Nikolay Erastovich
Berzarin
1904-1945
Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin was a Soviet military commander, Colonel-General (1945), Hero of the Soviet Union (1945). He was a member of the VKP(b) since 1926 In the Soviet Army since 1918. He graduated from the Leningrad command courses (1923), machine gun courses at the “Shot” (1925) and the courses of the SibVO command staff (1927). He was born into a working-class family. He began his military service as a Red Army soldier of the 17th Army of the Petrograd combat area. During the Civil War, he fought on the Northern Front against the Anglo-American interventionists (1920), participated in the suppression of the Kronstadt mutiny (1921) and as assistant chief of the machine gun team – in the defeat of gangs in the Amur region (1924). He graduated from the Leningrad command courses (1923), machine gun courses at the “Shot” (1925) and the courses of the Siberian Military District command staff (1927). He served as a platoon commander, course commander and company commander, assistant to the head of the combat Training department of the headquarters of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA), was the commander and commissar commander of the regiment of the 26th Infantry Division (1935-37). In 1938, as commander of the 32nd Infantry Division, he participated in the battles near Lake Hassan. In December 1938 he was appointed commander of the 59th Rifle Corps of the OKDVA, and in July 1940 – Deputy Commander of the 1st Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front. He entered the Great Patriotic War as commander of the 27th Army of the Baltic Special Military District, then commanded the 34th Army of the Northwestern Front; was deputy commander of the 61st Army, 20th Army, commander of the 39th Army, respectively, on the Western, Kaliningrad and 1st Baltic Fronts. Since May 1944 He commanded the 5th Shock Army in the offensive operations of the Soviet Armed Forces: the Iasi-Kishinev, Vistula-Oder, Berlin. In the storming of Berlin, the 5th Shock Army under the command of Berzarin was entrusted with a combat task of particular importance — to seize the government area, the quarters located in the center of the city, including the Imperial chancellery, where Adolf Hitler’s headquarters was located. Taking into account the most successful advance of the 5th Shock Army during the storming of Berlin, as well as the outstanding personal qualities of its commander, who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on the eve of the Berlin operation, the command appointed Berzarin on April 24, 1945 as the first Soviet commandant and head of the Soviet garrison of Berlin. On April 28, 1945, Order No. 1 signed by Berzarin was published on the transfer of full power in Berlin into the hands of the Soviet military commandant’s office. In a difficult situation, under the leadership of Berzarin, she began to solve the difficult tasks of establishing a normal life in the city. In the midst of this work, Berzarin died on June 16, 1945. He died in a car accident at the intersection of Schlossstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse (now Am Tirpark and Alfred Kowalke Strasse) in the Friedrichs-felde district of Berlin in the line of duty. He was awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 2 Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov 1st degree, Kutuzov 1st degree, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, Suvorov 2nd degree, Red Star and medals.
Address: Moscow, Berzarina str., 16
