Battle of the Seelow Heights 1945

[Music] by April 1945 the Eastern Front was fast approaching Berlin Germans had been in steady but stubborn retreat for two years since the calamitous Battle of Stalingrad had ended with the German defeat in the winter of 1942 to 43 the Germans had failed to regain the initiative against the Red Army which had grown in size weapons and experience and had launched a final massive winter offensive in January 1945 from bridgeheads in central Poland sweeping 700 kilometers west towards Germany smashing army groups center and a by late January 1945 the Soviets reached the Oder River close to cou stream just a hundred kilometers east of Berlin hastily withdrew the sixth SS Panzer army from the our den in Belgium where his great offensive against the Americans and British had failed to produce the desired results and redeployed them in the east however Stalin decided not to immediately push on Berlin as from the Yalta Conference with Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt he noticed that the issue of Austria had not been settled by the Allied powers and he smelled an opportunity to extend Soviet influence to Vienna and the danube basin Stalin also wanted to build up his forces for the final push on Berlin and was concerned about substantial German units on the flanks in Prussia and Pomerania Stalin's decision gave the Germans a short breathing space to begin fortifying the approaches to Berlin and the city itself neglected for too long already three Soviet fronts with two and a half million men over 6,000 tanks and self-propelled guns seven and a half thousand aircraft 41,000 600 artillery guns and mortars plus over three thousand Katyusha rocket launchers would be flung against the final German defences around Berlin one natural feature remained between the Soviets and the outer defences of Berlin itself the Zelo Heights a range of small hills from 30 to 60 meters in height about 90 kilometers east of Berlin that overlooked the order Brook the western floodplain of the Oder River running from the city of Coos train through the heights to Berlin was Reich Strasser one the area of the Seelow Heights fell under the command of the German ninth army under general Theodore Boozer it had fourteen battered and under strength divisions covering a large area numbering about a hundred and ten thousand troops and 587 tanks and assault guns opposing marshal Gilligan zhukov's first Belarusian front of 1 million men and over three thousand tanks tying in with the 9th army was the German 3rd Panzer army under general hassel von Manteuffel together the 9th and third armies were known as Army Group Vistula under the command of the defensive fighting genius general guitard Heinrich II Heinrich he predicted that the main Soviet thrust would come along the highway Reich Strasse 1 through the Salo heights the Oder River line would be held by a thin screen of troops while the Salo Heights was strongly defended the ODIs floodplain was already boggy from the spring Thor and German engineers had released water from a reservoir upstream to turn it into a cobbler to hinder the Soviet advance behind the heights were three lines of Defense's all the way back to Berlin the troops were a mixture some were experienced and determined who had been fighting the Soviets for years many were new recruits and replacements many combed out of other services such as the Luftwaffe and the Navy Nazi propaganda had inculcated them with the belief that they were defending the civilian population from a barbarous enemy and recent Soviet atrocities meant that the Germans would fight very hard to keep them out of Berlin Hitler had made a final visit to the front from his Berlin bunker on the 3rd of March 1945 visiting general Boozer had schloss Hana Cop Zhukov's attack began in the pre-dawn hours of the 16th of April 1945 a massive artillery barrage raged for 30 minutes to a depth of 10 to 12 kilometers into the German lines the Soviets trying to use searchlights reflected off clouds to produce artificial moonlight a technique pioneered by the British but they failed simply silhouetting the attacking troops who suffered heavy casualties the barrage largely failed because Heinrich II had ordered most troops pulled back from the first line to prevent heavy losses the Soviet 5th shock army struck on the north side of Reich Strasse 1 while the 8th guards army struck south of the road in the fifth shock army's sector 5 soviet rifle divisions spearheaded the attack running into one regiment of the 309th infantry division and two regiments the 9th fallschirmjaeger division or parachute division to the south of the highway 7 soviet rifle divisions of the 8th guards army supported by tanks and assault guns faced the german 300 and 3rd infantry division and elements of the 20th Panzer Grenadier division and Panzer Division Mancha Berg crossing the order flood plain was made more difficult for the Soviets by the hoped Carbon canal the base of the say no Heights the heights were also steep enough the tanks could only climb several well defended routes in the 8th guards army sector accurate German artillery clobbered the Soviet infantry as they struggled across the oder burn only one intact bridge remained across the hobnobbin canal and Soviet engineers lay been under intense German artillery fire to try and build more crossings [Music] marshal zhukov under pressure from Stalin to capture Berlin quickly decided to commit his armored operational reserve early instead of waiting for the infantry to capture the heights this was a big mistake as the additional tanks was stuck in huge traffic jams trying to reach the front and cross the marshland in the 8th guards army sector the Soviet infantry and supporting tanks became trapped against the hub Carbon canal Panthers at the Mucha bear Panzer Division picked off 16 is too heavy tanks in one engagement by midnight on the 16th of April Soviet infantry had managed to make some penetrations on the edges of the heights dozens of Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns were knocked out by German Panthers and other tanks of the Mucha bear Panzer Division or 88 millimeter flak guns used in the ground roll the 8th guards army alone lost 55 is tues and 22 t-34s plus another 53 self-propelled guns that day the 5th shock army suffered similar losses rifle divisions did manage to secure the town of nech in vicious fighting occurred along the railway line from lung hall meeting heavy resistance from fashion Jaeger regiment 26 and elements of the Mucha burg Panzer Division but the Soviets managed to fight their way into Grosso and via big the general Boozer and his beleaguered 9th army had succeeded in halting Zhukov was offensive on the first day the two units the 300 and 3rd Infantry Division and the 9th fallschirmjaeger division had suffered high casualties to under strength divisions were sent forward to help the 18th and 25th Panzer Grenadier divisions on the 17th of April the Soviets made advances to the north of the town of Salem by noon Soviet armor made it to the top of the heights ed Frida's Dorf and Dahl Galen the Germans attempted to counter-attack using a battle group the 23rd SS panzergrenadier division Netherland and Panzer yog Brigade Dora from Dida stuff to Zelo but they were beaten back the Soviets then captured Salo town in the early afternoon by late in the afternoon the fifth shock army had punched through the Germans second defense line and was attacking the third line at Oberstdorf but overall the ninth army still held most of the Sailor Heights blocking the main Soviet thrust on Berlin however some German divisions were at the point of disintegrating the next day the 18th of April the Seelow Heights position became untenable to the south the Soviet 1st Ukrainian front pushed back the left flank of the German defenses the 4th Panzer army the German line crumbling Heinrich his brilliant defense of the Salo Heights was undone by the weak defenses to the south the Soviets advanced with heavy losses bypassing the heights and in the north running into German counter-attacks by the 11th and 23rd SS panzergrenadier divisions and SS heavy Panzer battalion 503 with King Tiger tanks but by nightfall elements of the 1st Belarusian front had reached the German 3rd defence line before Berlin on the 19th of April the Soviet first Belarusian front smashed through the remaining German defenses on the heights and broke out into the open plain beyond there was nothing much left to stop them before they reached Berlin which would happen within a few days the battle for the Salo heights was a costly affair for the Soviets who lost about 30,000 men killed and hundreds of tanks knocked out or damaged the German 9th Army lost 12,000 killed but much of its remaining Panzer divisions lost their last tanks in the fighting the remnants pulled back some to join the final battle for the city itself Berlin now faced imminent encirclement by the Soviet Army and then attack please subscribe and share if you like being read to visit my new audiobook channel war stories with mark Felton link in the description box below you can also help support my channels by a PayPal and patreon and see the description for details [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,752,446

Rating: 4.9382348 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Seelow Heights, Battle of Berlin

Id: aigpXmWSWxM

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 09 2020