Battle of Berlin
On the 12th of January 1945, the Red Army began a massive offensive across the Narew River and from Warsaw. This three-day operation involved four army Fronts moving rapidly westward. By the fourth day, Soviet forces advanced up to 60 kilometers per day. They captured East Prussia, Danzig, and Poznań before reaching a line east of Berlin along the Oder River. The new Army Group Vistula under Heinrich Himmler attempted a counter-attack known as Operation Solstice but failed by the 24th of February. The Red Army then drove on to Pomerania, clearing the right bank of the Oder River. In the south, Soviet and Romanian forces conducted the Siege of Budapest which fell to the Soviets on the 13th of February. Adolf Hitler insisted on a counter-attack to recapture the Drau-Danube triangle. The goal was to secure the oil region of Nagykanizsa and regain the Danube River for future operations. By the 16th of March, the German Operation Spring Awakening had failed. A counter-attack by the Red Army took back in 24 hours everything the Germans had taken ten days to gain. On the 30th of March, the Soviets entered Austria and captured Vienna on the 13th of April.
The sector where most fighting occurred was the Seelow Heights, the last major defensive line outside Berlin. The Battle of the Seelow Heights lasted four days from 16 until the 19th of April. Almost one million Red Army soldiers and more than 20,000 tanks and artillery pieces were deployed to break through the Gates to Berlin. These gates were defended by about 100,000 German soldiers and 1,200 tanks and guns. The Soviet forces led by Zhukov broke through the defensive positions having suffered about 30,000 dead. Meanwhile, 12,000 German personnel were killed. On the 19th of April, the fourth day, the 1st Belorussian Front broke through the final line of the Seelow Heights. Nothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin. The cost to the Soviet forces was very high with over 2,807 tanks lost between 1 and the 19th of April. At least 727 tanks were lost at the Seelow Heights alone. In the meantime, RAF Mosquitos conducted tactical air raids against German positions inside Berlin on the nights of the 15th of April, the 17th of April, the 18th of April, the 19th of April, and the 20th of April.
On the 20th of April 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday, Soviet artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front began shelling Berlin and did not stop until the city surrendered. The weight of ordnance delivered by Soviet artillery during the battle was greater than the total tonnage dropped by Western Allied bombers on the city. While the 1st Belorussian Front advanced towards the east and north-east of the city, the 1st Ukrainian Front pushed through the last formations of the northern wing of Army Group Centre. To the north between Stettin and Schwedt, the 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank of Army Group Vistula held by Hasso von Manteuffel's 3rd Panzer Army. The next day, Bogdanov's 2nd Guards Tank Army advanced nearly 20 kilometers north of Berlin and then attacked south-west of Werneuchen. The Soviet plan was to encircle Berlin first and then envelop the 9th Army. Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner's Army Group Centre launched a counter-offensive aimed at breaking through to Berlin from the south. When the old southern flank of the 4th Panzer Army had some local successes counter-attacking north against the 1st Ukrainian Front, Hitler unrealistically ordered the 9th Army to hold Cottbus and set up a front facing west. Later in the day, when Steiner explained that he did not have the divisions to achieve this, Heinrici made it clear to Hitler's staff that unless the 9th Army retreated immediately, it would be enveloped by the Soviets.
In the early hours of the 29th of April the Soviet 3rd Shock Army crossed the Moltke Bridge and started to fan out into the surrounding streets and buildings. The initial assaults on buildings including the Ministry of the Interior were hampered by the lack of supporting artillery. It was not until the damaged bridges were repaired that artillery could be moved up in support. At 4am, in the Führerbunker, Hitler signed his last will and testament and shortly afterwards married Eva Braun. At dawn the Soviets pressed on with their assault in the south-east. After very heavy fighting they managed to capture Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrechtstrasse but a Waffen-SS counter-attack forced the Soviets to withdraw from the building. To the south-west the 8th Guards Army attacked north across the Landwehr canal into the Tiergarten. By the next day, the 30th of April, the Soviets had solved their bridging problems and with artillery support at 06:00 they launched an attack on the Reichstag. Because of German entrenchments and support from 12.8 cm FlaK 40 guns 1,500 meters away on the roof of the Zoo flak tower, it was not until that evening that the Soviets were able to enter the building. The Reichstag had not been in use since it had burned in February 1933 and its interior resembled a rubble heap more than a government building. The German troops inside were heavily entrenched and fierce room-to-room fighting ensued.
