Yevgeny Khaldei - Raising the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag,1945

Yevgeni KHALDEI.Berlin. Dawn on the 2nd May 1945. A Russian soldier Alexei KOVALYOV hoists the Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag building. Photographer Yevgeni KHALDEI had made the flag from a red tablecloth brought from Moscow. Bitter fighting was going on in the basement of the Reichstag, but Khaldei told several soldiers to follow him up to the roof where he took this photo.

70th anniversary of the end of World War II:

Berlin 1945

The human cost of the battle for Berlin had been enormous. Millions of shells were fired into a city that was already

devastated after two years of relentless bombing raids by British and American warplanes.

The German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, was a shadow of its former self. But its 300,000 German troops were determined to

hold out against the vastly superior Red Army.

The German resolve to fight was largely due to fear of Russian retributions. Since 1941, Nazi forces had laid waste to large parts

of the Soviet Union. More than 23 million Soviet soldiers and civilians had died.

Fuelled by Nazi propaganda, the Germans were terrified of what would happen if Berlin fell into Soviet hands.

A well-known photograph of the Fuerer made on the 20th of April in 1945 where he gives the Iron Crosses to the young boys from the Hitler Youth. This picture was previously a part of the unique photographic collection of Hugo Yager and Henry Hoffmann. The latter was Hitler's official photographer. The picture was taken at the back wall of the Reich Chancellery.

Adolf Hitler decorates members of his Nazi youth organization "Hitler Jugend" in a photo reportedly taken in front of the Chancellery Bunker in Berlin, on April 25, 1945. That was just four days before Hitler committed suicide. AP Photo

Last reserve the Third Reich.

April 1945: Adolf Hitler inspects damage to his Reich Chancellery. This is one of the last photographs of the Nazi leader who committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945. Russian authorities in 2000 presented a skull fragment they said belonged to him. But a recent DNA test by an American scientist found that it belonged to a woman. Russia's FSB intelligence service has now insisted that the skull fragment is Hitler's.

April 1945: Street fighting between German and Soviet troops in Berlin during the battle to gain control of the capital(Ivan Shagin/Getty Images))

A Soviet tank gunner cautiously peers through the hatch of his tank during the Battle of Berlin. Berlin, Germany. April 1945.

A Russian armoured vehicle is pictured at the junction between Ritter Street and Alexandrinen Street in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout via Reuters

A Russian peers cautiously around the bridge on River Spree. May 1, 2011. A fellow soldier lies dead nearby.

Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft fly in the skies above Berlin, Germany in 1945. Waralbum.ru

A Russian SU 76 Self-propelled gun fires in a Berlin street fight. April 1945

Revenge, polish soldiers in Berlin.

Russian troops fighting in Berlin, Germany, circa Apr-May 194

A Russian army vehicle is pictured next to the Neue Reichskanzlei (New Reich Chancellery), the Chancellery of Adolf Hitler at Voss Street in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout via Reuters

Russian soldiers stand next to their cannons at August Street in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout via Reuters

Russian soldiers are pictured on top of the Reichstag building in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout via Reuters

Russian soldiers stand next to a cannon at August Street in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout via Reuters

Berlin was a battlefield, still strewn with remnants of the struggle for possession of the city in the may of 1945. Berliner Verlag

A Russian soldier pulls out a German from a manhole

A Russian soldier, tired from the fighting, snatches some sleep. Beside him is a dead German soldier. April 1945. Berlin

A dead Volkssturm volunteer lies dead on the street of Berlin.

Russians flush out the Subway of the last Germans resisting. April 26, 1945. Frankfurter Allee 113 station.

A Soviet tank trundles by the Gate

1945. German prisoners of war being marched through the BrandenburgGate.Berlin.. photo V.TIOMIN.

The war was over. German POW walk silently on the street of Berlin. May 2, 1945

Top German generals who stayed alive and surrendered

A Russian officer checks the documents of captured German soldiers. Berlin. April 1945.

German prisoners on the streets of Berlin. On the frontal plane, "the last hope of Germany," the boys of the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm.

These kids from Hitler Youth were sent to defend Berlin in the last stages!

German prisoners captured by 1st Belorussian front, Berlin, Germany, 1945

This 13-year old child was one of a group of fifty children captured by US forces in Martinteselle on the periphery of Berlin, April 1945. He is wearing an army uniform and was exposed to combat on the front line.

16-year-old German Soldier after being captured by U.S. forces, Berlin, 1945

Berlin. April 1945. Apocalypse. Hell on Earth.

