Bombing of Berlin & Battle of Berlin
Berlin was first known to be "unbombable" but after the Luftwaffe planes bombed London the 24th of August in 1940 Winston Churchill ordered the bombing of Berlin. On August 26, 1940 the RAF (Royal Air Force) retaliated and was successful in bombing the capital of Germany. Because of the city's anti-aircraft defense everyone in Berlin believed they were safe. Because of this civilians in Berlin were told that they did not need to go to the bomb shelters even if the alarm rang. This proved to have chaotic results.After the initial attack, everyone knew that bombing Berlin was possible and it became a strategic point to bomb for the allies. The RAF and later the Soviet and US air force carried out several (363) air raids against Berlin.
An important battle for the European front was the Battle of Berlin. This battle was fought between April and May of the year 1945. It was known at the time that once Russia overtook Berlin the war would be won. However, the Nazi's put up a long and brutal fight for a month before Russia was finally able to overtake the city by their Red Army before the city was split up into four sections. This battle was largely fought by the Soviets and Nazis. The plan in the beginning was to drop in Allied paratroopers to help take the city but it was decided against when Eisenhower said he saw no point in suffering casualties for a city that would be under Soviet influence. This shows that this was the battle would be the deciding factor between Nazism and communism. For this battle The Germans had 1,000,000 soldiers 1,500 tanks and 3,300 air crafts whereas the Soviets had 2,500,000 soldiers, 6,250 tanks and 7,500 air crafts. They had a huge advantage in manpower and gun power, but because this battle had to be fought within the streets of Berlin it had to be fought more tactfully. However, Stalin pushed his generals to overpower the Germans with sheer manpower so he could take the city first. Why? A theory is he wanted his secret police to reach the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute which was the center of Germany's nuclear research program and it also held a cascading generator which would be vital for any development in the Soviet. He was already thinking about the "race".
An important battle for the European front was the Battle of Berlin. This battle was fought between April and May of the year 1945. It was known at the time that once Russia overtook Berlin the war would be won. However, the Nazi's put up a long and brutal fight for a month before Russia was finally able to overtake the city by their Red Army before the city was split up into four sections. This battle was largely fought by the Soviets and Nazis. The plan in the beginning was to drop in Allied paratroopers to help take the city but it was decided against when Eisenhower said he saw no point in suffering casualties for a city that would be under Soviet influence. This shows that this was the battle would be the deciding factor between Nazism and communism. For this battle The Germans had 1,000,000 soldiers 1,500 tanks and 3,300 air crafts whereas the Soviets had 2,500,000 soldiers, 6,250 tanks and 7,500 air crafts. They had a huge advantage in manpower and gun power, but because this battle had to be fought within the streets of Berlin it had to be fought more tactfully. However, Stalin pushed his generals to overpower the Germans with sheer manpower so he could take the city first. Why? A theory is he wanted his secret police to reach the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute which was the center of Germany's nuclear research program and it also held a cascading generator which would be vital for any development in the Soviet. He was already thinking about the "race".
"I attacked along the whole front, and at night. As prisoners later told us, the great artillery barrage at night was what they had least expected. They had expected night attacks but not a general attack at night. After the artillery barrage, our tanks went into action. We had used 22,000 guns and mortars along the Oder, and 4,000 tanks were now thrown in. We also used 4,000 to 5,000 planes. During the first day alone there were 15,000 sorties." - Zhukov