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→Battle of Berlin
===Battle of Berlin===
===Battle of Berlin===
[[V-E Day|Finally, in 1945, Soviet troops stormed Berlin, and forced Nazi Germany into capitulation]]. Around 300 members of the Waffen-SS Division Charlemagne made of [[French]] volunteers participated in the Battle in Berlin in April–May 1945 and were among the last Nazi forces to surrender. 12 were taken prisoner by the [[American]]s and handed over to French General Philippe Leclerc and shot.
The Soviet command concentrated forces of over two million men for the offensive against the capital of the Third Reich. They faced 800,000 soldiers of the [[Wehrmacht]], [[SS]] and the [[Volkssturm]] home guard militia.
After breaking through several defensive enemy lines, Soviet troops tightly encircled [[Berlin]] on April 25. Fierce street battles began, and the closer the [[Red Army]] approached the center of the city, the more ferocious the fighting became.
Around 300 members of the Waffen-SS Division Charlemagne made of [[French]] volunteers participated in the Battle in Berlin in April–May 1945 and were among the last Nazi forces to surrender. 12 were taken prisoner by the [[American]]s and handed over to French General Philippe Leclerc and shot.
The battle for the [[Reichstag]] broke out on April 30, 1945 the day of the [[Führer]]'s suicide. A red flag was raised above the Reichstag on May 1, even though fighting continued until evening. The Berlin garrison capitulated the following day.
The taking of Berlin did not signify an immediate cessation of hostilities. The new German government headed by Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]], which was based in the town of Flensburg in northern Germany, commanded large forces in [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Austria]]. The Nazis still hoped to reach an agreement with the Western allies and form a united front with them against the Russians or, as a last resort, to surrender these regions to them before the approach of the Red Army.
On May 8, Soviet troops took [[Dresden]] and, on May 9, they entered [[Prague]]. A formal [[V-E Day|surrender document was in Berlin on May 9, 1945]].
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