Southern France Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1945, Nice, Provence Alpes Cote D Azur                                Page 4 the stars Ani stripes Friday May 4, 1945 Imi in Latvia a stiff Iii la Baltic sea ithefinishberlin20 Days and 275 Miles later eeb. 10,1945 Memel Dvinsky Lithuania a Kau ask Lino a last Prussia veil lie l u Al Neve Zhe loft of it  ��?��?a09 Polotsky Molens russians turn Back nazis at Moscow october 201941 i 6 months and i to Miles later 17, 1945 Jan. Ltd Minsk s -23 months and 225 Miles later sept. 25, 1943 Orel Warsaw i 9 months and 190 Miles later july 3, 1944 to r German pol 24 Days and 190 Miles later july 27, 1944 a f Chernigow j a. Ate Al i i Vic pyre tii. The Nown per pm. Inc nazis once within View of Moscow now see red flags flying Over bomb ruined Reich Stag in Berlin Moscow goes wild with Joy at news of berlins capture by Seymour Sharnik Start and stripes staff writer German soldiers who once were within View of the Spires of Moscow today saw the red Flag of Russia flying Over the Reich Stag of Berlin. The German capital and fourth largest City of Europe has been captured by soviet troops. This great Triumph represents a March of More than 1,000 Miles from Moscow where the High tide of hitlers a Drang Nach oaten surged and stopped. T Moscow May 3 Reuter a there was a night of wild jubilation in Moscow after loudspeakers throughout the City boomed the news of Berlin s fall. Traffic stopped. Strangers embraced. Some danced about and tossed their Caps into the air. And every one cheered. Excitement mounted to fever heat in streets and squares filled with it capped the most startling of three sensational soviet Winter campaigns one that started in mid january As the German High command invested military strength in an attempted break through on the Western front and drove in a matter of Days More than 300 Miles from the Vistula River in Central Poland to the Core of the Reich. At the Oder the russians stopped to consolidate their positions and clean out by passed pockets Between the Vistula and the Oder. Except for Strong patrol actions to feel out the German positions West of the Oder the soviets remained on the East Bank of the Oder to move up artillery and supplies for the All out drive on the German capital. The first announcement of the Berlin offensive came from Berlin april 18. The germans an swept up in his fast moving nets and with stubborn Lening and ringed and besieged Hitler ordered the a final assault on Moscow in october. In november another a final assault was ordered. Still the so Viet capital stood. Finally thrown Back by a coun ter offensive in the worst russian Winter Iii years the germans turned to the Southern reaches of the 2,000-mile line snapped off the Crimea drove into the caucasus and battered their Way to the for on no need that the reds had opened their Long awaited push but Moscow remained silent. Started in i we however two Days later the Moscow radio admitted soviet troops had established a Strong Bridgehead across the Oder West of Kustrin. On april 22, the russians reported smashing into Berlin from the Northeast. This was the great prise of the two and-one-1 to i of fear counteroffensive which had begun with Hie stand at Stalingrad and Moscow find which had rolled Westward at times stalled at others pushed Back temporarily since the late autumn of 1942. With Finland Rumania Hun Gary and Italy As allies Hitler launched his ill fated Eastern Campaign on the sunday morning of june 22. 1941, with the jubilant boast that he would crush the soviets within six weeks. Swiftly the German annies sliced great chunks out of Poland Lithuania Esthonia Latvia Karelia Bessarabia beat their Way across the Black Fields of the Ukraine and deep into White Russia. With huge catches of red troops marshal Stalin Tress City of Stalingrad. This was hitlers High tide of Conquesf-1 300 Miles from Germany a Eastern Border 2,200 Miles from the West coast of France. Red annies turn tide Here the heroic stand of the red armies turned the tide. Annihilating von Paulus sixth German army they pushed Back up the Don River Basin Back in to the Ukraine and in the Winter offensive if 1943 edged Westward along the shores of the Black sea and the sea of Azov. In March the germans struck again retaking Kharkov and the russians fell Back to the North Bank of the donets. Nipping Hitler s at tempt to renew a major offensive in the summer of �?T43, the soviets went Over to an attack of their own took Orel and Belgorod swept Back into Kharkov and broke open a front along the entire donets River line. Finland finished red forces cracked the Central hinge of the German defences at Smolensk in the fall and pushed into the Dnieper River Bend. Pursuing their accelerated offensive in the Winter of �?T43-�?T44, they blotted out the German gains in the caucasus and on the lower in Ieper. The whole Eastern line blazed in the Spring and summer of last year. Far to the North the Relief of the siege of Leningrad was developed into an offensive that forced Finland out of the picture. The Baltic countries of Lithuania Latvia and Esthonia were re invested. In the Center russian Armor striding across the great Plains into Poland drove to the Banks of the Vistula to be halted Only at the Crossings to Warsaw. Soviet units smashed through the Crimea to retake the War battered port of Sebastopol. I Day diverts nazis when the Allied invasion of France diverted German strength to the new Western front Stalin a armies smashed on in the South across the Dnieper into Rumania spearing the Rich Oil Fields of Ploessl and the strategic Black sea port of Constanza. Along the Danube and into Hungary the russian tide poured on. While one red Stream seeped into the capital at Budapest another Cut across the great River South of the City and flowed on through Vienna. Still a third turned and struck North into Czechoslovakia. On Jan. 13 As von Rundstedt began to pull out of the belgian bulge Stalin announced the opening of the great russian offensive from the Vistula the All out assault that splintered the Eastern line and eventually reached Berlin. Berliners in subways emerge meet reds Moscow May 3 apr thousands of stunned germans continued to crawl out of berlins subways cellars and ruined buildings today As red army men strolled in the Bright Spring Day along Tinter Den Linden and through the tie Garten inspecting the nazi defences. The