Our nerves were in shreds. They found still-warm crematoriums and bins filled with hair, eyeglasses, baby shoes and dentures harvested from victims. In fact, this frail child didn't even look capable of carrying such a grenade. Berlin, Nazi Germany. Soldiers hoist the Soviet flag over Berlin. “Nothing is left of Berlin but memories,” said one Soviet officer. These boys did not volunteer, but had no choice, because boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.' Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel was a twenty-nine-year-old wife and mother living in Berlin. We join Dorothea's account as the Russians begin the final push to victory: 3 – The primary thrust by the Soviets would begin in the later half of May. Upon his death, Hitler’s will appointed Admiral Karl Dönitz as the  Reichspräsident or “President” of the country. 16- WWII. The entire three hundred square miles of what was left of Berlin were now completely under control of the Red Army. As could be expected, that night a horde of Soviet soldiers returned and stormed into their apartment house. On April 16, American troops reached the Third Reich’s spiritual heart, Nuremberg, the stage for massive Nazi Party rallies and some of Hitler’s most maniacal speeches. “No one knows what the German will do in his own country, and he is trying hard.” For the fanatically determined Hitler and millions of his countrymen, unconditional surrender was not an option. The first Allied bombs fell on Berlin in 1940, and night bombing by the RAF continued until 1943, when it was replaced by daytime raids made by the US Army Air Force. They came out yelling gleefully with their hands full of German bank notes and jewelry from safe deposit boxes that had been pried open. Soviets in the SS boots had taken during the day. Even grizzled Lieutenant General George S. Patton became physically sick at the stench and the sights as he toured Ohrdurf with Eisenhower on April 12. References: I went over to him and found a mere child in a uniform many sizes too large for him, with an anti-tank grenade lying beside him. reported to Hitler that the ammunition of the defenders would be exhausted at some point that evening. Soviets were on our street. Half of the troops had only rags and tatters around their feet while others wore SS boots that had been looted from a conquered SS barrack in Lichterfelde. At the same time, Montgomery’s 21st Army Group would protect the northern flank of the Allies and General Jacob Devers’ 6th Army Group would protect the southern flank. Throughout the night, we huddled together in mortal fear, not knowing what the morning might bring. She and her young daughter along with friends and neighbors huddled within their apartment building as the end neared. By April 30th, the Soviet Army had conquered the Reichstag after heavy fighting. Inside the first concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops were dead bodies of starvation victims stacked like firewood and a pyre with charred skulls and bones left by Nazis who had attempted to destroy evidence of their genocide. A third group would defeat German defending units located north of the city. As could be expected, that night a horde of Soviet soldiers returned and stormed into their apartment house. The screaming, gun-wielding women were the worst. Pearl Harbor -victory Test Review. After the East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive had concluded, the Red Army’s 2nd Byelorussian Front had breached the German lines at Pomerania on February 24th, 1945. Field Marshall Keitel signs the surender terms. No one could afford to miss rations of this type and we stood in long lines at the . Leading up to the Battle for Berlin, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin considered the city to be one of the major prizes of the war. It looked to me like a useless suicide assignment because the Soviets would shoot him on sight before he ever reached the tank. Soviets were on our street. "The Battle of Berlin, 1945," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2002). Gripped in fear, we sat in stunned silence, hoping to give the impression that this was a vacant house, but hopelessly delivered into the clutches of the long-feared Red Army. Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel was a twenty-nine-year-old wife and mother living in Berlin. At night, the Germans in our army boots recaptured the street that the 2 – Berlin had lost its strategic importance and the Soviets would only use secondary forces to capture the city. Although an Allied victory seemed inevitable, a battle-tested Eisenhower knew that war never ends quietly. They came out yelling gleefully with their hands full of German bank notes and jewelry from safe deposit boxes that had been pried open. Hunger now became a major concern because our ration cards were worthless with no hope of any supplies. The final chapter of the Third Reich would be written in blood as the Nazis prepared for a tenacious last stand on the soil of their homeland. Later that afternoon, Hitler and his wife (Braun) committed suicide. 2 terms. April 23, 1945 - May 2, 1945.