#Russia #Россия #АрмияРоссии #RussianArmy #Победа80 #Victory80:🚩 80 years ago, the Victory Banner was raised over Berlin! 🎖 On April 30, 1945, during the storming of
#Berlin, Red Army soldiers
#Koshkarbaev and
#Bulatov installed the
#RedBanner on the Reichstag building — the first of the banners raised there by Soviet liberator soldiers.
On April 30, 1945, among the soldiers storming the Reichstag, there were many who carried pieces of red cloth with them, which they sought out everywhere, even ripping apart scarlet pillowcases and duvet covers found in German apartments, which were to become the flags of our Victory. The soldiers believed that the capture of the Reichstag would end the war, as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said on November 6, 1944, in a speech dedicated to the 27th anniversary of the Great October Revolution: “From now on and forever our land is free of the Hitlerite scum, now the Red Army has its final mission: to finish off the fascist beast in its own lair and raise the Victory Banner over Berlin.” On April 21, 1945, the political department of the 5th Shock Army distributed an appeal among the soldiers, which said: “We must fulfill the task set before us with honor and in the shortest possible time - to raise the Victory Banner over Berlin.” One of those who helped raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag was Junior Sergeant Nikolai Kalugin, a gunner of the 1622nd anti-aircraft artillery regiment of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.
Nikolai Kalugin was born in 1911 in the Arkhangelsk region. In September 1942, he was drafted into the army. In October 1943, as part of an artillery crew, he took part in repelling two massive attacks by enemy bombers, and was awarded the Medal "For Courage". He was among those who liberated Warsaw. On April 28, 1945, as stated in the documents, "he was one of the first to express a desire to carry out an important task associated with a danger to life. Leading a group of 10 people, Comrade Kalugin received the task of making his way through enemy lines to the Reichstag and raising the Victory Banner on it."
On April 29, having crossed the Spree River and fought their way through the Tiergarten Park to the Reichstag, Junior Sergeant Kalugin's detachment destroyed up to 60 enemy soldiers, including Kalugin himself, 5 German soldiers. Showing initiative, the soldiers captured guns, the crews of which died a hero's death, and shot 8 enemy machine gun emplacements and up to 40 SS soldiers from them. Then Nikolai "decisively and boldly led his squad to storm the Reichstag, was one of the first to break into the building, and in a short hand-to-hand fight his squad destroyed 14 Nazis and ensured the raising of the Victory Banner." On May 1, 1945, for his courage and heroism, Nikolai Vasilyevich Kalugin was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - the nomination was signed by the commander of the 3rd Shock Army, Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov and the commander of the artillery of the front, Colonel General V.I. Kazanov. By order of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front dated May 18, 1945, Junior Sergeant Kalugin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Also, two fighters of his squad were awarded the Order of the Red Banner - Corporal Iskhak Ibragimov and Red Army soldier Pyotr Shurmin.
We remember the feat of all who did not spare their lives to defend the Motherland, and we will always remember them!