The great finale of the war, the battle for Berlin, began on April 21. Stalin suspected that the Western armies would attempt to jump the gun and claim the city before him. He also believed that the Germans preferred to surrender to the Western forces. Therefore, he instructed his two best generals, Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Stepanovich Konev, to occupy the city before the Western powers could.
As they subjected Berlin to heavy bombardment, Konev and ZhukovΓÇÖs troops occupied the burning city, street by street, building by building, floor by floor, room by room. An estimated 200,000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives in the battle for Berlin. The city fell on May 2.
