The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-30
RUSSIANS SEIZE
MOST OF BERLIN
Continued from Page One)

from the Moablt jail. the Soviet
midnight supplementary commu
nique revealed, and captured Il
factories in the Moabit district
More than 5000 Germans were
killed by Marshal Zhukov's forces.
Attacking from the east, the
Russians won control of the Am.
halter station, adjoining the Pots.
dam station-Berlin's main termi.
nal-and only 800 yards south oil
the Potsdamer Platz, geographical
center of the metropolis.
Marshal Ivan S. Konev's First
Ukrainian Army broke through
by overrunning the Wilmersdor:
suddenly to the center of the city
district and reaching the southwest
ern edge of the Tiergarten at the
Berlinerstrasse. the western con
tinuation of Inter Den Linden.
The LandWehr canal still stooe
between Konev's forces and the
park.
hopping up southwestern Berlin
First Ukrainian troops captured the
Hohenzollern and Hallensee sta
tons on the circular railroad.
On their right flank, 10 miles
north of the Berlin city Limit,
Marshal Zhukov's forces struck
northwestward 10 miles and cap
tured Liebenwalde to move into
north south alignment with Sec
ond White Russian Army forces
which seized Thanksgiving, IA
miles to the north.
Advancing on a 45-mile front, the
Second White Russians captured
the Mecklenburg road center o1
Neubrandenburg in a 20-mile ad.
vance west from Pomeraniar
Strasburg. They also seized the i'm
portant functions of Anklam
Friedland and Lychen, Marshal
Joseph Stain announced in an or
der of the day.
At Anklam, A miles northwest
of Stettin, Rokossovsky's troops
outflanked Swinemuende, lying q
miles to the east on Usedom IS
land, and isolated it except for a
tenuous road connection along the
narrow northern neck Of the is
land which crosses to the main
land at Wolgast.
At Neubrandenburg, the Rus
slams drove closest to Rostock and
also to within ITO miles of Brit
ish troops pouring over the Elbe
at Lauenburg south of Hamburg.
Cavalry-led columns on Rokos-
sovsky's southern flank, reaching
Lychen, moved within SO miles
of U. S. Ninth Army forces on the
Elbe south of Wittenberge.
While Moscow dispatches de-
scribed how Soviet shock troops
launched a climactic assault or
the flaming heart Of Berlin;r-sup-
ported by the concentric- fire Of
hundreds of guns, a German higf,
command communique admitted
"a further enemy advance in in
dividual districts"
Raging street battles had de.
veloped into the Potsdamerstrasse,
leading into the geographic cen
ter of the city; in the Belle ALI
ance (Waterloo) platz one mile
to the east, and on the north bank
of the Spree river just across from
the Tiergarten, the German COM
munique said.
Moscow dispatches said that
Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's war
riors already had broken into the
Tiergarten, from the southwest,
following a route parallel to the
PotsdamerstrasSe about a mile to
the west.
Under clouds of fire and smoke
that enveloped the remains of the
city, other Soviet columns were
reported closing in on the Tier
garten from north, northwest and
was trying to battle up Berlin's
axial road, the Bismarckstrasse
due west. The column on the west
which becomes the Charlotten'
burger Chaussee in the Tiergarten
and Inter Den Linden along its
EASTERN end.
AS vengeance-bent veterans OF
Stalingrad, many carrying Berlin
addresses of Germans they had
met on other battlefields, plough
ed through the rubble wave OF
suicides was reported sweeping the
ranks of Nazis who realized their
hour of reckoning had come.
Storming across the Spree from
the west into the inner city, the
Russians found piles of SIS insig-
MIA and party regalia as well as
still smouldering mounds OF de-
stroyed Nazi documents, accord
ing to Izvestia dispatches quoted
by Moscow.
The surviving population was re-
ported looting food warehouses I'M
checked by either police or regu-
lar Army forces. A large part
of the police force was said to
have deserted, and with army de-
sertions added a total OF 10000
men were reported hiding out in
the city cellars from both their
own officers and the Russians
wrath.
Weser river from captured Bre-
men, threatening the naval base
LOT Bremerhaven and the port OF
WeSermunde.