalions of Neustroev, Davydov and the assault group of Makov, located in the "Himmler's house", and the battalion of Samsonov with the group of Bondar, who were preparing to attack from the side of the Swiss embassy.

The offensive front of all three battalions was just over 200 meters.

However, the same water line on the square did not allow the attackers to develop a swift attack.

The fighters were forced to linger at the crossing, and then in small groups in the dark to continue the offensive. In addition, as they moved towards the Reichstag, some of the fighters of all three battalions found themselves outside the offensive zone of their units.

In such a mixed composition, they reached the ditch and began to cross the ditch in a chain one after another - someone in the footsteps of the scouts of the Makov group, and someone, having found their own crossings along the same channels and pipes.

At the same time, the management of units was, of course, violated.

But there was no time to stop, establish communication and wait for commander's orders: in the open, the fighters could again fall under heavy fire. Therefore, without understanding their units, everyone who managed to reach the "channel" and cross it, rushed to the Reichstag at a run.

Makovskaya group, from which by this moment there were four scouts led by a captain and a radio operator, without waiting for the rest, was already not far from the main entrance.

Just at that moment, the surviving enemy firing points spoke to the right and left.

When they approached the Reichstag, they opened machine-gun fire at the main entrance on the move and, without stopping for a second, immediately began to climb the wide granite staircase littered with brick fragments.

Evening of April 30, 1945 - Night of May 1, 1945. "We are rushing to the top, not a step back!"

In the very difficult situation of a night battle in an unfamiliar room, and even in a mixed, devoid of the usual command structure, those commanders who ended up in the vanguard group took command.

They were Captain Makov, officers from the Zinchenko battalion - political officer A. Berest and chief of staff I. Gusev, agitator of the political department of the 150th division, captain I. Matveev and several other people.

I had to navigate in pitch darkness mainly by the flashes of automatic bursts.

There were not so many chances in such pitch darkness, in a completely unfamiliar room, without a plan to find the right exit to the roof. And so they acted harmoniously, with their heads. All corridors that led to the stairs were bombarded with F-1 grenades and combed with automatic bursts.

When they reached the attic, it was necessary to quickly find a way out to the roof.

After combing the attic with automatic bursts and throwing several grenades into the darkness, Sergeant G. Zagitov shone a flashlight and immediately discovered a cargo winch not far away, two massive lamellar chains of which went up.

Four meters climbed the chain until they reached the dormer window, through which they climbed onto the roof.

Nearby in the darkness, the silhouette of a small tower was barely visible, to which Zagitov and I began to attach the Red Banner.

Suddenly, against the backdrop of a fiery glow from a shell exploding on the roof, A. Lisimenko noticed our daily landmark - “The Goddess of Victory”, as we then called the sculptural group.

Despite the artillery shelling, they decided to hoist the Red Banner precisely at the top of this sculpture - from it to daytime the banner will be seen very well. Here, on the roof, in the darkness, almost to the touch, he wrote his name and the names of his comrades on the canvas of the banner.

In order to tie the banner to a metal "pole", Zagitov tore his handkerchief into ribbons. With these ribbons, we tied two corners of the cloth to the tube.

Scraping my bloody hands on the notches of numerous holes from shell fragments, with the help of my comrades, I climbed onto the croup of a bronze horse. I found a hole in the giantess's crown and fixed the "shaft" in it. (it was around 22.30 -22.40 local time

Neustroev himself appeared in the Reichstag after the field telephone buzzer buzzed at about half past ten on his station in the "Himmler's house".

The chief of staff of the battalion, Senior Lieutenant K. Gusev called from the Reichstag.

He reported that the new NP was ready, companies and separate assault groups were fighting in the depths of the Reichstag, but the heat subsided and it was risky to continue the battle - you could shoot your own.

The first person met in the lobby by Neustroev, who made his way into the Reichstag, was the commander of one of the battalion companies, Captain Yarunov. He reported that the bulk of Samsonov's battalion was at the northern entrance arch.

