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

2. 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.

9. 70th anniversary of the end of World War II:
Berlin 1945

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

13. Last reserve the Third Reich.

14. 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.

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

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

17. 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

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

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

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

21. Revenge, polish soldiers in Berlin.

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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

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

28. A Russian soldier
pulls out a German
from a manhole

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

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

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

32. A Soviet tank trundles by the Gate

34. 1945. German prisoners of war being marched through the BrandenburgGate.Berlin.. photo V.TIOMIN.

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

36. Top German generals who stayed alive and surrendered

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

38. 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.

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

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

41. 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.

42. 16-year-old German Soldier after being captured by U.S. forces, Berlin, 1945

43. Berlin. April 1945.
Apocalypse. Hell on
Earth.

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

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

46. 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

47. 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

48. Berlin, Germany. July 1945.Photographer William Vandivert

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

54. 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

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

56. 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.

57. 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

58. 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.

59. 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

60. 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

61. 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

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

63. 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

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

65. William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A 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.

66. .
William Vandivert—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
With 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

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

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

69. 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

70. 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

71. 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)

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

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

74. .
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

75. 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.

76. 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.

77. 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

78. 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

79. 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

80. Brandenburg Gate in 1945

81. 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.

82. 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

83. Ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin, 3 June 1945.

84. 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

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

86. Ruins of Berlin. . photo Yevgeni KHALDEI

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

88. 30th April 1945.
Soviet tanks enter Berlin.. photo Yevgeni KHALDEI

89. 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

90. 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

91. 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

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

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

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

95. 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.

96. Older woman knitting among the fallen city of Berlin, 1945

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

98. 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

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

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

101. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

109. 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.

110. Berlin. Soviet soldiers being photographed. Robert Capa

111. 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

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

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

114. 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

115. 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)

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

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

118. A German soldiers, perhaps
a member of the Volksturm,
awaits his fate

119. 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

120. Berlin, Summer 1945 Start newest life.
end

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