The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-04-24

Guard Capt. Yurkevlch. These are unforgettable minutes. It is long way from the grim days of the battle of Moscow. remem- Der famished beSieged Lenlngrad and Stalingrad.
 We marched and fought four years on battle scared roads, pro- | foundly confident the day would come when the Red Army would hoist it's victorious banner over the Nazi capital. We have just done that.
 The tank unit which I am ac- companying battled ahead 15 Nlo- meters in busting the enemy from several fortified villages in the way to Berlin.
 Before retreating the Germans hurled against us huge artillery ana tank forces, counter r-attacking on each defense line established on | favorable terrain. Our tank units were compelled to build their own bridges and roads.
 | Our advance was a continuous mass of material relentlessly sweep ing ahead like an avalanche. Thousands of motorized vehicles were rolling on several lanes on dozen parallel highways.
 Around the clock hundreds of fighter, bombers, and assault planes swept the skies. Fires blazed every where. The artillery carinonade did not cease for a single minute. Mo hnahc V- ing tons of deadly gifts westward.
 The luftwaffe also was active, dropping parachute flares over our lines. But they dared to fly only at night, our air superiority being so overwhelming.
 There was great enthusiasm among our soldiers as they drove within sight of their four years goal. Their lips burned with one word, Berlin"
 Two days ago at six p. m. I stood on the eastern edge of Bernau. In the course of that night Bernau was cleared and our tank forces were ordered to proceed.
 The next morning was rainy and foggy. Aircraft were grounded but the tanks smashed on without air support.
 I rode a jeep right behind the tank column which entered the northwestern city limits or Berlin. The whole way Panzers burned like torches and heaps of German corp ses filtered the roads.
 At practically each halt there were heavy barricades, which tank borne sappers demolished under murderous enemy fire. All the roads and fields were densely mined.
 I inspected Colonel Grekov's bat tery, which opened fire on Berlin at 12:3O D. m. smelling bridges spanning the Spree and the Stet- tin northern railway stations.
 At 12:4O I was told the Van guards had broken into the north eastern limits of Berlin in the Weisensee district. Tankmen re- ported by radio that practically every step of Berlin's central streets was barricaded Germans were fir | ing intensively from the houses.
 On high buildings dominating the capitals skyline, ankmen unfurled the Red flag.
 I saw the massive preparations which preceded the Berlin offensive. | In the past few days, witnessed | great masses of military equipment streaming to the Oder river Tn the area of the projected blow were concentrated hundreds of giant Stalin and some sherman tanks and an extraordinary quan- tity of artillery. Thousands of mo- tors roared at the Oder crossings.
 Heavy tanks and self-propelled guns blanketed the jumping oil place on a small patch of land on the west bank of the Oder. The bat tie for this bridgehead ragged furl- ously for many days.
 At some points the width of the bridgehead did not exceed three kilometers. Facing us were numer- ouS rifle and tanks divisions pro- tecting the Nazi capital. Suddenly an unparalleled barrage looSened the enemy positions. Hun dreds of planes simultaneously dropped their bomb loads. Guns Of all calibers standing hub to hub covered the field as far as I could see.
 I saw the first group of prisoners, all of whom told of the hysterical appeals of their commanders to fight to the last drop of blood and under no circumstances admit the Russians to Berlin.
 The characteristic feature of this offensive has been the secret con- centration of forces, the skillful es- tablishment of overwhelming super iority. the seizure of initiative. and the development of progressively stronger massive blows from land and air.
 All men and officers today smash ing l. 70 Berlin know Allied troops also are uninterruptedly marching eastward.
 The more f1ercely the enemy guns thunder. the more savage the oppo- sition, the more passionate is their l dsire to end the war.