And the companies of the battalion of Captain Davydov advanced to the southern, "deputy" entrance. The hoisting of the banner by Makov's scouts, of course, inspired. But the battle for the Reichstag was just unfolding.

And Zinchenko, while the situation was more or less calm, immediately under the cover of darkness decided to visit Davydov in order to agree on issues of interaction.

Captain Neustroev found about one hundred and fifty meters from the Reichstag in a large crater from a high-explosive projectile or bomb - here Davydov had an observation post.

As Stepan Neustroev recalls, the battalion commander briefed the guest on the situation in his area and said that he considered it risky to completely introduce the battalion into the Reichstag: the Nazis could counterattack from the direction of the Brandenburg Gate.

Therefore, I decided to enter into the vestibule of the southern entrance only the company of Lieutenant P. Grechishnikov and the platoon commanded by Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev, who disappeared in the morning, but now appeared. Davydov deployed his main forces at the Reichstag wall with the front to the south, since it was from there that one could expect a counterattack every minute ...

Reassured that the right flank was covered, Neustroev, not without incident, but in general, safely made his way to Senior Lieutenant Samsonov. He also acted thoughtfully. The companies of his battalion took up defensive positions along north side Reichstag, from the outside of the building. In essence, the first half of the task of capturing the Reichstag was completed: the companies and groups that broke into the building were reliably covered from counterattacks from the flanks.

In the Reichstag, meanwhile, the "soldier's telegraph" spread the news of the "hoisting of the banner over the Reichstag by artillerymen" throughout the battalion.

At about 12 o'clock at night (or, as noted in the combat log of the 380th regiment, at two o'clock Moscow time), soldiers from the battalion of Senior Lieutenant K. Samsonov entered the Reichstag.

The battalion commander still kept part of the forces outside, placing them along the northern end in order to repel a possible enemy counterattack from this direction. The other part united with the "neustroevtsy".

Major M. Bondar's assault group was also in their ranks, which until now has mainly been observing and transmitting information to the corps headquarters by radio from the Swiss embassy building.

It was Bondar, as an officer of the headquarters of the corps, that M. Minin invited to witness the fact of the hoisting of the first banner on the Reichstag.

Accompanied by junior sergeant M. Bondar, taking with him two of his fighters, he repeated the entire path of the "four" up to the roof. Here, at the hind leg of the bronze horse, on his orders, subordinates set up their own flag ...

Long after midnight, during another pause, the commander of the 756th Infantry Regiment, Colonel F. Zinchenko, arrived at the Reichstag.

Neustroev at this time, having allowed the personnel of the battalion to rest alternately, was just busy sending the wounded to the rear. Zinchenko entered the building accompanied by large group machine gunners and immediately turned to the battalion commander:

- Captain, report the situation!

During the report, it suddenly became clear that the regiment commander was not only concerned about the situation. From the memoirs of S. Neustroev: “The colonel was interested in the banner. I tried to explain to him that there were a lot of banners ... and reported that the company, platoon and squad flags were set in the location of their positions

“You’re not saying that, comrade battalion commander,” Zinchenko cut me off sharply.

- I ask, where is the Banner of the Military Council of the Army at number five? I ordered the head of intelligence of the regiment, Captain Kondrashev, that the Banner went on the attack with the 1st company! the colonel was indignant.

They began to find out, ask questions, it turned out that the Banner remained at the headquarters of the regiment, in the "Himmler's house". Zinchenko telephoned the chief of staff, Major Artemy Grigorievich Kazakov, and ordered:

- Immediately arrange for the delivery of the Banner of the Military Council to the Reichstag! Guide him with trusted, reliable soldiers from the intelligence platoon...

Soon two of our scouts ran into the lobby - Sergeant Yegorov and Lance Sergeant Kantaria. They unfolded the scarlet cloth...

What time did this “soon” correspond to, Neustroev clarified 52 years later in one of his recent interviews- at three o'clock in the morning.

