Who defeated Nazi Germany? The answer given to us in the textbooks is "allies", which contain more than a dozen anti-fascist countries, of which the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union were the main forces that destroyed the Nazis, and after the war, each person was given a piece of German land.
But if we look deeper into the word "allies," we will find differences between countries.
First of all, France was not qualified as a victorious power, and it surrendered as early as 40 days after the start of the war. In the remaining three countries, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union fought fiercely in the early stages, but Britain only had to preserve its own strength, but did not crush the Nazi military.
As for the United States, it did not join the frontal battle against Germany until three years after the start of the war, and the suspicion of "picking peaches" was very high. In general, between 1941 and 1944, only soviets were carrying Nazis to death on the entire Continent. The Soviets fought all the way from the Volga River to the city of Berlin, and finally captured Berlin and destroyed Nazi Germany.
In the 4 Years' War, the Soviets wiped out 80% of the German army, and in the final Battle of Berlin alone, the Soviet army wiped out 800,000 German troops.
On the eve of the Nazis' demise, all the Allied nations knew the significance of the city of Berlin, both military and political, and it was a supreme honor to take down this "evil heart" of the regime. At that time, both the Anglo-American army and the Soviet army were under the city of Berlin, but the Anglo-American army abandoned the siege and gave up a nearby Berlin to the Soviet Union.
The photograph of the Soviets capturing Berlin and planting the red flag in the Reichstag marked the end of the European war in World War II, and also left the history of the great Soviet Red Army's "3rd Assault Army". The Anglo-American coalition invaded Germany properly, so why retreat under the city of Berlin? What was the motivation of both Britain and the Soviet Union to occupy Berlin? The Soviets suffered 350,000 casualties in Berlin, and did the front-line generals complain about this?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" >, the German beast fight, the US military folded the "Ardennes Forest"</h1>
In 1944, both the Anglo-American allies and the Soviets actually wanted to take Berlin, after all, it was a sign of the conquest of Nazi Germany, and the laying of Berlin would give them more say. But Nazi Germany "died and did not freeze" at the end of 1944, and the German army resisted the pressure of the Soviet army and hit Britain and the United States in the face with a "battle of the salient".
The Battle of the Salient was dubbed the "Watch over the Rhine" by the Germans themselves, and was designed to block the Allies on both sides of the Rhine and protect a large area west of Berlin. The assault was militarily successful, with 250,000 German troops inserted into the American front in three routes, repelling the Allies in the Ardennes, and the armored forces advanced hundreds of kilometers.
In a month of great war between the German army and Britain and the United States, nearly 170,000 British and American troops were killed, wounded and captured, and finally Churchill had to call Stalin for help, and the Soviet army launched the "Battle of the Vistula River-Oder River" in advance, which allowed Germany to draw troops to the east and abandon the attack on the western front.
The Soviets launched the "Vistula-Oder" campaign in January 1945, and at the end of the campaign in February, a million Soviet troops pierced through Poland, and Berlin was just around the corner.
The Ardennes Forest Counterattack, germany's last initiative in World War II, caused huge casualties to the Allies on the Western Front. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces on the Western Front, calculated the account: since the landing of American troops in North Africa, it has been from North Africa to Italy, France, and the United States have suffered more than 500,000 casualties, but a battle for the Ardennes at the end of 1944 accounted for nearly a quarter.
If The Anglo-American army had attacked Berlin, the German counterattack would have been more tenacious than the Ardennes, according to american general Olard. Bradley's analysis that a strong attack on Berlin would cost the U.S. military more than 100,000 casualties, which is still the most conservative estimate. Although the value of the city of Berlin was very heavy, but to pay hundreds of thousands of soldiers for this, Eisenhower could not make up his mind for a while.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="4" > Second, after the partition of Europe, the United States sent affection to the Soviet Union</h1>
Eisenhower said he didn't want to fight Berlin, and the British were the ones who disagreed the most. The British had an unusual attachment to Berlin at this time, but in fact hid their ambitions to "return to Europe".
