THIS MONTH IN HISTORY BERLIN

16 APRIL — 2 MAY 1945

Soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front under Zhukov, with troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under Konev, completed the defeat of the remaining German troops in Berlin. Soviet assault groups, reinforced with tanks and guns, persistently moved forward through the Tiergarten and Friedrichs-Hein Park. At 6:00 on 2 May General Weidling, accompanied by three German generals, crossed the front line and surrendered. This was the culmination of the ground war and demonstrated some of the most ferocious street fighting of the Second Word War in Europe.