🌟 On April 30, 1945, just 10 days before Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered, Red Army soldiers Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev and Grigory Bulatov raised the first Red Banner on the facade of the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin.
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On April 28, fierce fighting for the Reichstag was in full swing, which the Nazis had turned into a fully-fledged stronghold defended by more than a thousand soldiers, including SS troops, supported by artillery and armor.
The distance between the former Himmler's house and the Reichstag was less than 500 metres.
It took Bulatov and Koshkarbayev 7 hours to cover the distance under constant heavy fire — they carried a makeshift flagpole with a simple scarlet cloth with them.
Later after the battle, Koshkarbayev recalled:
“The artillery fire began, and with the very first fires, Bulatov and I dashed toward the Reichstag. I lifted him up by the legs, and together, on the second floor, we raised our flag.”
According to the 150th Division's combat log, at 14:25 Bulatov and Koshkarbayev "crawled to the central part of the building and placed a red flag on the steps of the main entrance".
It was the first of the banners the liberators raised over the Reichstag.
🎖 Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev and Grigory Bulatov were awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the courage and heroism during the assualt on the Reichstag. Monuments to Koshkarbayev have been erected in his home region of Akmola in Kazakhstan and in the republic's capital, Astana, and to Bulatov in Kirov.
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