The Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive of the European Theater. The Soviet Red Army, led by Marshals Zhukov and Koniev, launched a massive assault to capture the capital of the Third Reich. Defending the city were remnants of the Wehrmacht, supported by the 'Volkssturm' (national militia consisting of the elderly and boys as young as 12). The fighting was savage and house-to-house. On April 30, with Soviet troops just blocks from his bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Two days later, the city garrison surrendered. The fall of Berlin effectively ended the war in Europe, though it left the city in ruins and set the stage for its later division by the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.