Everybody – civilians and generals alike – were so scared of the Red Army they rather died than gave up. It was an overwhelming army of atrocities approaching, avenging the atrocities commited by the Germans. Hitler had declared a “total war”, a war of extermination on the East, and that didn’t go well, and now the Red Army came bringing this total war thing into Germany, showing no mercy to civilians (mass rape was standard for instance, women drowned themself in rivers rather than letting themself get caught) or military personell, naturally. Officers not only killed themself, but also their families. – In the west, on the other hand, people turned themself in to the enemy en masse; but on the East, and Berlin was on the Eastern front, they rather died, by fighting or by suicide. The nature of the war on the East and on the West is almost uncomparable in numbers and in brutality.
I was referring to the period after the battles of Hürtgen Forest and the Bulge, when everyone rational knew the war was lost. The resistance on the Western front declined rapidly from Feb/March 1945 until the end, and the Wallies could have made it to or near Berlin had they wanted to. But that would have been explicitly against the agreements reached at the Yalta Conference with the Russians, and so may have precipitated WW III.
The idea that the allies gave away Berlin to the Soviets isn’t realistic. Berlin was never ours to give away. The Soviets were closer to Berlin and had more troops in the area - why assume we would have won a race to Berlin is we had tried to run it?
Don’t forget that even in April, 1945 the Nazis had one of the most effective propaganda organizations in human history. Most Germans and I suspect even a good number of generals and government officials were convinced that there were wonder weapons in the pipeline that would turn the war back in Germany’s favor if they just held on long enough.
Something pertinent from here, though I think it’s mainly drawn from William S. Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:
Thanks Koxinga. That actually makes sense to me.
Hitler was a real believer in Astrology and may have had reason to believe that the allies might fall apart if somehow the Germans could hold on long enough. Unfortunately for him, the Russians were heading to Berlin and there’s wasn’t any way of stopping them short of an atomic weapon.
You can see the small portrait of Frederick the Great in Hitler’s living quarters in several scenes of Der Untergang (The Downfall).
Actually Hitler was not a big believer in astrology or the occult. His belief system was pretty Hitler-centric and he didn’t concede that there was anything that was controlling him.
I did say to or near Berlin. The Russians didn’t take Berlin until 2 May, only 6 days before the final German surrender. Soviet casualties during that battle alone are estimated at over 360,000 men and 2,000 armoured vehicles. The Elbe, which the western Allies first reached on 11 April (9 days before the Russians started the Battle for Berlin), is only 80k from Berlin. Resistance was light or quickly by-passed:
Also note that
And the Red Army was only 20km from Berlin. And I realize the Soviets waited before launching their final attack - but that’s because they could afford to take more time to prepare. But they were ready to launch an immediate offensive if the Americans or British started heading towards Berlin.
Sure, but the Germans were resisting them more fiercely than they were the Wallies. I’m sure they could have covered that 80k faster than the Russians could their 20k, almost everything the Germans had left by that times was facing the Russians… That’s why I emphasized the casualties the Russians took (in the last battle of the war!).