The Seelow Heights were the scene of the bloodiest battle on German soil during the Second World War, between April 16-19, 1945. This Battle of Seelow Heights is also sometimes called The Battle of the Oder-Neisse. One million soldiers were engaged in combat, and some 50,000 soldiers died during the four day battle. The Seelow Heights were the scene of the bloodiest battle on German soil during the Second World War. ... The Battle of Waterloo by William Sadler. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ...

Defensive preparations

The defenses at the Seelow Heights lay about 48 meters above the flat terrain, 17 kilometers west of the front line on the Oder River, and about 90 kilometers east of Berlin. Here, the German forces quickly formed a defensive line when it was clear that the Red Army had reached the Oder River after 1 January 1945. The Odra or Oder River (Czech/Polish: Odra, German: Oder, Ancient Latin: Viadua, Viadrus, Medieval Latin: Odera, Oddera) is a river in Central Europe. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city; down from 4. ... Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Odra or Oder River (Czech/Polish: Odra, German: Oder, Ancient Latin: Viadua, Viadrus, Medieval Latin: Odera, Oddera) is a river in Central Europe. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

General Gotthard Heinrici replaced Himmler as commander of German Army Group Vistula on March 20. He was one of the best defensive tacticians in the German army and immediately started to lay defensive plans. He (correctly) assessed that the main Soviet thrust would be made over the Oder river and along the main east-west Autobahn. He decided not to try to defend the banks of the Oder with anything more than a light skirmishing screen. Instead he arranged that his engineers fortify the Seelow Heights which overlooked the Oder river at the point where the Autobahn crossed it. He started to thin out the line in other areas to increase the manpower available to defend the heights. German army engineers turned the Oder's flood plain, already saturated by the spring thaw, into a swamp by releasing the waters in a reservoir upstream. Behind this they built three belts of defensive emplacements which reached back towards the outskirts of Berlin. These lines consisted of anti-tank ditches, anti-tank gun emplacements, and an extensive network of trenches and bunkers. Gotthard Heinrici Gotthard Heinrici was a General in the German Army during World War II Personal Life Born in Gumbinnen, Germany, on Christmas Day 1886, there are few details about Heinricis personal life. ... Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler (October 7, 1900 - May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... The German autobahn sign Autobahn (pronounced in IPA, plural Autobahnen) is the German word for a major high-speed road confined to motor vehicles and having full control of access. ...

Russian attack

100,000 German soldiers faced an overwhelming force of some 900,000 Red Army and Polish soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (1BF) and the 1st Ukrainian Front (1UF) in the beginning of April. Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The 1st Belorussian Front (alternative spellings are 1st Byelorussian Front and 1st Belarusian Front) was a Soviet Army Front during the Great Patriotic War. ...

In the early hours on April 16 the Russian offensive began with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery pieces, and Katyusha rockets which sustained the barrage for days. Shortly afterwards and well before dawn the 1BF attacked across the Oder. The 1UF attacked across the Neisse (south of 1BF) before dawn the same morning. The 1BF was the stronger force but it had the more difficult assignment and was facing the majority of the German forces, on the Seelow Heights. April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... BM-13 Katyusha on Studebaker US6 Katyusha RS-132 rockets mounted underneath the wing of LaGG-3 fighter Damage caused to a German tank Pz Kpfw 38(t) by direct hit of RS-132 The 82mm BM-8 and 132mm BM-13 Katyusha rocket launchers were built and fielded by... Nysa (Polish Nysa, German Neiße, Czech Nisa) is a name of a few rivers and a town in Silesia. ...

