The man who hoisted the Polish flag on the Victory Column in Berlin after the fall of the city in 1945 has died.

Captain Antoni Jabłoński died on 6 July in the Podlaski town of Suraż. In August he would have celebrated his 97th birthday.

Jabłoński, the last surviving soldier from his platoon, hoisted the Polish flag on 2 May 1945.

Three years ago in conversation with RMF FM’s Andrzej Piedziewicz, the ex-soldier talked of the battle to take Berlin as being “exceptional hard.”

"We made it there in the night, and sat until dawn on the staircase of the Column, hiding from gunfire. Then in the morning we went up to the top, saw that the Germans had put down their guns and our commander decided to hoist the flag,” he said.

After the war Jabłoński was a salesman and postman.

The Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive of the war, and lasted from 20 April until the city's defenders finally surrendered on 2 May. (jh)