At the very end of World War II, the Seelow Heights, located east of Berlin, were stormed. This truly great battle showed the heroism and incredible self-sacrifice of many soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army at a time when there was less than a month left before the Great Victory.
The Seelow Heights is a range of hills located 50-60 km east of Berlin, on the left bank of the Oder. Their length is about 20, and their width is up to 10 km. They rise above the river valley by no more than 50 m.
German military fortifications
The Seelow Heights of 1945 is a defense in depth of Nazi German troops. They were a military fortification that took almost 2 years to build. The main task of the 9th German Army was precisely to defend the Seelow Heights.
The Nazi command created here the 2nd line of defense, consisting of trenches, trenches for anti-tank weapons and artillery, a large number of bunkers and machine-gun sites, as well as anti-personnel barriers. Separate buildings served as strongholds. Directly in front of the heights there was a dug anti-tank ditch, the width of which was 3.5, and the depth was 3 m. In addition, all the approaches to the defensive structures were carefully mined, and were also shot through by cross rifle-machine-gun and artillery fire.
The 9th German army, which defended the Seelow Heights, consisted of 14 infantry units, had more than 2.5 thousand artillery and anti-aircraft guns and about 600 tanks.
German Defense
On March 20, General Heindrizi was appointed to command the Vistula Army Group. He was considered one of the best specialists in defensive tactics. He knew in advance that the Soviet Army would direct its main attack along the highway, not far from which the Seelow Heights were located.
Khendrizi did not strengthen the river bank. Instead, he took advantage of the favorable location of the heights through which the Oder flowed. The river floodplain was always full of floods in the spring, so the German engineers first destroyed part of the dam and then released the water upstream. Thus, the plain turned into a swamp. Behind it there were three lines of defense: the first - a system of various fortifications, barriers and trenches; the second - the Seelow Heights, the battle for which will last from 16 to 19 April; the third is the Wotan line, located 17-20 km behind the front line itself.
By the beginning of the battle, the 56th German Panzer Corps numbered about 50 thousand people. After the battle, only 13-15 thousand fighters were able to break through to Berlin,who later became the defenders of the fascist capital.
Disposition of Soviet troops
Königsberg, the last stronghold of East Prussia, fell on April 9th. After that, the 2nd Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, occupied the eastern bank of the Oder. Then, within two weeks, the redeployment of Soviet troops was carried out. Meanwhile, the 1st Belorussian Front concentrated its troops opposite the heights. To the south, there are formations of the 1st Ukrainian under the leadership of Marshal Konev.
In total, there were 2.5 million people in the area of the Seelow Heights, more than 6 thousand Soviet tanks, this also included self-propelled artillery installations, 7.5 thousand aircraft, about 3 thousand Katyushas and 41 thousand Soviet tanks. barrels of mortars and artillery.
Fight
April 16, the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive and overcame the first line of defense. By the evening of the same day, they met with strong resistance from the Germans defending the Seelow Heights. The battle was extremely fierce. The enemy reserve divisions managed to approach the second line of defense. The density of artillery on both sides of the main highway, which ran along the heights, reached about 200 guns per 1 km.
On the first day, an attempt was made to accelerate the advance of the Soviet troops. Why were two tank armies brought into battle? But this did not bring the desired result. Mobile formations and infantry were forced to engage in a grueling battle. It should be noted that almost all tank battlesWorld War II was extremely fierce and bloody. Only by the end of the day on April 17, after the most powerful aviation and artillery preparation, the enemy defenses in the main directions were broken through.
Ring around Berlin
Now historians are trying to understand whether this bloody battle was necessary and whether Marshal Zhukov did the right thing, abandoning the easier path - the encirclement of Berlin. Those who are of the opinion that it is expedient to encircle the German capital, for some reason do not notice the obvious, namely the quantitative and qualitative composition of the city's defense garrison. The 9th German and 4th armored armies, which took advantageous positions on the Oder, numbered about 200 thousand people. It was impossible to give them even the slightest opportunity to retreat to Berlin and thereby become its defenders.
Zhukov's plan
A plan, ingenious in its simplicity, was devised. According to him, the tank armies were to take up positions located on the outskirts of Berlin and form something similar to a cocoon around it. His task was to prevent the strengthening of the garrison of the German capital at the expense of the many thousands of the 9th Army, as well as reserve troops that could approach from the west.
At the first stage, the entrance to the city was not planned. First, it was necessary to wait for the approach of the Soviet combined arms formations. Then the "cocoon" was supposed to open, and after that the assault on Berlin would begin.
The unexpected turn of Marshal Konev to the German capital, as historians note, led to some change in the original planZhukov. The conceived "cocoon" turned into a classic environment with the help of adjacent flanks of two adjacent fronts. Almost all the forces of the 9th German Army were squeezed into a ring in the forests located southeast of the capital. This is one of the biggest defeats of the Nazi troops, which so undeservedly remained in the shadow of the storming of Berlin itself.
As a result, the capital of the Third Reich was defended only by members of the Hitler Youth, the remnants of the units defeated on the Oder and the police. In total, there were no more than 100 thousand people. Such a number of defenders for the defense of a huge city, as history has shown, was insufficient.