In the eyes of politicians, the occupation of Berlin was a huge gain, not only to take control of transportation throughout Central Europe, but also to seize the materials, funds, and scientists that the Nazis had accumulated over the years. Britain also wanted to use berlin to build its prestige and gain more say in post-war reconstruction. Moreover, as the "number one anti-communist" in Europe, Britain did not want the Soviet Union to take Berlin, which meant that the Soviet Union gained a firm foothold in Central Europe, and the whole of Europe had to look at its face.
Britain's abacus was loud, but the United States was unmoved, because the United States did not want to bleed or want Britain to dominate Western Europe, and he wanted to control Western Europe itself after the war. Behind the scenes, the two great powers of the United States and the Soviet Union exchanged many interests, and the disposition of post-war Germany has been secretly released.
By surrendering its offensive rights to Berlin, the United States exchanged its approval of the Soviet Union's plan to divide Germany and cooperation in the Far East. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union agreed to occupy Germany together with the United States, Britain, and France, and the German lands, including Berlin, would be divided, and each country would control a piece. In the Far East, the Soviet Union would join forces with U.S. forces to attack Japan and destroy the Empire.
Through a series of negotiations, the United States has maximized its own interests and successfully entered Europe. Eisenhower's loss of a Berlin bound to the Fall of the Soviet Union was tantamount to a free gift, and Stalin was very satisfied.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="6" > three, 300,000 casualties for a city, how much did the Soviet Union hate Germany? </h1>
Britain and the United States handed over Berlin to the Soviet army, and the Soviets' obsession with Berlin was so profound that it was beyond the imagination of Britain and the United States. The Red Army's desire for the German capital was no longer in the category of "strategy" or "tactics", and the Soviet army did not expect any situation to be created by the Battle of Berlin, they had only two words in their eyes - revenge.
Although Eisenhower and the U.S. army had already said that they would not fight Berlin, the Soviets still sent troops to surround the city of Berlin early and separate the British and American troops. There were 800,000 German troops in berlin's defensive circle, more than 1,000 tanks, more than 2,000 warplanes, and almost all the top brass of the Nazi Party were still in the city of Berlin, which was bound to be a fierce battle.
The Soviets attacked the city with 2.5 million troops, fighting for 20 days, and took Berlin after paying 350,000 casualties. The city of Berlin was blown to ruins, hundreds of thousands of German troops died or fell, and the fire that burned the city illuminated the sky, and the American army could see it dozens of miles away.
After seeing the tragic situation of the Battle of Berlin, the United States, from President Truman to Eisenhower and Bradley on the front line, all rejoiced in their correct decision. The Soviets, who had extensive siege experience and numerical superiority in siege from the Eastern Front, resulted in 80,000 soldiers killed in Berlin and 230,000 wounded. If the more "tender" British and American troops had been allowed to fight Berlin, the casualty figure might have doubled.
With more than 300,000 casualties in exchange for the victory in Berlin, did the Soviet officers and soldiers retreat, and did the generals complain? The answer is none at all.
The Soviet Union suffered 50 million casualties during World War II, and the hatred of the Soviet people against Germany was national. Before the war, Stalin stated that "the occupation of Berlin represents the dignity of the entire Soviet Red Army", and he ordered Zhukov to send elite troops to find the whereabouts of the Nazi Fuehrer.
For the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet high command knew that the casualties would be very large, but the Soviet front troops were still scrambling, Marshal Konev and Marshal Zhukov both took the initiative to ask for help, and the petition of the lower army group flew to Moscow like a snowflake.
When the battle reached the city of Berlin, every unit wanted to be the coffin bearer of Nazi Germany, and every soldier wanted to completely destroy the German army. Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front took the lead, and the flag of the 150th Division of the 79th Army of the 3rd Assault Army was planted on the roof of the Reichstag building in Berlin, announcing the demise of Nazi Germany. To this day, there is still a monument to the Soviet Red Army in the German capital Berlin, commemorating those soldiers who fell on the eve of victory.
Text/Shogakuno
Resources:
1. "The Beginning and End of Eisenhower's Abandonment of the Capture of Berlin in 1945", Ni Xuede
2. "Eisenhower Under the City of Berlin", Liu Jianzhong