Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was the climactic battle of World War II in Europe. Fought between the Soviet Union and the ailing forces of the Third Reich, it represented the last stand of the Nazis in their own capital city of Berlin.
History
Origins
Roots
The roots of the Battle of Berlin could be traced back to Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941. The offensive moved at a staggering pace, with the Germans advancing hundreds of miles in a matter of days and capturing thousands of Russian prisoners of war. However, by December, the onset of the harsh winter drove the offensive to a halt and they were fought back outside Moscow. This setback cost Germany the initiative in the war. (PROSE: Just War)
After reorganising in 1942, the Germans turned their attention towards the city of Stalingrad. (AUDIO: The Night Witches) They reached Stalingrad that autumn and laid siege to the city which lasted throughout a second harsh winter, (PROSE: The Beast of Stalingrad) stretching on into 1943 and claiming the lives of a million Russian defenders. (PROSE: Happy Endings) The Sixth Doctor had told Adolf Hitler on the eve of the battle that the victor of Stalingrad would "win the war". Indeed, for the victorious Russians, Stalingrad taught many valuable lessons about close-quarter city fighting that were later to be put to use. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
Preparations
By 1944, the Third Reich was on the retreat on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Some of the senior Nazis began to realise that Germany was losing the war. In August, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann began secretly stockpiling huge amounts of financial resources for use by the Reich even in the even of defeat. In September, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler ordered the Nazi death camps to be shut down, although his instructions were ignored. Nevertheless, Himmler still invested hopes of eventual victory though mysticism and occult rituals. In particular, he was banking on the arrival of supernatural forces he believed he had witnessed in visions shown to him by the Scrying Glass. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
By the beginning of 1945, the German offensive in the Ardennes region of Belgium collapsed, (PROSE: Autumn Mist, The Turing Test) opening Germany up to invasion by the British and Americans, (PROSE: Made of Steel) who at this point were racing the Russians at the early onset of the Cold War. (PROSE: Cabinets of Curiosities) The Allied leaders, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt, all gathered at Yalta to discuss the post-war partitioning of Europe. (PROSE: Byzantium!)
The Germans attempted to fight back with the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets launched against Britain the previous year. Though destructive, they were unable to bring the Western Allies into submission. The Seventh Doctor noted that German rocketry were far in advance of anything their enemies were capable of and may still have proved decisive even so late in the conflict. However, the Allies overran the rocket sites, ending the threat. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)
The Soviet advance on Berlin
On the Eastern Front, Marshal Georgi K Zhukov led the Soviets on their hard-fought advance to Berlin. The city was effectively sealed off. To shelter from the coming onslaught, the Nazi leadership retreated to the safety of the Führerbunker beneath the Reichschancellery. Those involved included: Hitler, Himmler; Bormann; Hermann Goering with his wife and six children; Joseph Goebbels with his wife Magda and their six children; Albert Speer; Hermann Fegelein and his wife Gretl; Otto Gunsche; Hitler's valet Heinz Linge; Hitler Youth leader Arthur Axmann; together with Hitler's beloved Alsatian Blondi among others.
On 15 April, Hitler's girlfriend and Gretl's sister Eva Braun joined them in the Bunker. For many Nazis, Eva's arrival was a sign that their days were numbered, with many referring to her as "The Angel of Death".
On 20 April, Hitler celebrated his 56th birthday. This was the last day Hitler was known to have spent time outside the Bunker, as he refused suggestions that he flee Berlin to Southern Germany. He looked almost 20 years older than he actually was. A physical wreck, a far cry from his condition at the height of Nazi power, the Führer suffered badly from Parkinson's disease. His left arm shook uncontrollably and he was constantly taking several different medications, including strychnine and cocaine. Goebbels ordered that the Führer only be filmed and photographed from certain angles to hide his frailty. Hitler addressed the Hitler Youth Brigade, preparing them to defend Berlin. Despite the inevitability of the Reich's defeat, Hitler continued to order military operations to proceed. Himmler, once Hitler's closest and most trusted ally, saw the insanity in this and left the Bunker during the sombre birthday party, never to return. He sought to begin secret negotiations with the Allies in order to sue for peace. However, he chose to make his escape in the uniform of a Sergeant-Major of the Gestapo and was made an Allied prisoner. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
On 22 and 23 April, the Soviets reached the outskirts of Berlin. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass, Just War, AUDIO: Just War) Hitler declared "All is lost," and made clear his intention to commit suicide. He showed signs of both emotional and physical breakdown. Eva Braun expressed her intention to kill herself with him. Hitler tested cyanide pills on Blondi. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
Battle in Berlin
Berlin became the centre of ferocious fighting as the Red Army painfully pushed forward in a costly advance towards the Reichschancellery. German and Soviet artillery tore apart streets and buildings in murderous exchanges highly reminiscent of the fighting at Stalingrad – the Russians' experience of close-quarter city fighting gained in that battle was readily put to use against the German capital. So desperate was the German situation that the Soviets found themselves battling against children in the Hitler Youth, so young that their uniforms didn't fit. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass) The age of conscription had been reduced to as low as ten years. (PROSE: Just War)
On 24 April, Albert Speer left the Bunker and was later brought into Allied captivity.
