The Battle Of Berlin: April 25th 1945 – Berlin Is Encircled & The Allies Meet

At midday on April 25th 1945, troops of Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front and Ivan Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front completed their encirclement of Berlin. Meeting in the small town of Ketzin, north-west of the city – on the river Havel, near Potsdam.

Part of the Havelland district, Ketzin was well-known in the area for its Späth nursery – one of the largest plant nurseries in the world in the late 1800s. Owner, Helmutt Späth, would be imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and executed by the Nazis in February 1945.

The same day as Berlin’s encirclement, Konev’s forces succeeded in reaching the Elbe and making contact with US forces to the west of Berlin – at around 1:30pm.

The main Nazi radio station, Deutschlandsender, would not report on either of these major events as on April 25th, after days of intermittent broadcasting, it fell silent permanently.

Lead elements of the 58th Guards Rifle Division, under Major General Vladimir Rusakov, met on April 25th 1945 with US soldiers from the 69th Division at the town of Torgau on the Elbe – signalling the exact moment when the Allied forces met to cut Nazi Germany in half. Both heads of state – Stalin and Truman – were immediately informed in messages passed up the chain of command via Bradley and Eisenhower, and Konev to General Antonov of the Soviet Stavka.

A group of American journalist were sent in to cover the meeting, and a banquet would be hastily ordered on April 27th by the commander of the Soviet 34th Corps, with large portraits of Stalin and smaller ones of Truman – the red material used to decorate the tables and the vodka on offer clearly stating who was really responsible for the celebration. The most attractive female soldiers of the 5th Guards Army would also be sent forward in fresh uniforms.