majority of the russians were helping to establish order. Sappers were searching ruins and removing thousands of mines. Occasional explosions Shook the otherwise quiet City. At irregular intervals some of the thousands of captured germans truffles past on their Way to prison Camps. Allied planes plastered City for 20 months nazis studied Moscow defense but flunked exam at Berlin Germany took a Page from the red army a Book of strategy to plan the defense of berlins but the nazis flunked the final exams. The defense of the German capital was patterned on the russians successful defense of Moscow a Tran Ocean news Agency broadcast Saki in March when Berlin was preparing for a a last ditch  preparations against the impeding red army assaults were being made under Hie supervision of a nazi general who got a first hand information on the problem when Panzer forces under Iii command were Defeated in the suburbs of Moscow. The defense system the germans adopted from the russians consisted of a series of protective rings around sed in density tie City which increased of a re the Center. The Wehn Nachti a mighty Blitzkrieg against the soviets rolled from the russian Frontier crossed on june 22, 1941, to Moscow a suburbs and Iii sight of the City a Spires in three months. Moscow Souter defences held Hitler ordered a a final assault on the City in october and again in november. The russians counterattacked and threw Back the nazis. The Rod army accomplished in less than four Days what the germans failed to co after three months of All out Effort enter the enemy a capital. Russians and Blitz hit Berlin in 1700s the russians took Berlin once before�?185 years ago. Ill equipped and poorly led r russian troops took the City from Frederick the great in 1760, but held it Only three Days. And Berlin capitulated in a a a Blitzkrieg and a War of nerves in 1757 when a detachment of 4,000 austrian cavalry under command of Gen. Haddick swooped on the City razed one of the suburbs and forced the capital to consent to pay Ransom on the threat of razing the entire City. Haddick reassembled his troops and was gone within 12 hours Long before the prussians could discover the slim numbers of the forces that opposed them. A deluge of More than 150,000,000 pounds of Allied bombs reduced nazi Germany a capital and Continental Europe a largest City to the worlds Lai Gest rubble Heap. Week after week month after month Tho most bombed City in the history of warfare shuddered and disintegrated and blazed under the Impact of High explosives and incendiaries dropped by flying fortresses and liberators of the vib. Eighth of and Hal faxes and Lancaster of the Raf. So concentrated was the saturation of bombs Over most of greater berlins 431 Square Miles that when the russians entered the City they found Block after Block levelled to the ground and Street after Street where Only the ugly shells of buildings remained. Hardly a Section of the City was spared for berlins 20 important Railroad stations were scattered throughout the capital and industries important to the Reich s War Effort were densely concentrated in the Metropolis. Hit by 150,492,110 pounds today Berlin is not a City. Even before it fell to the red army nazis admitted reconstruction would take 20 or 30 years if the germans Ever decided it was Worth the Effort to rebuild the City. Of the grand total of 150 492,110 pounds of missiles dumped on Ute City up to March 31 of this year. Rap planes dropped 99,106,560 pounds and american airmen dropped 51,385,550. In March of this year the Raf alone blasted Berlin 29 times with 1,617 planes c carrying 2,499,080 pounds. The u s. Eighth of began its Daylight raids on March 4 when 63 heavies dropped 262,000 pounds of bombs. The nazi air ministry claimed that initial eighth of attacks on the capital were a a failure. Crowds. In red Square men in British and american uniforms were enthusiastically greeted by the russians. Throughout the night loudspeakers played marches and russian Folk tunes and amid it he Boom of salvos and the Glare of rockets exuberant throngs milled about. In All 64 salvos were fired from 772 guns to celebrate berlins fall and other red army victories Twenty four salvos from 324 guns comprised the special a Victory Salute reserved for captured capitals. The number of rockets used was so great that caretakers of Large buildings were notified in Advance to have men on the roofs to guard against fires. As the rockets burst huge Blue searchlights lighted the Kremlin Walls. Kremlin towers were topped with glowing red stars. Here were some of the creations noted by correspondent Duncan Cooper in Moscow a red army Man a what a pity i Wasny to  a girl a now he will soon be Home  a factory worker a it can to last Long now. What fools these germans have  a Mother and War widow a it s been a Long time a but ifs been Worth waiting  guide to Berlin i obsolete now a at least three Days Are necessary in order to obtain a fair idea of Berlin a according to Baedeker a guide Book. That was in a936. The red army has shortened that time considerably. A a tourist could gawk at All there is left Worth seeing in a thre hour jeep trip if the roads weren to blocked with rubble. Baedeker says the Pride of the Metropolis is or was a Hunter Den Linden under the line Treesa Street 200 feet wide and planted with a double Avenue of limes and chestnuts where a palatial Public offices Are interspersed with modern tourist and shipping offices motor car showrooms and jewellers shops. The Central Avenue is a favorite promenade in Fine weal  the Friedric Strasse Baedeker reports is the longest Street in Central Berlin. A during. Business hours and especially at closing time the traffic hero is the densest. Baedeker a devoted 25 pages to Berlin but most of it is just so much wasted space now. Frankly in spite of Karl Baedeker a description Berlin looks like hell i hese Days. 3 capitals remain in grip of germans the intensity of american raids on the capital i was stepped up tremendously and by april 500 and 600-plane raids on the City Arete almost commonplace. Tsie fall of Berlin leaves three 1938 european capitals still occupied by the nazis a Oslo in Norway Copenhagen in Denmark and Prague in Czechoslovakia. At the height of hitlers Power Germany occupied or dominated 21 of Continental euro it eds 26 capitals a every one except Moscow and the capitals of Neutral Sweden Switzer land Spain and Portugal