In the Battle of Berlin on the Eastern Front at the end of World War II, Soviet Red Army T-34 tanks invaded Berlin on April 26, 1945, passing by dead German soldiers and ruined German defensive positions.

   In the Battle of Berlin on the Eastern Front at the end of World War II, Soviet Red Army T-34 tanks invaded Berlin on April 26, 1945, passing by dead German soldiers and ruined German defensive positions. In the spring of 1945, after the Soviet Red Army had broken through the Zerow Heights, Soviet tanks lined the roads on their way to Berlin endlessly. Neither the weakened German Luftwaffe nor the hastily formed German National Assault Battalion could stop the advancing Soviet forces.

　In the Berlin area, Soviet forces engaged in fierce battles with stubbornly resisting German forces. The German military command threw all available forces into the battle in an attempt to block the advance of the Soviet forces. Military schools in Berlin stopped classes, and cadets and cadets from the schools were sent to the front lines. In Berlin, Hitler declared total war mobilization from the ages of 15 to 65.

　Soviet Red Army infantry pounded the Germans out of fortified buildings, and artillery fire destroyed stone and brick barricades built in the streets of Berlin's suburbs. On April 22, the first day of the Berlin invasion, up to 8,000 German soldiers were killed, 47 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces and more than 150 field guns and mortars were destroyed. The fighting in the Berlin sector continued day and night, never ceasing for an hour.

　The Germans rallied tens of thousands of fighters to halt the Soviet advance. The Germans did not stand a chance against the Soviet Red Army force of more than about 2 million men, reinforced by about 6,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 8,000 fighter planes, and about 41,000 mortars and artillery pieces. The Soviet offensive on Berlin broke out on April 23, 1945; by April 29, Soviet forces had cut through the German army and reached the heart of the capital, Berlin; on May 1, Soviet troops attacked the German Bundestag building and raised the famous victory flag on its roof; on May 2, the remaining German troops in the city of Berlin garrison surrendered to the Soviets.