The Soviet-German battlefield during World War II was the most fiercely fought area in the world, and the Soviet Union suffered 60 million casualties in order to win the war, accounting for one-third of the total population of the Soviet Union at that time. The Nazi Germans also exhausted all their elite forces on the Eastern Front, and by the spring of 1945, the Soviet, American, British, and French armies were already fighting in Germany, and the Soviets were only 100 kilometers from Berlin.
Even in 1945, the main German forces were still concentrated on the Eastern Front against the Soviets, and in order to defend Berlin, the Germans mobilized 214 divisions and 14 brigades, and only sent 60 disaffected divisions against the Anglo-American and French troops. The Germans also formed more than 200 national assault battalions in the city of Berlin, guarding the city with millions of people. In order to occupy Berlin, the Soviet army invested more than 2 million troops. The most tragic battle in the capture of Berlin was the defense of the Empire State Building.
After the Battle of Berlin, the Nazi German army did not invest too many troops in the Reichstag due to the limitation of its strength, and only more than 1,500 German troops were deployed in the Reichstag, of which more than 1,000 were SS, the rest were foreign volunteers, and many of them volunteered to participate in the battle by the troops who were later dispersed. On April 29, 1945, the 79th Army of the Soviet Third Army began the first round of charge against the Reichstag, but the main offensive line of the Third Army was actually the Prime Minister's Office, because the Prime Minister's Office had more troops, but what they did not expect was that the resistance of the Reichstag was more tenacious.
The Soviets initially organized a tentative attack of three or four hundred officers and men, and as a result, the soldiers were eliminated before they could step into the square of the Reichstag. The stubborn resistance of the German army not only did not frighten the Soviet officers and soldiers, but also stimulated the fighting spirit of the Soviet army, constantly organizing people and horses, wave after wave of killing the Empire State Building, and their blood stained the square in front of the Empire State Building. The Germans had placed countless firing holes in the Reichstag, and the MG42 heavy machine gun and the MG34 heavy machine gun were firing wildly outside, and they didn't care how many bullets were consumed.
Due to the german firepower, soviet snipers could not find the right way to kill the Germans. After heavy casualties, the Soviets sent several tanks to bomb, but they were soon attacked by the last remaining German tank and anti-tank guns, and several Soviet tanks were directly overturned. Soviet armored vehicles also continued to pour into the vicinity of the Reichstag, and the Germans used iron fists to fire anti-tank bazookas at the Soviet army, resulting in heavy losses to the Soviet armored forces. At the same time, the remnants of the SS combat squads that heard the sound of gunfire in the vicinity continued to attack behind the Soviets, causing great losses to the Soviets, and the Soviets had to re-establish the defensive line after suffering several losses, but the SS combat squads were still able to infiltrate the Reichstag.
In the early morning of the 30th, the Chancellery was occupied, the Soviet army concentrated all its forces to besiege the Empire State Building, the reinforcement detachments of the two divisions of the Soviet Army entered the Reichstag Building, the Soviet artillery and tanks kept shelling the Reichstag, and many German soldiers were blown away. The Soviets hoped to force the Germans to surrender in this way, but they were mistaken. Finally the Soviets stormed the interior of the Empire State Building, both sides using grenades, grenades, bayonets to open the way, and some in a conference room, dozens of people on both sides were beating each other, and the battle was extremely fierce. At 9:50 p.m. on the 30th, the Soviets finally opened the passage to the top floor of the Empire State Building and occupied the Empire State Building.