Opening the Road to Berlin: Victory at the Seelow Heights

Jivan Johal
Apr 19, 2017
2 min read

On this day, 1945, the Soviets won the battle of the Seelow Heights, an elevated area of land that overlooked the town of Seelow and was to the East of Berlin. The battle began on April 16th after areas of East Prussia had fallen to the Belorussian armies a week before. The Soviets had marshalled together 2.5 million men, thousands of rifles and and artillery pieces prior to the battle. The Nazi high command had replaced Himmler with General Gotthard Heinrici, and he had prepared the area for battle prior to the fighting, having predicted that the Russians would attempt to advance through the heights.

The Battle began on the 16th of April with a massive bombardment of Nazi positions with artillery cannons. The main Belorussian force had been focused on fighting along the Oder river, where the main German force was located, and the Ukrainian armies were focused along the Neisse river.

(Left above: Soviet artillery bombardment; below: Belorussians marshalled to fight the main force along the Oder river)

The Germans, having predicted the attacks, set up their trenches so that the Soviets would not be able to shell their trenches; the cannons were out of range. To further delay their attackers, the Nazis opened up dams and flooded the plains near the river, turning the plains into a swamp, and delaying Soviet advances. This slowed down the Soviet advance and

caused the Russians to endure

severe losses. The fighting was

intense, and despite his desire not to, Georgy Zhukov, General of the Russian Army, used his reserves (which he intended to save until German frontlines had been broken). By inserting his reserves, the strength of the Soviets had increased to the point where the Germans could no longer withstand their force. The German Panzer divisions that guarded southern flanks were destroyed, and very quickly Nazi cover disappeared. The German positions were slowly decimated by the Soviet pressure, and despite heavy losses, the Russians continued to advance. The Russians bypassed the front German lines, flanking them and trapping them by surrounding them. The Belorussians and Ukrainians enveloped the German positions, then destroyed them. The German front to the the East had been destroyed and in Soviet sight lay the ultimate prize, Berlin.

(Left: German defensive positions; Right: Soviets flank, surround and capture Nazi positions on the heights, only pockets of German resistance remain)

When the rest of the Soviet force arrived at the heights, there were only ruins of former German defensive positions, and the Road to Berlin had now been opened.