Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service and as part of a week of

programming to mark 75 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe. Today

we're bringing you a first-hand account of what it was like to be a civilian

when the Soviet army took control of the German capital Berlin.

In 2011, Steve Evans spoke to one German woman about her experiences under occupation.

It's the beginning of May 1945.

Berlin is being squeezed between the British and Americans from the West and the Russian

Army from the East, both sides fighting for every inch of land.

And from the air too, the city is being pulverized.

It is the end.

The Russians are now attacking the innermost of the three defence rings built to protect Berlin.

There's no pause in the battle day or night,

and it's being waged not only by the artillery, tanks and infantry amid the ruins at ground level,

but also in the smoky dusty sky overhead.

In the heart of the city every street was fought for ferociously.

If the urban centre was bombed to rubble, the suburbs were spared the very worst, almost.

...