Raising a Flag over the Reichstag

Raising a Flag over the Reichstag (Russian: Знамя Победы над Рейхстагом, romanized: Znamya Pobedy nad Reykhstagom, lit.

[A 1] Starting on 16 April 1945, the Red Army breached the German front as a result of the Vistula–Oder offensive and rapidly advanced westward through Germany, as fast as 30–40 kilometres a day.

[1][dubious – discuss] Initially, two planes dropped several large red banners on the roof that appeared to have caught on the bombed-out dome.

Additionally, a number of reports had reached headquarters that two parties, M. M. Bondar from the 380th Rifle Regiment and Captain V. N. Makov of the 756th might have been able to hoist a flag during the day of 30 April.

[citation needed] Another group, М.Минин, Г.Загитов, А.Лисименко, А.Бобров, climbed to the rooftop and mounted the flag on the sculpture "Goddess of Victory" located on the western pediment of the Reichstag at about 22:30.

[7] The official story would later be that two hand-picked soldiers, Meliton Kantaria[A 2] (Georgian) and Mikhail Yegorov[A 3] (Russian), raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag,[1][8][9][10] and the photograph would often be used as depicting the event.

[11][12] However, according to Khaldei himself, when he arrived at the Reichstag, he simply asked the soldiers who happened to be passing by to help with the staging of the photoshoot;[13][14] the one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from Burlin, Kazakhstan[15] and the two others were Abdulkhakim Ismailov from Dagestan and Leonid Gorychev (also mentioned as Aleksei Goryachev) from Minsk.

He further edited the image at the request of the editor-in-chief of the Ogonyok, who noticed that Senior Sergeant Abdulkhakim Ismailov, who is supporting the flag-bearer, was wearing two watches, which could imply he had looted one of them, an action punishable by execution.

[19][20][21] He also increased contrast in the overall print, and in the smoke in the background especially, montaging it from another negative from the entire roll of film he shot, to make the scene more dramatic,[17] and with the result that the image, with extra sky added, becomes more square in format.