Читать онлайн "Soviet Conquest: Berlin 1945" - Tissier Tony Le - RuLit

I was awarded the Order of Suvorov. I was so astounded that, instead of saying ‘I serve the Soviet Union,’ I said ‘Next time I will fight even better!’ The member of the war council, Semion Ivanovitch Melnikov, burst out laughing at these words. ‘Dragunski apparently wants to go on fighting,’ he said. ‘This war was not long enough for him.’

With the Order the army commander-in-chief handed me a letter from M.I. Kalinin. (It was during the war that the bestowing of orders bearing the name of field commanders was customary.)

‘That is not all,’ said Rybalko, as he congratulated me. ‘The Council of War has decided to send you to the victory parade in Moscow. You will lead the tank-men of our army. What do you make of that?’

Conclusion

The Soviet medal for the capture of Berlin was awarded to 1,082,000 persons, which gives some indication of the number of troops involved, including Rear Area personnel, in the actual taking of the city. Over 600 officers and men were awarded the gold star of ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’, and a further thirteen received their second gold star. The Soviet military cemeteries at Treptow, Pankow and in the Tiergarten hold the bodies of approximately 20,000 of their dead.

What none of the Soviet writers here refer to is the subject and extent of rape committed by their troops within the city. It was later estimated that some 95,000 to 130,000 women were raped by Soviet troops after the fall of the city.

Plates

^{Zhukov at his Seelow Heights command post.}

^{Soviet armour and artillery in the ruins.}

^{A Soviet self-propelled gun in action.}

^{Soviet howitzers in action.}

^{A Lend-Lease Sherman tank in action.}

^{Carrying off the Soviet injured.}

^{The Zoo Flak-tower with the Victory Column in the distance.}

^{A Soviet tank and jeep at the Brandenburg Gate.}

^{Destroyed Soviet armour outside the Technical University.}

^{Preparing to attack the Reichstag.}

^{The wreckage of the Reichstag after the battle.}

^{Dead in the streets.}

^{German troops surrendering from the underground railway.}

^{The end of the battle: German prisoners being marched out of the city.}

^{The Red Flag triumphantly but precariously displayed from the roof of the Reichstag.}

^{Celebrating Soviet victory at the German Victory Column.}

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by

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ISBN 978-1-47382-110-1

eISBN 9781473841567

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