On 25 April, the Soviets captured the main airport of Berlin and advanced on the inner city where they began hunting for Hitler.
Pressured by Bormann, Hitler declared Goering a traitor. Bormann and Goebbels remained the only Nazi Party leaders to maintain their loyalty to Hitler. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
On 28 April, the same day Italy's Benito Mussolini was executed, (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War) Hitler found out about Himmler's secret surrender negotiations and branded him a traitor. He had Fegelein, one of Himmler's closest aides, executed for attempting to leave the Bunker.
On 29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun. Goebbels was sent out into the streets of Berlin to find an official to conduct the ceremony. Eva signed her name on the marriage certificate as "Eva Hitler". Afterwards, Hitler dictated his Will and Political Testament to a secretary. Denouncing both the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe for their failure, he named the highest ranking Kriegsmarine commander, Admiral Donitz, as his successor, and blamed the start of the war on a Jewish conspiracy. In the afternoon, Joseph and Magda Goebbels held a party for their six children.
The death of Hitler
On the morning of 30 April, Eva visited the garden of the Reichschancellery for the final time. After lunch, Hitler and Eva made their formal farewells in the main corridor of the Bunker. Heinz Linge and Otto Gunsche were instructed to turn away anyone who tried to see them. A hysterical Magda Goebbels tried to speak with Hitler in the hopes of convincing him to spare his life, meaning she and her family would not have to kill themselves as well. She managed to speak to him despite the security but was unsuccessful in her plea. Arthur Axmann also tried, unsuccessfully, to have some final words with Hitler. Hitler and Eva were believed to have both killed themselves, either with cyanide or with a gun. However, Eva escaped and bore a child.
Joseph and Magda Goebbels murdered their own children and killed themselves shortly after. General Hans Krebs also died. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
The Western Allies' marked victory over Germany on 8 May 1945, known as VE Day. A major celebration took place in Trafalgar Square in London. (PROSE: Magic of the Angels) Churchill appeared alongside the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace where he addressed the nation. He told the British people that this was their victory. (AUDIO: Churchill Victorious) The celebrations lasted into the night. (AUDIO: Casualties of War)
For the Soviets, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel met with Marshal Zhukov on 9 May and signed the documents of Germany's unconditional surrender, signalling the complete destruction of the Third Reich. (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War)
Aftermath
Many of the senior Nazis who fell into Allied captivity were put on trial for war crimes at Nuremberg between 1945 and 1946. (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War) Among the accused were Himmler, who committed suicide before his trial, and Speer, who was the only one to plead guilty. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
Berlin was partitioned between the victorious powers, with the British, Americans, Soviets and French all controlling their own quarters. The city was eventually organised into East Berlin and West Berlin. Soviet rule in the East remained harsh, with the Stasi constantly seeking to repress dissent. (AUDIO: The Anachronauts)
Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline in which Hitler was able to use the power of the Timewyrm to defeat Britain in 1940, the victorious Reich had Berlin rebuilt into New Berlin in an ambitious project headed by Albert Speer. Construction was still underway by 1951. Many prisoners of war and slave labourers had been brought from the conquered nations to work on the city, and many artistic works and artefacts deemed to be of significant worth were transported to Berlin for display. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)
Parallel universe
On Germania I, the Terra Optimus among the worlds of Germania, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun celebrated the birth of their son, August Hitler, on 30 April 1945. The different Germania worlds eventually united to form the Greater German Reich to battle the Empire of Empires, their Roman Empire equivalent based throughout the worlds of Roma. By 1970, the Roman legions invaded Germania I and pushed on to Berlin after victory at the Battle of the Rhine I. On August Hitler's 25th birthday, the Third Air Legion dropped explosives on the dome of the Great Hall, which collapsed the next day. The Romans entered Berlin on 3 May and General Wilding surrendered on 10 May. The Nazi defeat effectively spelled the end for the Greater German Reich, which was subsumed into the Empire of Empires, although August Hitler was able to escape to the "True Earth". (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)
