Editing Georgy Zhukov (section)

==== March on Berlin ====
On 16 November, he became commander of the 1st Belorussian Front which took part in the [[Vistula–Oder offensive]] and the [[Battle of Berlin]].{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=259}} He called on his troops to "remember our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our wives and children tortured to death by Germans&nbsp;... We shall exact a brutal revenge for everything". More than 20&nbsp;million Soviet soldiers and civilians died as a result of the war. In a reprise of atrocities committed by German soldiers against Soviet civilians in the eastward advance into Soviet territory during Operation Barbarossa, the westward march by Soviet forces was marked by brutality towards German civilians, which included looting, burning and systematic rapes.<ref>William I. Hitchcock, ''The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe'' (2008) pp.&nbsp;160–161.</ref>

Zhukov was chosen to personally accept the [[German Instrument of Surrender]] in Berlin.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=332}}