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The Battle of Berlin was the last major battle of the Eastern Front.

DescriptionEdit

The Wehrmacht, with about 12,000 soldiers, the Hitler Youth, and about 40,000 civilian "Volksturm" soldiers, who consisted of children 10-16 years old and old men, defended Berlin for 4 weeks against 3.5 million Soviet soldiers. It was debated as to who was going to be the ones to lead the battle of Berlin. It was originally a "race" to Berlin between the Western allies and the Soviets although eventually the Soviets would be granted the invasion, as Berlin was to be in the designated soviet controlled zone after the war ended. The battle started on April 14, 1945, and ended May 2, 1945 although another form of surrender was signed the following day as the Soviets wished to be surrendered to in Berlin. During the battle, the so-called "glorious" soldiers 10 and older were executed, and females as young as 9 and as old as 70 were raped and in most cases executed by Soviet soldiers.

Grocery stores and other businesses were ransacked, and most of the food was dumped on the streets in front of the citizens. This eventually led to great starvation among the people of Berlin. Obviously, no mercy was shown to any civilian or soldier in the Battle of Berlin. Immediately after the war, these details from the battle were hidden from the public.