World conqueror 4 free generals8/25/2023 The Soviet offensive into central Germany, what later became East Germany, had two objectives. During 1945 the United States Army Air Forces launched very large daytime raids on Berlin and, for 36 nights in succession, scores of RAF Mosquitos bombed the German capital, ending on the night of 20/21 April 1945 just before the Soviets entered the city. The major Western Allied contribution to the battle was the bombing of Berlin during 1945. The Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, General Eisenhower, lost interest in the race to Berlin and saw no further need to suffer casualties by attacking a city that would be in the Soviet sphere of influence after the war, envisioning excessive friendly fire if both armies attempted to occupy the city at once. No plans were made by the Western Allies to seize the city by a ground operation. This briefly raised false hopes in the Führerbunker that there might yet be a falling out among the Allies and that Berlin would be saved at the last moment, as had happened once before when Berlin was threatened (see the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg). On 12 April 1945, Hitler, who had earlier decided to remain in the city against the wishes of his advisers, heard the news that the American President Franklin D. īetween June and September 1944, the German armed forces had lost more than a million men, and it lacked the fuel and armaments needed to operate effectively. On 30 March, the Soviets entered Austria and in the Vienna Offensive they captured Vienna on 13 April. By 16 March, the German Lake Balaton Offensive had failed, and a counter-attack by the Red Army took back in 24 hours everything the Germans had taken ten days to gain. The goal was to secure the oil region of Nagykanizsa and regain the Danube River for future operations, but the depleted German forces had been given an impossible task. ![]() Adolf Hitler insisted on a counter-attack to recapture the Drau-Danube triangle. Three German divisions' attempts to relieve the encircled Hungarian capital city failed, and Budapest fell to the Soviets on 13 February. In the south, Soviet and Romanian forces besieged Budapest. The Red Army then drove on to Pomerania, clearing the right bank of the Oder River, thereby reaching into Silesia. The newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, attempted a counter-attack, but this had failed by 24 February. On the fourth day, the Red Army broke out and started moving west, up to 30 to 40 km (19 to 25 mi) per day, taking East Prussia, Danzig, and Poznań, drawing up on a line 60 km (37 mi) east of Berlin along the Oder River. On 12 January 1945, the Red Army began the Vistula–Oder Offensive across the Narew River and, from Warsaw, a three-day operation on a broad front, which incorporated four army Fronts. Background Main thrusts of the Red Army and its eastern allies German counter-attacks Berlin offensive ![]() The city's garrison surrendered on 2 May but fighting continued to the north-west, west, and south-west of the city until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May (9 May in the Soviet Union) as some German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets. On 30 April, Hitler and several of his officials committed suicide. ![]() Over the course of the next week, the Red Army gradually took the entire city. The garrison consisted of several depleted and disorganised Army and Waffen-SS divisions, along with poorly trained Volkssturm and Hitler Youth members. On 23 April General Helmuth Weidling assumed command of the forces within Berlin. On 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday, the 1st Belorussian Front led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, advancing from the east and north, started shelling Berlin's city centre, while Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front broke through Army Group Centre and advanced towards the southern suburbs of Berlin. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city after successful battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. When the Soviet offensive resumed on 16 April, two Soviet fronts ( army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were made on 20 March, under the newly appointed commander of Army Group Vistula, General Gotthard Heinrici. On 9 March, Germany established its defence plan for the city with Operation Clausewitz. Īfter the Vistula–Oder offensive of January–February 1945, the Red Army had temporarily halted on a line 60 km (37 mi) east of Berlin. The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
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