M.P. Minin in his memoirs also notes that, having changed on the roof from the post at the banner and went down to the vestibule, he became an accidental witness to the arrival of two scouts in the period “between three or four hours”.

There is whole line and other evidence, of which, according to at least, one thing is obvious: sergeants Yegorov and Kantaria appeared in the Reichstag after the arrival of the regimental commander Zinchenko.

And accordingly, a few hours after the facade at the main entrance was decorated with numerous flags of soldiers storming the Reichstag, and a corps banner hoisted by scouts from the Makov group hoisted up on the roof.

But back to Neustroev’s memoirs: “The regiment commander set them a task:

- Immediately on the roof of the Reichstag! Somewhere on a high place, so that it can be seen from afar, set up a banner. Yes, attach it stronger so that it does not tear off the wind.

Twenty minutes later Yegorov and Kantaria returned.

- What's the matter?!! the Colonel asked them angrily.

“It’s dark there, we don’t have a flashlight, we didn’t find a way out to the roof,” Yegorov answered in an embarrassed and depressed voice.

Colonel Zinchenko was silent for a minute. Then he spoke quietly, with pressure on every syllable.

– Supreme High Command Armed Forces of the Soviet Union on behalf of the Communist Party, our socialist Motherland and everything Soviet people ordered us to hoist the Banner of Victory over Berlin. This historical moment has come ... and you ... have not found a way out to the roof!

Colonel Zinchenko turned sharply to me:

- Comrade battalion commander, ensure the hoisting of the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag!

I ordered Lieutenant Berest:

- You will go along with the scouts and on the pediment, above the main entrance, you will tie a banner so that it can be seen from the square and from the “Himmler House”.

I thought to myself with irritation: "Let the rear and high authorities admire him."

Berest, Yegorov and Kantaria went to the stairs leading to the upper floors. The way for them was cleared by submachine gunners from Syanov's company. And almost immediately, shooting and the roar of grenade explosions were heard from somewhere above, but after a minute or two everything was quiet ...

Half an hour passed. Berest and the scouts did not return. We looked forward to them downstairs in the lobby.

The minutes passed slowly. But then, finally, steps were heard on the stairs, even, calm and heavy. Only Berest could walk like that.

Alexey Prokopevich reported:

- The Banner of Victory was installed on a bronze equestrian sculpture on the pediment of the main entrance. Tied with straps. Will not come off. It will last for hundreds of years!

Like everyone else who was then in the Reichstag, Lieutenant Berest, not very well versed in the location of the premises, and even in the dark, nevertheless really brought Yegorov and Kantaria to the roof.

Looking ahead, we note that Yegorov and Kantaria were lucky not only that the Germans at that time weakened the fire, but also that, thanks to Berest, they fixed the Banner of the Military Council on the side from which units of the 5th shock attack approached the Reichstag army of General Berzarin.

After Colonel Zinchenko, his deputy for political affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Efimov, Captain Kondrashev, Yegorov and Kantaria left for the regimental command post in the "Himmler's house", S. Neustroev again remained in the Reichstag for the senior.

Having made the necessary arrangements and feeling that he was simply falling from fatigue and tension, the battalion commander decided to have a light at least for an hour.

But I couldn't sleep. From the outside of the Reichstag, where the southern entrance and the Royal Square were located, there was a roar.

The enemy unleashed heavy artillery fire on the building. The Reichstag shook ... The soldiers in all companies were raised. Everyone was waiting for a counterattack...

Neustroev called battalion commander Davydov. The signalman on duty at his NP replied that the captain could not approach - the battalion was fighting off the advancing enemy.

There was no connection with Samsonov. But, judging by the crackle of automatic bursts and the hooting of guns from the north side, there was also a battle going on there. What the military-wise Davydov warned about came true: the enemy tried to attack from the flanks. And, by the way, not only from the flanks.

The Germans sharply increased their fire on the Royal Square, clearly trying to cut off those who broke into the Reichstag from the support of the second echelon and rear. The square became as bright as day. It was illuminated by the fires that raged in the houses adjacent to the Reichstag.