During the early hours of the 30th of April, Weidling informed Hitler in person that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition during the night. Hitler granted him permission to attempt a breakout through the encircling Red Army lines. That afternoon, Hitler and Braun committed suicide and their bodies were cremated not far from the bunker. In accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Admiral Karl Dönitz became the President of the Reich and Joseph Goebbels became the new Chancellor of the Reich. As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, they became concentrated into a small area in the city centre. By now there were about 10,000 German soldiers in the city centre which was being assaulted from all sides. One of the other main thrusts was along Wilhelmstrasse on which the Air Ministry built of reinforced concrete was pounded by large concentrations of Soviet artillery. During the early hours of the 1st of May, Krebs talked to General Vasily Chuikov commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army informing him of Hitler's death and a willingness to negotiate a citywide surrender. They could not agree on terms because of Soviet insistence on unconditional surrender and Krebs' claim that he lacked authorisation to agree to that. Goebbels was against surrender. In the afternoon, Goebbels and his wife killed their children and then themselves.
On the night of 1/the 2nd of May, most of the remnants of the Berlin garrison attempted to break out of the city centre via three directions. Only those that went west through the Tiergarten and crossed the Charlottenbrücke into Spandau succeeded in breaching Soviet lines. A handful of those who survived the initial breakout made it to the lines of the Western Allies but most were either killed or captured by the Red Army's outer encirclement forces west of the city. Between the 24th of April and the 1st of May, the 9th Army fought a desperate action to break out of the pocket in an attempt to link up with the 12th Army. Hitler assumed that after a successful breakout from the pocket, the 9th Army could combine forces with the 12th Army and would be able to relieve Berlin. At dawn on the 28th of April, the youth divisions Clausewitz, Scharnhorst, and Theodor Körner attacked from the south-west toward the direction of Berlin. They covered a distance of about 30 kilometers before being halted at the tip of Lake Schwielow south-west of Potsdam and still 50 kilometers from Berlin. During the night, General Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his 12th Army had been forced back along the entire front.
According to Grigoriy Krivosheev, declassified archival data gives 81,116 Soviet dead for the operation including the battles of Seelow Heights and the Halbe. Another 280,251 were reported wounded or sick. The operation also cost the Soviets about 1,997 tanks and self-propelled guns. All losses were considered irrecoverable i.e. beyond economic repair or no longer serviceable. Some 125,000 civilians are estimated to have died during the entire operation. John Erickson says that the Battle for Berlin cost half a million beings their lives, their well-being or their sanity. He puts Soviet casualties for the three weeks from the 16th of April to the 8th of May as 304,877 men killed, wounded and missing plus 2,156 tanks and combat aircraft for the three Soviet fronts. In those areas that the Red Army had captured and before the fighting in the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities took measures to start restoring essential services. Almost all transport in and out of the city had been rendered inoperative and bombed-out sewers had contaminated the city's water supplies. During and immediately following the assault, in many areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops often rear echelon units engaged in mass rape, pillage and murder.
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Common questions
When did the Battle of Berlin begin and end?
The Red Army began its offensive across the Narew River on the 12th of January 1945, and the main fighting for Berlin concluded on the night of the 2nd of May 1945 when most remnants of the garrison attempted to break out.
Who commanded Soviet forces during the Battle of Berlin?
Soviet forces were led by Zhukov with the 1st Belorussian Front advancing towards the east and north-east while the 1st Ukrainian Front pushed through formations of the northern wing of Army Group Centre.
What happened at the Seelow Heights during the Battle of Berlin?
The sector where most fighting occurred was the Seelow Heights which served as the last major defensive line outside Berlin and lasted four days from the 16th until the 19th of April.
How many casualties occurred during the Battle of Berlin according to declassified data?
Declassified archival data gives 81,116 Soviet dead for the operation including the battles of Seelow Heights and the Halbe with another 280,251 reported wounded or sick.
When did Adolf Hitler die during the Battle of Berlin?
Hitler committed suicide in the afternoon of the 30th of April 1945 after Weidling informed him that defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition during the night.