page_title: Battle in Berlin
section_title: Breakout
hierarchical_section_title: Battle in Berlin / Battle / End of the battle / Breakout
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Charlottenbrücke ist eine stählerne Bogenbrücke in Berlin-Spandau. Sie führt den Straßenzug Charlotten-/Stresowstraße über die Havel und verbindet über Treppen die Uferpromenaden des Flusses. Die mit ihrem Brückenkopf und ihren Leuchten denkmalgeschützte Brücke liegt rund 150&#160;m Meter südlich der Spreemündung am Ostrand der Altstadt Spandau. Sie wurde zwischen 1926 und 1929 erbaut und ersetzte die mehrteilige Bogenbrücke aus dem Jahr 1886. Die Spannweite der heutigen Brücke beträgt 60&#160;m, die Bogenhöhe 10&#160;m. Die Brücke verfügt über zwei Fahr- und zwei Parkspuren. Die Breite der Fahrbahn beträgt 11&#160;m, die der Gehwege je 5&#160;m. Im Jahr 2000 wurde die Abdichtung der Fahrbahn für rund 215.000 DM erneuert. An ihrem Nordende in Richtung der Zitadelle befand sich bis ca. 1926 ein Standbild Kaiser Friedrichs III. von Albert Manthe aus dem Jahr 1892. English: The Charlottenbrücke is a steel arch bridge in Berlin-Spandau crossing the Havel. The listed bridge is a part of the Charlotten- and Stresowstraße and situated at the eastside of Spandau's Altstadt (old town). It was built between 1926 and 1929 and replaced the old bridge dating from 1886.
context_page_description: The battle in Berlin was an end phase of the Battle of Berlin. While the Battle of Berlin encompassed the attack by three Soviet Army Groups to capture not only Berlin but the territory of Germany east of the River Elbe still under German control, the battle in Berlin details the fighting and German capitulation that took place within the city.
  The outcome of the battle to capture the capital of Nazi Germany was decided during the initial phases of the Battle of Berlin that took place outside the city. As the Soviets invested Berlin and the German forces placed to stop them were destroyed or forced back, the city's fate was sealed. Nevertheless, there was heavy fighting within the city as the Red Army fought its way, street by street, into the centre.
  On 23 April 1945, the first Soviet ground forces started to penetrate the outer suburbs of Berlin. By 27 April, Berlin was completely cut off from the outside world. The battle in the city continued until 2 May 1945. On that date, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, General Helmuth Weidling, surrendered to the commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, Lieutenant-General Vasily Chuikov.
context_section_description: Weidling had given the order for the survivors to break out to the north-west starting at around 21:00 hours on 1 May. The breakout started later than planned at around 23:00 hours. The first group from the Reich Chancellery was led by Mohnke. Bormann, Werner Naumann, and remaining Führerbunker personnel followed. Burgdorf, who played a key role in the death of Erwin Rommel, along with Krebs, committed suicide. Mohnke's group avoided the Weidendammer Bridge (over which the mass breakout took place) and crossed by a footbridge, but his group became split. A Tiger tank that spearheaded the first attempt to storm the Weidendammer Bridge was destroyed. There followed two more attempts and on the third attempt, made around 1:00, Bormann and SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger in another group from the Reich Chancellery managed to cross the Spree. They were reported to have died a short distance from the bridge, their bodies seen and identified by Arthur Axmann who followed the same route.
  Krukenberg and many of the survivors of the remnants of the Nordland Division crossed the Spree shortly before dawn but could not break through and were forced back into the centre. There they split up; some discarded their uniforms and tried to pass themselves off as civilians, but most were either killed or, like Krukenberg, captured. An attempt to break out northward along the Schönhauser Allee by German troops on the north-eastern side of the central defence area failed because the Soviets were now aware that breakout attempts were being made and were hurriedly putting cordons in place to stop them. The remnants of the Münchenberg Division (five tanks, four artillery pieces, and a handful of troops) and the remnants of the 18th Panzer Grenadier and 9th Parachute divisions broke out of the centre westward through the Tiergarten. They were followed by thousands of stragglers and civilians. Spandau was still in the hands of a Hitler Youth detachment, so an attempt was made to force a passage across the Charlottenbrücke (Charlotten bridge) over the Havel. Despite heavy shelling which killed many, German weight of numbers meant that they were able to drive the Soviet infantry back and many thousands crossed into Spandau. The armoured vehicles that crossed the bridge made for Staaken.
  Mohnke (and what was left of his group) could not break through the Soviet rings. Most were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. General Mohnke and the others who had been in the Führerbunker were interrogated by SMERSH. Only a handful of survivors reached the Elbe and surrendered to the Western Allies. The majority were killed or captured by the Soviets. The number of German soldiers and civilians killed attempting the breakout is unknown.
caption: Charlotten bridge. Rebuilt in 1926, it survived World War II.
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