On April 16, 1945, the Red Army concentrated 2.5 million troops on three fronts, with more than 42,000 artillery and rockets, 6,250 tanks and 7,500 aircraft, to attack Berlin, the last lair of German fascism. After the bloody battle of Soviet officers and soldiers, the Soviet army took Berlin at a huge cost of 300,000 casualties, and won the largest victory in the city offensive in human history.
From the perspective of the world anti-fascist war, the Battle of Berlin marked the complete demise of German fascism, the end of the European battlefield, and the end of the Soviet-German war with the complete victory of the Soviet Red Army! For the entire Soviet Union, this was indeed a glorious victory that could go down in history! For the world anti-fascist camp, it is also of epoch-making significance. From then on, the world anti-fascist camp can concentrate more forces to launch a final offensive against the last fascist country, Japan.
However, with the declassification of various archives and historical materials after the war, we will find that the motivation behind the Soviet invasion of Berlin may have another meaning. Some historians believe that the Soviet invasion of Berlin may have been directly related to stopping Churchill's "World War III."
01
Farin, a Soviet politician who served as soviet ambassador to Germany, said that Soviet agents had obtained intelligence that Churchill might launch a "third world war"! By March 1945, the european battlefield had been decided, and the Allied and Soviet forces had invaded the German mainland. At this time, the "anti-Soviet politician" Churchill was considering launching a new war against the Soviet Union. In April, Churchill ordered the British General Staff to draw up a plan for war against the Soviet Union, code-named "unimaginable". The plan clearly stated that the Soviet army was already very weak, and the Soviet army that had participated in the war in Europe had run out of equipment, so there was no difficulty in driving the Soviet army back to the pre-war borders and forcing Stalin to step down. What awaits us will be the change of social system and the disintegration of the state (the SOVIET Union).
Judging from the actual situation at that time, Britain's attack on the Soviet Union was also militarily feasible. At that time, the Allies had a total of 2 million troops fighting the Germans on the Western Front. As the Allied front advanced, more and more German prisoners of war were captured by the Allies. To the surprise of later generations, the British army did not dismiss these German prisoners of war, but instead sent instructors to train the german prisoners of war with combat effectiveness. Since a considerable number of these German prisoners of war had fought against the Soviets, they were more familiar with the Soviet situation than the Allies. Thus, Churchill acquiesced in the fact that the British training German prisoners of war would indeed have the possibility of rearming the Germans to attack the Soviet Union. In other words, once Churchill's "unimaginable" plan was officially implemented, the troops attacking the Soviet Union were not only the British, but also the Germans, who were armed by the British.
The British were preparing to attack the Soviet Union, but what was the reaction of the United States? backing. Patton, the famous American General of World War II, once said that his troops would not stop advancing according to the constraints of the Yalta Agreement, and that the US army would fight until Stalingrad and stop the war where Hitler did not stop the war. On Labor Day in 1945, Patton made a public speech that "the contradiction between [the United States] and the socialist countries (the Soviet Union) is the root cause of World War III." Although Eisenhower was particularly disgusted by Patton's speech for the purpose of defending the anti-fascist alliance, Patton's speech did show the anti-Soviet political ideas of US President Truman. If Churchill had launched World War III, the United States would have provided intelligence and logistical support to Britain, even if it had not sent troops directly.
In fact, Britain's plan to start a third world war had already been learned by the "Cambridge Five", a spy arranged by the Soviet Union in London. Stalin soon learned about Churchill's launching of World War III. The supreme commander of the Soviet Army in World War II knew very well that whether it was a Cold War or a hot war, as long as World War II was over, the Soviet Union and Britain would inevitably move toward confrontation. However, the world anti-fascist war is not over, the German troops stationed in Berlin are still stubbornly resisting, and the Japanese fascists in the Far East are making the final dying struggle. Stalin could not in any way allow the World Anti-Fascist League to split before fascism was finally destroyed! Therefore, in order to show Churchill the strength of the Soviet Union, he warned britain not to act rashly. In order to end the Soviet-German war as soon as possible and completely destroy German fascism, Stalin ordered Zhukov to launch an attack on Berlin.
