On April 16, 1945, the Soviet army launched a total of 2.62 million troops, launched an attack on the 800,000 German troops in the arch capital Berlin, which was also the last large-scale war in the European battlefield, the battle was extremely fierce, the two sides invested 30,000 guns and more than 3,000 tanks, nearly 6,000 aircraft, although the Soviet army launched a fierce attack with the tide of superiority, but the retreating German army still did not give up, and launched a fierce gun battle with the Soviet army in the streets of Berlin, and finally on May 9, Representatives of the German high command presented an unconditional instrument of surrender in Berlin, marking the end of the war and the surrender of Germany.
In this battle, the German casualties surrendered 400,000 people, and the Soviet casualties are not low, the casualties are nearly 300,000 people, in fact, considering the situation at that time, after the failure of the Ardennes counterattack, Germany was already defeated, the Soviet army can wait until the Advance of the Western Allies, and then encircle Berlin, forcing Germany to surrender, why did the Soviets still plan to attack Berlin, so that hundreds of thousands of casualties were caused? Let's take a good look at it.
In 1945, there were about 2.5 million troops in Germany, and 1 million of them were aces, in addition to the 800,000 people who defended the capital, Germany had about 300,000 people in the Allied Courland encirclement, about 400,000 to 500,000 in Czechoslovakia, about 300,000 in Italy and Yugoslavia in southern Europe, and Hungary also had the strongest German SS armored troops stationed. The rest are all distributed in the south of France and other locations.
Although these German troops were cut and scattered by the Allies, they were still neatly organized, and they were an extremely powerful threat, and for the Allies, only by "hitting the snake seven inches" and crushing the German chain of command in Berlin could they avoid greater casualties. Attacking Berlin was therefore an essential decision.
So let's talk about why the main offensive force attacking Berlin was the Soviets attacking on the Eastern Front, rather than the American and British Allies advancing from the West.
On February 1, 1945, the Soviets had reached the west bank of the Oder River, only 60 kilometers from Berlin, that is, two months before the Launch of the Battle of Berlin, the Soviets were already under the city, but they wanted to clear the flanks, so the Battle of East Pomerania was fought.
At this time, the British and American commanders, Montgomery and Eisenhower, and others were also closely deliberating whether the American and British troops had the need to enter Berlin, and their corps also reached the Elbe, 320 kilometers away from Berlin. Although the distance was longer than that of the Soviets, at this time the German army on the western front had only 26 poorly equipped integrated divisions, and the defense was much weaker than that of the East.
But in the end, the United States and Britain believed that Berlin had lost its strategic value, was only a sign of victory, and it was better to "go with the flow" and give the credit for the occupation of Berlin to Stalin, so in March, the Allied 21st Army Group and the 12th Army Group changed their original strategic objectives, one attacking the Elbe to divide the German army and join the Red Army division, and the other eastward marching to Austria. Their first task was to take over the Industrial Heart of Germany, the Ruhr Industrial Park, which had produced 70,000 cannons for Germany in 1944 and was the lifeblood of Germany's economy, while stationing the most powerful force in the West, the Fifth and Fifteenth Armies of Marshal Modell of Nazi Germany. In the end, the Anglo-American Allies did not attack Berlin.
As for the division of power, it was made clear as early as the Yalta Conference in 1945, most of Berlin was identified as the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Americans were not stupid enough to pay heavy casualties in the field of future opponents.
For Stalin and the Soviet Union, the political significance of attacking Berlin was also extremely important, and the capture of Berlin also represented their complete victory in the Great Patriotic War, which was an important help to morale, and the Soviet Union at this time, although victorious, paid a heavy price, the economy was on the verge of collapse, domestic contradictions were extremely serious, and the occupation of Berlin could also give all Soviets a shot in the arm. For various reasons, it was determined that it was the Soviet army that finally occupied Berlin.