On April 16, 1945, 2.5 million Soviet troops approached the city and launched an attack on the German capital, Berlin. After 16 days of fierce fighting, General Weidling, commander of the German city defense of Berlin, led his troops to surrender, ending the Battle of Berlin.
Seven days later, on behalf of the German President and Wehrmacht Supreme Commander Dönitz, the German High Command signed an unconditional instrument of surrender to the Soviet Union and the Allies in the canteen hall of the Berlin Military Engineering Academy, on behalf of the German High Command, Admiral Kettel, Admiral Štumpöfer, and Admiral Fredenburg. After the signing of the unconditional agreement, the German troops in the European and African theaters laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Allies.
This move meant that the Soviet-German war ended in the victory of the Soviet Union, and it also meant the victory of the world anti-fascist front. Later, May 9 was celebrated as the Anniversary of the Victory of the World Anti-Fascist (the European Battlefield).
However, the German troops stationed in Czechoslovakia did not lay down their arms to the Allies in accordance with the demand for unconditional surrender. This army is the most elite Army Group Center in Germany, with the 1st Tank Army, the 4th Tank Army, the 17th Army, as well as the 8th Army and the 6th SS Tank Army belonging to the Austrian Army Group, with a total strength of more than 900,000 people, with more than 1,000 aircraft, 1,900 tanks and artillery, nearly 10,000 artillery pieces, and 9,700 pursuit guns.
The german army was led by German Field Marshal Johann Ferdinand Schönner. Born on December 5, 1892, Schönner enlisted in the army at the age of 19, lived through the First World War, and was awarded the Order of the Blue Marks, the highest honor of the German army at that time, for his outstanding performance. In World War II, Schönal was conscripted again, fought in the Polish, French, Greek and Soviet-German wars, and was promoted to field marshal on 5 April 1945 and appointed commander-in-chief of the army.
Since the Germans were unwilling to surrender, the Soviets had to beat them to surrender with gunfire.
In order to eliminate this recalcitrant German army, the Soviet Union dispatched three fronts, namely the 1st Ukrainian Front led by Soviet Marshal Konev, the 2nd Ukrainian Front led by Soviet Marshal Malinovsky, and the 4th Ukrainian Front army led by General Yelyommenko, totaling 2 million people, far outnumbering the German army. In addition, the Soviet Army had 3 tank armies, 3 air force groups, 1 cavalry mechanization group, 1 independent army, 5 independent tank armies, 1 mechanized army and 1 cavalry army, with more than 3,000 aircraft, 2,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, 30,500 artillery and pursuit guns, which was overwhelmingly superior to the German army.
On 6 May, when The German commander of the berlin defenses, Admiral Weidling, had surrendered to soviet forces, the 1st Ukrainian Front took the lead in pursuing the German Army Group Center stationed in Czechoslovakia, and fought the last battle of the European battlefield, the Battle of Prague. Over the next few days, the 2nd Ukrainian Front and the 4th Ukrainian Front joined the campaign, liberating the Czechoslovak capital of Prague on 9 May.
Is that enough? inexistent. On 10 May, the Soviet army of 2 million continued its pursuit of the German Army Group Center, driving them into an encirclement. When the Germans were firmly encircled and there was no hope of a breakthrough, they had to lay down their weapons and surrender to the Soviet army. On May 11, the five-day campaign ended after a victorious meeting between Soviet and American troops.
Although the Battle of Prague lasted only 5 days in total, the Results achieved by the Soviet army were remarkable. The German Army Group Center consisted of 900,000 people, 850,000 casualties and captures, and only a very small number escaped from the encirclement. The number of casualties of the Soviet army was only more than 10,000, which was relatively low in the Soviet-German war. This shows that by the end of the Soviet-German war, the combat effectiveness and will to fight of the Soviet army were extremely high, while the combat effectiveness and will to fight of the German army had dropped sharply, and the two were no longer on the same level.
Interestingly, as early as September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement and occupied the Sudetenland. Today, the Battle of Prague is the last fierce battle in Europe.
Because of Schenaer's stubborn attitude to the end, he was severely punished by the Allies.
Although Schönal saw that the situation was not good and quickly surrendered to the United States, the United States soon handed him over to the Soviet Union. Soviet troops sent him to the 27th prisoner-of-war camp in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow. In February 1952, the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced him to 50 years' imprisonment (later changed to 25 years) for his active participation in the preparations for the war against the USSR, in violation of international law and treaties. In 1955, Schönner was released early by the Soviet Union and returned to East Germany. In 1958, when Schönal traveled to West Germany, he was accused of executing Colonel Arndt without trial, sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and deprived of his pension.
If Schönal hadn't sparked the Battle of Prague, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been punished so harshly by the Allies, right?