In other words, behind Stalin's decision to force Zhukov to attack Berlin was a deep political reason to stop Churchill from launching The Third World War.
02
In order to capture Berlin, the Red Army concentrated the largest siege corps in human history: its total strength was as high as 2.5 million people, with 42,000 guns of various types, 6,250 tanks and 7,500 aircraft. Among the many artillery pieces that the Soviets participated in the war were the advanced Katyusha rocket launchers, the ML20 type 152 mm cannon howitzer. Tanks and self-propelled guns include the advanced IS2 heavy tank, the T34-85 medium tank, and the powerful Isu122 self-propelled gun, which isu152 self-propelled gun. The combat effectiveness of these weapons and equipment was not only no less than that of the German army at that time, but also exceeded many of the equipment of the British army. In particular, the IS2 heavy tank, isu122 self-propelled gun and isu152 self-propelled gun, which constituted an overwhelming advantage over British tanks.
The Soviet Union, armed with heavy armies and a large number of heavy weapons, was determined to show Churchill that we could take Berlin, the largest city in Central Europe, wipe out 1 million German troops, and crush the British provocations against the Soviet Union.
It turned out that Stalin's shock really worked. After the battle began, Soviet artillery launched the heaviest artillery attack ever on the outer positions of Berlin, and Soviet Air Force fighters dropped bombs on German positions. Subsequently, soviet infantry, with the cooperation of tanks, launched a general attack on the outer positions of Berlin. By late April, various Soviet offensive units had entered the city of Berlin to fight in the streets, and in the brutal Berlin street battles, the Soviet army's tactical coordination reached the level of pure fire. Despite the Desperate Resistance of the Germans in the city, the Soviets' "Strike Group Combat Group" of tanks, artillery and infantry quickly crushed it.
What would have been the outcome if the opponents of the Battle of Berlin had been replaced by Germans to British? The answer is self-evident.
Judging from the actual results, the Soviet army's strong attack on Berlin did achieve the effect of deterring Britain. Although Churchill still hated the Soviet Union in his heart, he really did not dare to openly raise the idea of attacking the Soviet Union anymore.
If we look more deeply at the Battle of Berlin and Churchill's "World War III" plan, we will find that behind this series of events actually reflects the contradictions between Britain and the Soviet Union. To put it more precisely, this is also a contradiction between Churchill and the Soviet Union.
Churchill was a hardcore anti-Soviet fighter. As early as after the victory of the October Revolution, as Minister of the Navy, he actively organized the British army to intervene in Soviet Russia. Later, the international situation underwent major changes, Germany under Hitler became the source of war in Europe, and Churchill, as a famous politician, opposed the policy of appeasement and advocated being tough on Germany. Although Britain and the Soviet Union agreed on Germany, Churchill remained tough on the Soviet Union. This is completely consistent with the anti-Soviet ideology in Britain. It is worth mentioning that Britain's appeasement policy itself had elements against the Soviet Union.
On June 22, 1941, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Churchill changed his attitude toward the Soviet Union out of consideration for the overall anti-fascist situation, however, at this time Churchill still adopted a policy of "two-sided diplomacy" towards the Soviet Union. On the one hand, Churchill hoped that the Soviets would be able to hold back the German offensive and reduce the pressure on Britain, which allowed Churchill to provide a certain degree of material support to the Soviets. Stalin and Churchill also held two important meetings against German fascism. Churchill, on the other hand, wanted to weaken the Soviet Union by Hitler's hand. When the defeat of the German army has been decided, the Allied and Soviet forces have invaded the German mainland, britain can take this opportunity to attack the Soviet Union, Churchill believes that the demise of Germany is only a matter of time, with the demise of Germany, the contradiction between britain and the entire Western camp and the Soviet Union has become the main contradiction in the geopolitical pattern of Europe. This became the direct cause of Churchill's launching of World War III against the Soviet Union. Churchill's Iron Curtain Address in 1946 embodied his anti-Soviet political ideas to the fullest.
Resources:
"Painting the Soviet-German War of World War II" by Xu Yan, China Machine Press
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