By April 1945 the Soviet Red Army had pushed to the Oder River, just on the doorstep of the German Capital, Berlin. On 16 April 1945 the Soviets launched the Berlin Offensive across the Oder.
However, the Germans had not been idle and withdrew from the Oder River and took up positions on the Seelow Height on the most direct route to Berlin. Eventually the Soviet weight of numbers and firepower told and three German armies were thrown back from the Oder.
Stalin’s two leading Marshals, Zhukov and Koniev, then raced to be first to enter Berlin and to take its symbolic seat of power, the Reichstag. The German defence of the city was improvised, but stubborn. Street battles raged from block to block as German regular and auxiliaries fought to hold back the pride of the motherland. Leading the way are the Red Banner regiments, advancing with determination towards the Reichstag and total victory!
Berlin: Soviet is our second book covering the forces of the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1945 (Late-war) and its focus is the final battles of the Soviet Red Army against the Germans in Poland and Eastern Germany, as well as through Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.