Berlin. 30 April 1945. Soviet troops walking to the Reichstag building.Soviet Group/Magnum Photos

Berlin. August, 1945. The Lustgarten in front of the Berlin Cathedral. Nazi demonstrations used to be held in this area.. Robert Capa

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Oberwallstrasse, in central Berlin, saw some of the most vicious fighting between German and Soviet troops in the spring of 1945

Excellent aerial view showing devastation and bombed out buildings over wide area of Communist, Russian controlled Berlin, extending north beyond its border of the Brandenburg Gate, following Allied capture of the city.Berlin, Germany. July 1945.Photographer William Vandivert

Berlin, Germany. July 1945.Photographer William Vandivert

The Reichstag in ruins; Berlin, Germany - 30 April 1945

Wrecked vehicles, rubble and abandoned artillery fill Oberwallstrasse street, where some of the most bitter fighting for control of Berlin took place.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

Abandoned vehicles and armor left in rubble strewn courtyard of the Reichschancellery bldg. following fall of the city to Allied forces.Photographer:William Vandivert

Sergeant R S Baker of the Army Film and Photograph Unit standing in the courtyard of the ruined Chancellery building in Berlin, 2 July 1945.

Russian troops in the treaty room at the Chancellery in Berlin, where the huge chandeliers hang nearly to the floor. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images). 1945

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Russian soldiers and a civilian struggle to move a large bronze Nazi Party eagle that once loomed over a doorway of the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 1945.

Russian military personnel under archway entrance to the Reichstag building which is covered in graffiti scrawled & scratched by their conquering comrades, making the spot a top "tourist " draw for the Russian troops.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

Debris covered area w. various statuary at the south entrance to the Reichstag building, walls & statues are covered in graffiti scrawled & scratched by conquering Russian soldiers.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer: William Vandivert

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. At the Reichstag, evidence of a practice common throughout the centuries: soldiers scrawling graffiti to honor fallen comrades, insult the vanquished or simply announce, I was here. I survived. Berlin, 1945

Here the inscriptions are a bit larger and can be easily read. Look, there are many cities - Kiev, Leningrad, Michurinsk, Kharkov, Batumi, Moscow, etc.

Ornate archway inside the Reichstag building shows damage as well as graffiti scrawled & scratched on the walls by conquering Russian soldiers.Berlin, Germany. William Vandivert

Interior of the Reichstag building showing destruction as well as graffiti scrawled & scratched on the walls by conquering Russian soldiers. Photographer:William Vandivert

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA new view of a photograph that appeared, heavily cropped, in LIFE, picturing Hitler's bunker, partially burned by retreating German troops and stripped of valuables by invading Russians.

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William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesWith only candles to light their way, war correspondents examine a couch stained with blood (see dark patch on the arm of the sofa) located inside Hitler's bunker

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. A Russian soldier stands in Adolf Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image. An SS officer's cap, with the infamous death's-head skull emblem barely visible.

Bullet scarred walls & rubble on terrace of Reichschancellery bldg. showing effects of the fierce fighting which took place here during the battle for control of the city.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

LIFE correspondent Percy Knauth sifting through the dirt & debris in the shallow shell hole where the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were thought to have been burned after their suicides, in the garden of the Reichstag.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. William Vandivert

1945: War correspondents are shown the grave where Adolf Hitler's charred body is alleged to have been buried, behind the Chancellery in Berlin(Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images)

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. In the garden of the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Bullet-riddled sentry pillbox outside Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

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William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. An unidentified hand on the destroyed hinge of the door to Hitler's bunker, burned off by advancing Russian combat engineers, Berlin, 1945

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Empty gasoline cans, reportedly used by SS troops to burn the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun after their suicides in the bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. An image almost too perfectly symbolic of Berlin in 1945: A crushed globe and a bust of Hitler amid rubble outside the ruined Reich Chancellery.

The streets of Berlin were choked with rubble -- and Red Army soldiers -- after the city's capture. The war killed 60 million people before it ended on May 8, 1945. ddp

Rubble strewn courtyard of German Army HQ where, on July 20, 1944, many conspirators in the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler were executed.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

German women gathering wood from piles of rubble which fill the street outside entrance to the bombed out Kroll Opera House following fall of the city to Allied forces.Photographer:William Vandivert

Brandenburg Gate in 1945

The Brandenburg Gate, two months after the end of the fighting. The place is already cleared from the rubble, a fence for patrol is organized in the central passage and the other ones (two on the right and two on the left) are used for movement. The speed limit is 5 km/h. It's also seen that horses at the top are partially damaged and knocked down. The zone border is precisely here, in front of the gate.

Heavily damaged German armored vehicle abandoned on street outside bullet scarred Reichschancellery bldg. following fall of the city to Allied forces..Berlin, Germany, July 1945. Photographer: William Vandivert

Ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin, 3 June 1945.