The real battle took place at the Krol Opera building ...

Over the warring in the building of the German parliament, there was a threat to be "in a mousetrap."

Apparently, realizing that it would not be possible to break through to the Reichstag and connect with its garrison, somewhere around four in the morning the enemy weakened the fire, and then completely died down.

(The last defenders of the Reich office-author were going to break through)

By this time, the main part of the Davydov and Samsonov battalions had moved to the Reichstag, and at that moment it already seemed to many that the worst was over.

So such a decisive removal from the Reichstag of all superfluous seemed to be quite justified ...

The unpleasant news that at dawn, having run into an ambush in the basement, the scouts brought to Neustroyev, was not only five dead comrades.

Now, before doing anything, it was necessary to establish exactly what kind of dungeon it was and what forces were concentrated there.

As if for good luck, in one of the rooms of the Reichstag, the captured Nazis had been kept since the evening. In order to escort them to the rear, neither time nor extra people there wasn't. But now it was possible to get very valuable information from them.

Moreover, there was an interpreter - Private Prygunov. He got to the front line, having previously been in German captivity, he worked at some factory. There he also learned to speak German.

The information received from the Nazi officer, Neustroev greatly puzzled.

During interrogation, he said that vast premises were located under the Reichstag, interconnected by numerous tunnels and passages.

They shelter more than a thousand people of the garrison, led by a lieutenant general, commandant of the Reichstag. The defenders have large reserves ammunition, food and water.

From this, Neustroev concluded that it was not necessary to climb into the basement yet, but it was better to keep the defense upstairs, in the hall, which began immediately after the entrance vestibule. And at the same time, of course, control all corridors, block all exits from the dungeon.

For help from outside - Neustroev no longer doubted this - there was nothing to count on in the near future.

Then Neustroev and other fighters saw that part German forces(obviously proceed according to plan and accurate calculation) located at the building of the Krol Opera, turning with the bulk of its forces to the western facade of the Reichstag, opened heavy fire on its main entrance.

But this grouping did not advance, and almost simultaneously in the Reichstag building itself, the Nazis, trying to break out of the dungeon at all costs, made a breakthrough.

They succeeded in three or four places..

Enemy soldiers and officers burst into the first floor through the gaps that had formed.

After the night withdrawal from the Reichstag of all those superfluous with the Neustroev battalion, several chemical soldiers with knapsack flamethrowers remained.

Their attempts long tongues the flames did not give the desired result to bring down the offensive impulse of the enemy.

They just set fire wooden structures and mountains of paper with which some rooms of the Reichstag were filled.

Within half an hour, many rooms on the ground floor were engulfed in flames. The soldiers of the 150th division who were in the "Himmler's house" watched with alarm as thick black smoke generously poured through the embrasures of the Reichstag windows walled up with bricks.

It seemed that not only fighting, but simply being in these conditions inside the building was impossible.

Clothes were smoldering on people, hair and eyebrows were burned. From the smoke that covered all the rooms, there was nothing to breathe.

Neustroev's battalion again found itself in an exceptionally difficult situation.

Communication with the battalions of Davydov and Samsonov was cut off. Neustroev could only guess that they were meeting the enemy with fire at the walls of the Reichstag from the outside.

There was also no communication with the regiment commander. True, after a while it suddenly started working again. Having learned what was happening in the Reichstag, Zinchenko proposed to withdraw the battalion from the Reichstag, wait until everything in it burns out, and then re-enter. But it was no longer possible to do so. Part of the mouth was cut off by fire!

How do they send the order to withdraw?

And where to go: front door was under attack by the enemy. And in the building itself, a fiery shaft of fire was approaching the fighters. The battalion, in essence, was "in the bag."

After conferring, battalion commander S. Neustroev and other commanders came to the conclusion that it was better not to leave the building on the square: death was still waiting there.

And if you die, it's better "with music" - to fight in the burning Reichstag.