The initial attack by the 1BF was a disaster. Heinrici anticipated the attack and withdrew his defenders from the first line of trenches just before the Soviet artillery obliterated them. The light from 143 searchlights which it was planned would blind the defenders was diffused by the early morning mist and made useful silhouettes of the attacking Soviet formations. The swampy ground proved to be a great hindrance and under a German counter barrage, Soviet casualties were enormous. Frustrated by the slow advance, or on the direct orders of Stalin, Marshal Georgy Zhukov (1BF commander) threw in his reserves, which in his plan were to have been held back to exploit the expected breakthrough. By early evening an advance of almost six kilometres had been achieved in some areas, but the German lines remained intact. In the south the attack by the 1UF was keeping to plan. Zhukov was forced to report that the battle was not going to plan. Stalin, to spur Zhukov, told him that he would give Marshal Ivan Konev (1UF commander) permission to wheel his tank armies towards Berlin from the south. Soviet redirects here. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Гео́ргий Константи́нович Жу́ков) (December 1, 1896 (N.S.)/November 19, 1896 (O.S.)) - June 18, 1974), Soviet military commander and politician, considered by many as one of the most successful field commanders of World War II. // Prewar career Born into a peasant... Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Koniev Ivan Stepanovich Koniev (Russian Иван Степанович Конев) (December 28, 1897 - May 21, 1973), Soviet military commander, was born into a peasant family near Podosinovsky in central Russia (now in Kirov Oblast). ...

On the following day, April 17, the 1BF staff were reduced to combing the rear areas for any troops which could be thrown into the battle. The Soviet tactic of using massed attacks was proving more costly than usual. By nightfall, the German front before Zhukov remained unbroken, but only just. To the south Army Group Centre under the command of General Ferdinand Schörner were not proving such a hindrance. IV Panzer Army on the north flank of his formation was falling back under the weight of the 1UF Attack. He kept his two reserve panzer divisions in the south covering his centre, instead of using them to shore up the IV Panzer Army. This was the turning point in the battle because by nightfall the positions of both the Army Group Vistula and southern sectors of Army Group Centre were becoming untenable. Unless they fell back in line with the IV Panzer Army they faced envelopment. In effect Konev's successful attacks on Schörner's poor defences, to the south of the battle of the Seelow Heights, were unhinging Heinrici's brilliant defence. April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte in German) was one of three German army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa. ... Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner Ferdinand Schörner (December 5, 1892 - February 7, 1973) was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He was born in Munich, Bavaria. ... Panzergruppe 4 4. ... Panzer Division is the German term for armored division. ...

On April 18 both Soviet Fronts made steady progress but Soviet losses were again substantial. By nightfall, 1BF had reached the third and final German line of defence and the 1UF, having captured the town of Forst, was preparing to break out into open country. April 18 is the 108th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (109th in leap years). ... There are communes that have the name Forst in Germany Forst (Unterfranken) Forst, Baden Forst, Mittelfranken Forst, Eifel Forst, Hunsrück Forst, Lausitz Forst, Bavaria Forst an der Weinstraße Forst, Odenwald in Switzerland Forst, Switzerland, in the Canton of Bern Other Forst, Algund, a commune in South Tyrol This...

On April 19, the fourth and final day of the battle, the 1BF broke through the final line of the Seelow Heights and nothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin. The remnants of the IX Army which had been holding the heights and the remaining northern flank of the IV Panzer Army were in danger of being enveloped by elements of the 1UF, these were the Soviet 3rd Guards Army and the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, which having broken through the IV Panzer Army turned north towards Berlin and the 1BF. Other armies of the 1UF raced west towards the Americans. By the end of the 19th the German eastern front line had ceased to exist. All that remained were pockets of resistance. April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... The German Ninth Army (German: ) was a World War II field army. ...

Aftermath

Russian and Polish sign "to Berlin"

The cost to the Soviet forces had been very high between April 1 and April 19, with over 2,807 tanks lost. During the same period the Allies in the west lost 1,079 tanks. Image File history File links This work is copyrighted. ... Image File history File links This work is copyrighted. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ...

Military historians have long questioned the cleverness in Marshal Zhukov's plan of attack, because it was fully possible to circumvent the German defences (for example, following 1UF's route accross the Neisse river) thereby preventing the heavy losses. In the end, it was actually 1UF which captured most of Berlin, not 1BF.

The defensive line on the Seelow Heights was the last major defensive line outside Berlin. Following April 19, the road to Berlin (90 kilometers westward) lay open and the Battle of Berlin began. The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of the European Theatre of World War II. A massive Soviet army attacked Berlin from the east. ...

Two weeks after the collapse at the Seelow Heights, Hitler committed suicide, and the war in Europe ended a week later.   Adolf Hitler? (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was the Chancellor of Germany from 1933, and Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Chancellor) of Germany from 1934, to his death. ...