The tradition of placing the flag on the roof of the conquered settlements appeared in the Red Army precisely during the Great Patriotic War.
The goal is to capture Berlin
On October 6, 1944, Joseph Stalin made a report in which the main idea was that the Russian land was finally liberated from the Nazi invaders. Now the task of the Red Army is to completely defeat the enemy army together with the allied forces. The goal was set to hoist the Victory flag over Berlin.
In 1945, for each army that was supposed to participate in the siege of Berlin, a red flag was made - the banner of Victory, as a result one of them would surely have reached the top of the Reichstag. A star, a sickle and a hammer were applied to the red canvas. Artist V. Buntov applied them using stencils. On the night of April 22, flags were issued to representatives of the divisions.
As you know, the victory flag, which eventually hit the Reichstag dome, is banner No. 5.
Making the Victory Banner
G. Golikov, who at that time was the head of the army house of the Red Army, said that it was a great honor to make future banners of the Victory. True, I had to do without special frills: the simplest bag was chosen as the material, but the size and shape were exactly the same as that of the state flag.
Sewed the future flag of the Victory of a woman with her caring hands. Tears poured almost all the time, because everyone already in the subconscious realized that very soon this terrible war should end. The projectionist Gabov produced numerous poles, for which curtain curtains were mainly used.
Initially, it was not known which flag and which building would need to be hoisted. A little later, Stalin himself said that the flag should be hoisted on the Reichstag building.
Storming Berlin
On April 29, 1945, fierce battles took place near the Reichstag. This, most important for the Nazis, the building defended about a thousand people. The assault began on April 30th. The 150th and 171st rifle divisions under the command of V.M. Shatilova and A.I. Scoundrels. The first assault attempt was met by the most powerful defense of the Germans. In the afternoon of the same day, the Red Army made a second attempt.
This afternoon at 13:30 a message appeared on Allied radio that the Red Army had already posted the Victory flag over the Reichstag. Of course, this was not true. Correspondents were based on a report from one of the unit commanders. In fact, by this time, Soviet troops had not yet completely captured the Reichstag, only certain groups managed to get inside the building. The command made a mistake by hurrying things up a bit. Most likely, they just wanted to believe that their fighters had already managed to capture a key object.
The third attempt to capture the Reichstag was already successful, but the battles continued almost until night. The result was that Soviet troops managed to capture part of the building, the banners of the Red Army were erected in different places, and not only prepared for divisions, but also made by soldiers themselves were used. At this moment, it became possible to install the Victory flag on the roof of the Reichstag.
Setting the flag on the roof of the Reichstag
On May 1, in the early morning, the Victory Banner was installed on the roof of the building. By the way, before that, Soviet troops had already set three flags, but they were all destroyed when the Nazis launched shelling of the roof of the Reichstag. From the dome of the building there was only a frame, but the banner that Egorov, Berest and Kantaria established did not succeed in destroying. As a result, the Victory flag appeared on the roof of the Reichstag, the photo went down in history. At first, the banner was installed on the column in front of the entrance to the captured building, but later Kantaria and Egorov transferred it to the roof. Climbing there became very risky, because the staircase was almost destroyed, and there were sharp glass fragments everywhere. Egorov even broke, but he was saved by a quilted jacket, which clung to something. Soldiers of Cantarius and Egorov raised the banner of Victory, and Berest was ordered to cover their comrades from the fire.
Transportation of the Victory banner to the homeland
Under an agreement with the Allies, Berlin became occupied territory of Great Britain, so the Victory banner was removed from the roof of the Reichstag and replaced with a larger flag. It was necessary to deliver it to Moscow in order to hand it over to the great leader Stalin.
Prior to being sent to their homeland, the Victory banner was alternately stored in the headquarters of several divisions, after which it was ordered to deliver it to Moscow for the Victory Parade. Seeing the banner of Victory, accompanied by participants hoisting the flag on the roof of the Reichstag, took place on June 20, 1945 at the airport in Berlin.
It was assumed that the banner of Victory will be carried by the standard-bearer Neustroyev, and Kantaria, Yegorov and Berest will be escorted, however, the future standard-bearer already had five serious injuries, including legs. Of course, the combat training of the soldiers was at a very low level, so Marshal Zhukov made the decision not to use the banner from the Reichstag dome in the first parade of Victory.