The tactics were spied on by the Germans. Those, firing from machine guns, throwing grenades through the fire, followed him from one burned-out room to another and recaptured room after room.

We tried to do the same. As a result, in the burning halls, on the stairs and passages, a bloody oncoming battle began again.

But, in this battle, the Germans won! And their last counterattack was not empty heroism, but accurate combat crew!

Moreover, this is a long time ago - at the same time, more than half of the combat-ready soldiers escaped from the Reichstag building, moreover, with their help, all the walking wounded from the military hospital, pregnant women and women in childbirth from the Charité clinic and all women's honey were evacuated to the subway dungeons. hospital staff!

Almost without ceasing, it's broken up into contractions individual groups the confrontation lasted all daylight hours and part of the night ...

It is interesting that at that moment, after Order No. 6, according to which the Reichstag had already “been taken”, G. Zhukov reported to Moscow?

Nothing like that.

In his combat report No. 00514 Supreme, marked "May 1, 21.30", Zhukov generally bypasses the issue of "capture" and "hoisting".

He only states that “the enemy is putting up especially stubborn resistance in the Reichstag area. On the stairs and in the premises of the main building of the Reichstag, the struggle repeatedly turned into numerous hand-to-hand fights. .

The fact that over time the capture of the Reichstag had misled him was already completely clear to Zhukov.

But the marshal was not going to cancel order No. 6!

In addition, neither Neustroev, nor other commanders, nor their soldiers, who were preparing to storm the dungeons, knew that even at the very beginning of the new day on May 2, radio station 79th Guards division The 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front received a radiogram from the Germans in Russian:

« Hello! Hello! The 56th Panzer Corps is speaking.

Please cease fire. By 12:50 pm Berlin time, we send truce envoys to the Potsdam Bridge. Identification mark: wide white stripe against a red background. Waiting for an answer!

While parts of the Berlin garrison, who realized the complete futility of resistance, asked for “sorry”, Soviet troops in the center of Berlin suppressed the last pockets of resistance.

The German positions in the Tiergarten area were empty.

The shelling of the territory adjacent to the Reichstag almost stopped. With strong fire from the approaching units, the enemy was driven back from the Kroll Opera and dispersed.

The communication of the Reichstag with our rear was restored.

And into the building to the cries of "Hurrah!" The company sent by Zinchenko immediately entered. Following her, ammunition, food, and water were finally delivered to Neustroev's battalion.

Now fighting has become somehow more fun. And all the fighters, no longer expecting to receive an answer from the enemy and having quickly refreshed themselves, began to prepare for a difficult battle in the dungeon ...

Literally in a minute, when Neustroyev was already ready to give this command, a white flag suddenly slowly appeared over the stairwell ...

At seven o'clock in the morning on May 2, 1945, groups of captured soldiers and officers pulled out of the cellars, a hundred - one hundred and twenty people !!!

Pale, with sullen faces, they walked slowly, their heads bowed. By the number of prisoners, it could be concluded that the Reichstag garrison did not have even a thousand people.

It is possible that some of the Nazis left through the deputy entrance, which we learned about only after the battles, and took refuge in the ruins behind the Reichstag, but they could only be singles.

It was not possible to clarify the size of the garrison, the numbering of units and subunits after the battles..

I sent the prisoners from the Reichstag through the Royal Square to the "Himmler's house", where our SMERSH counterintelligence workers were located.

There were ten guards, led by a sergeant; Unfortunately, I don't remember his last name. Upon returning, he reported that he had not delivered the prisoners to the headquarters of the regiment.

In front of the "Himmler's house" they led a large column Nazi troops, and some unfamiliar colonel ordered him to attach the prisoners to his column.

Thus, the traces of the Nazis from the Reichstag were lost without a trace. Only by German archives our historians can restore the truth and the exact number of defenders.

Here is such a VICTORY and such are its official heroes! But about the unofficial heroes forgotten by the official Soviet and Russian historians 71 years ago we will talk in the second part of this work….