Eastern Front · 16 Apr 1945 – 2 May 1945
Battle of Berlin
Soviet forces broke through the Oder–Neisse defences, encircled Berlin and captured the city after street fighting that ended with its garrison’s surrender on 2 May 1945.
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The Battle of Berlin ran from 16 April to 2 May 1945. The Soviet offensive opened on the Oder and Neisse rivers, with Marshal Georgy Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front attacking toward Berlin from the east and Marshal Ivan Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front advancing from the south. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 2nd Belorussian Front attacked farther north against the flank of the German 3rd Panzer Army. German Army Group Vistula, commanded by General Gotthard Heinrici, held the northern and central approaches; Army Group Centre, under Ferdinand Schörner, faced the Soviet advance in the south.[1][4]
The first phase centred on the Seelow Heights, the strongest defensive position on the direct approach to Berlin. Soviet forces crossed the Oder and Neisse under heavy fire. Konev’s attack across the Neisse made headway, while Zhukov’s assault encountered difficult terrain and prepared German positions at Seelow. The breakthrough came by 19 April, after which the German eastern defensive line had been shattered. Soviet forces advanced toward Berlin, while other formations pressed west and south against German forces retreating from the front.[3][6]
Soviet artillery began shelling Berlin on 20 April. In the following days, forces of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts advanced around the city from the east, north and south. On 24 April the two fronts met at Bohnsdorf, south-east of the city, cutting off the German 9th Army, and on 25 April their tank spearheads met at Ketzin, west of Berlin, closing the ring. The same day the 2nd Belorussian Front broke through farther north, and Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe near Torgau. The encirclement of the capital cut off its defenders from the German forces outside it.[1][3]
Soviet troops broke into the eastern outskirts on 21 April and were fighting through the outer suburbs by 23 April, and the fighting moved into Berlin’s streets and built-up districts. Soviet troops advanced toward the centre against a garrison made up of depleted Army and Waffen-SS formations, police, Hitler Youth and Volkssturm. General Helmuth Weidling assumed command of the Berlin Defence Area on 23 April. In the final assault, the 79th Rifle Corps fought toward the Reichstag, while the 8th Guards Army attacked from the south across the Landwehr Canal. German forces, including Weidling’s LVI Panzer Corps, resisted in prepared positions and buildings. The city’s defenders surrendered on 2 May to Lieutenant-General Vasily Chuikov, commander of the 8th Guards Army.[3][6]
The capture of Berlin ended the battle, but fighting elsewhere continued as German units attempted to reach Western Allied lines. The listed overall battle losses were 361,367 Allied casualties, including 81,116 dead or missing, and 917,000–925,000 German casualties, including 480,000 captured. The source listed 125,000 German civilian deaths; these figures covered the wider battle and were not confined to the fighting inside the city.[1]