People walking cleared street near ruins of the Reichstag building which shows destructive effects of Allied bombing and artillery.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer: William Vandivert

People walk on Borsig Street in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout

Ruins of Berlin. . photo Yevgeni KHALDEI

Wounded German soldiers line Unter den Linden, Berlin's main boulevard, as nurses struggle to help them.

30th April 1945.Soviet tanks enter Berlin.. photo Yevgeni KHALDEI

Ruins of the Reichstag building showing destruction from Allied bombing and artillery (note abandoned 88mm anti-aircraft gun in foreground).Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

German citizens walking along Hermann Goering Strasse past destroyed military vehicles amid rubble piled outside walls of the home of German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, following the fall of the city to allied troops.Berlin, Germany. July 1945. Photographer:William Vandivert

German citizens sifting through piles of rubble which fill the streets looking for wood & other useful items while clearing debris along Oberwallstrasse, where some of the most bitter fighting for control of Berlin took place. Berlin, Germany. July 1945 Photographer: William Vandivert

Berlin. August, 1945. People on street lined with ruined buildings. Robert Capa

Berlin. 1945.Refugees making their way through the ruined Soviet sector. Robert Capa

BERLIN. Teams of 'Trümmerfrauen' helping to clear the rubble. 1945. Robert Capa 

German women doing their washing at a water hydrant in a Berlin street, near the wreck of a German light armoured car, 3 July 1945.

Older woman knitting among the fallen city of Berlin, 1945

Berlin.August, 1945. An American soldier selling a watch to a Russian soldier.Robert Capa.

Maria Timofeevna Shalneva (Nenakhova), Lance Corporal of the 87-th separate road maintenance battalion, regulates the movement of military vehicles near the Reichstag in Berlin. Photo: Eugene Khaldey

Soldiers mock Hitler atop his balcony at the Reich Chancellery, 1945

Russian, American and British troops on the balcony of Hitlers Chancellery in Berlin. (Photo by Reg Speller/Getty Images)

Allied soldiers queuing outside the devastated German Chancellery to see the remains of Adolf Hitlers underground shelter where he is reputed to have committed suicide. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images). 27th July 1945

British soldiers in line for tea at NAFFI Mobile Canteen No. 750 at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, 16 Jul 1945

An elderly man sits among the ruins after the Battle of Berlin, May 1945.

Russian soldiers in front of the Reichstag building in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. REUTERS/MHM/Georgiy Samsonov/Handout

Servicemen and civilians walking freely past the Brandenburg Gate in the Russian sector. Berlin, Germany. August 1945. Photographer:Margaret Bourke-White

Auxiliary nurses tending the wounded in front of the Brandenburg Gate - Berlin, 1945

German POW, broken men, and civilians get medical attention in the open near Brandenberg gate. April 1945, Berlin.

A Soviet soldier stands with broken mannequins and a shattered Agfa film sign in Berlin 1945. Dmitri Baltermants/The Dmitri Baltermants Collection/Corbis

Alexanderplatz. August, 1945. On the right: two Soviet soldiers. The road signs in the back indicate the way to the Reichstag and to Potsdam. Robert Capa.

Berlin. Soviet soldiers being photographed. Robert Capa

Grill of wrecked vehicle and debris frame portrait of German General Walther Von Brauchitsch tossed among wreckage following fall of the city to Allied forces.Berlin, Germany, July 1945. Photographer: William Vandivert

Red Army photographer Yevgeny Khaldei (center) in Berlin with Soviet forces, near the Brandenburg Gate in May of 1945. (Waralbum.ru)

A Russian tank is parked near the Brandenburg Gate. Also seen is American photographer Robert Carmen. May 2, 1945

An official US war photographer tries on a watch at the daily [Persian Bazaar] outside the Reichstag in post-war Berlin. Allied troops and Germans alike bring watches, cameras, clothing, cigarettes and food to trade on the black market. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone Features/Getty Images). August 1945

Female Russian soldier grinning broadly while showing off her medals and a US Army Officers insignia pinned to her shirt after the Allied troops met following the fall of Berlin. Berlin, Germany, July 1945. (Photo by William Vandivert/Life)

Female Russian MP being saluted by American WACs who are passing the Brandenburg Gate.

Poet and war correspondent Yevgeny Dolmatovsky near the Brandenburg Gate on 2 May 1945

A German soldiers, perhaps a member of the Volksturm,

awaits his fate

Children play on the bomb sites and wrecked tanks in Berlin, in the aftermath of the fighting in the city. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Getty Images). 08-1945

Berlin, Summer 1945 Start newest life.

end

cast 70th anniversary of the end of World War II: Berlin 1945

images and text credit   www. images.google.com www.magnumphotos.com englishrussia.com www.theatlantic.com time.com avaxnews.net

Music wav.       created olga.e.

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