Germany in April 1945 was already dying, the Soviet army and the Allies were killing from both east and west, and Germany, which lacked guns and bullets, was almost powerless to stop it. But as long as there is still a little bit of awareness, they will not think that Germany still has a chance to turn the tables, and even the German army has almost given up hope. But the war was not over at this point, and the Soviets and Germans would still be engaged in a bloody battle around Berlin. But before the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet First Belorussian Front would face a bloody trench-like battle, the Battle of Schlaufer Heights.
First, the Schroufer Heights
At this moment, Marshal Georgy Zhukov of the Soviet Army was leading his mighty First Belorussian Front, and his target was Berlin, the black heart of Germany. As long as Berlin can be conquered, Zhukov can not only put an end to the war once and for all, but also change from 'defender of Moscow' to 'conqueror of Berlin'. For an ambitious general, it would be an honor he could not refuse. To this end, Zhukov launched an aggressive attack at all costs until he took Berlin.
The German army on the other side naturally knew the soviet army's plan, even in a state of exhaustion, the German army still gathered its last strength under Hitler's orders, planning to fight with the Soviet army. Hitler believed that he would block the Soviets under the city of Berlin, and even eliminate the Soviets who invaded Berlin, thus turning the tide of the war. Although it is not known where Hitler's confidence came from, or perhaps it may have been hitler's fantasy, the German army was still operational, trying to stop the Soviet offensive with its last strength.
Regarding the direction of the Soviet army's attack, the German army has a lot of judgments and is more accurate, after all, the war situation has developed to this point, the Soviet army has nothing to hide, and the steel torrent rolls forward. The direction of the attack of the First Belorussian Front was judged by the German defensive master Gothard Heinrich, who was good at defensive warfare, and the army general who was good at defensive warfare judged that Zhukov would lead the First Belorussian Front, with a focus on crossing the Oder River and advancing along the East-West Highway along the Schlauffer Heights.
Therefore, Gothard Heinrich deployed his 9th Army near the Schlaufer Heights, abandoning the idea of guarding the riverbank with the main force, hoping only to hold the high ground to block the Soviet offensive. After all, it overlooks the Oder River and controls the highways that pass through here. The Germans built many fortifications here, forming three lines of defense that extended to Berlin. At the same time, in order to ensure that nothing was lost, Gothard Heinrich also ordered the sappers to release water from the upstream reservoir, turning the plain into a swamp, and the Soviet army had to cross the swamp if it wanted to attack the Schrawfer Heights.
Second, the Soviet offensive was frustrated
When Zhukov arrived with his troops, he saw such a scene in front of the troops was a man-made swamp, which would cause great trouble for the attack of the First Belorussian Front. And even if you pass through the swamp, you must face the three lines of defense of the German army, especially the Schroufer Heights overlooking the Oder River, which will definitely become a huge obstacle to the attack and the core of the German defense. Zhukov was worried about this, and many famous Soviet generals had been hit and bleeding from their heads on the gothhard Heinrich line, including Zhukov himself, who knew that the Schroufer Heights would become a hard bone to gnaw.
However, Zhukov also has his own confidence, his First Belorussian Front army has a full 77 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 5 tank armies and 2 mechanized troops, more than a million soldiers, tanks and self-propelled guns as many as 3059, various types of artillery /mortar 18934, so many troops, Zhukov thinks that even his soldiers can drown the German army with a spit, is there any reason to fear the enemy? At Zhukov's order, the First Belorussian Front launched an offensive at dawn on April 16, 1945. Under the cover of heavy artillery, soviet infantry began to attack, trying to open a gap for the armored troops.
What Zhukov did not think about, however, was that Gothad Heinrich had been prepared for this, and the swamps had become a nightmare for the Soviet offensive forces, with soldiers unable to move in the mud, and the few tanks accompanying the attack were also unable to move. The Soviet shelling was useless, the Germans had already withdrawn from the first line of defense, and the Soviet shells only landed on the empty positions. At the same time, Zhukov's previous searchlights to illuminate the roads also became a failure, and these high-power searchlights made the Soviet soldiers dizzy, and pointed out the location of the Soviet offensive troops for the Germans. As a result, the Soviet troops were slaughtered by German fire before they could rush to the German positions, and Zhukov's first attack was a complete failure.
Such an unsuccessful attack made Zhukov lose face, so he mobilized the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Corps to launch an offensive, but because the two Guards Tank Corps were not in the original attack plan, they were crowded together with the infantry, and they also became victims of German anti-tank firepower. After a full day of attack, the Soviet army only advanced about six kilometers, and the entire attack tended to come to a standstill. At the same time, the Soviet losses on April 16 were relatively large, nearly 200 tanks were destroyed and damaged by the Germans, not to mention, and more than 7,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. Forced to do so, Zhukov could only report to Stalin at three o'clock in the afternoon that his offensive had been frustrated and that progress had been very slow.
Third, the gradual collapse of the German army
Stalin did not spare Zhukov any affection, but asked Zhukov to call him again in the evening. As a result, Zhukov was scolded in the afternoon, and Stalin pointed out the mistake of prematurely throwing himself into the Guards Tank Corps, and said that the Ukrainian First Front led by Konev was progressing well, and now the high command had ordered Konev to lead his troops north to prepare for an attack on Berlin. Stalin's move was a radical, hoping that Zhukov would go all out to conquer Berlin. Zhukov, on the other hand, heard that Konev had gone straight to Berlin with his troops, and did not care about the many, and began to mobilize his troops overnight, preparing to storm the German line the next day, in an attempt to gain the opportunity to attack Berlin.
Zhukov had already launched a fierce attack at this time, and he decided to come up with the offensive method he was best at, making full use of his superiority in strength, and launching a wave attack on the German army, hoping to completely crush the German defense in this way. Throughout the day on 17 April, both the German and Soviet armies were under enormous pressure, and Soviet units asked Zhukov for support because they had suffered heavy casualties in this wave attack, and commanders at all levels complained about Zhukov's tactics. The Germans on the Schlaufer Heights were no better, and the pressure they were under was equally great, and they were equally breathless under the powerful offensive of the Soviet army.
By the evening of 17 April, the Schlaufer Heights defense led by Gothhard Heinrich was still standing, and Zhukov had paid the same high losses as he had on the 16th. But Gothad Heinrich's defenses were also at their limits, and his friendly Army Group Center's right flank had retreated in a big stride under Konev's offensive, which seriously threatened the defensive gains of the Schlaufer Heights, because it meant that the German rear of the position was threatened and easily encircled by the Soviets. The more critical problem was that after two days of bloody fighting, the German Ninth Army had run out of ammunition and equipment for the most part, and it was difficult to continue to resist.
On 18 April, the Soviets launched another onslaught, this time the German defenses were on the verge of collapse, and although the Germans inflicted heavy losses on the Soviets, two of the three positions had been destroyed, and the Soviets not only bypassed the Schroufer Heights, but also approached the last German defensive position. For Gothad Heinrich, this was already the worst of the situation, and if the last line of defense was also breached by the Soviets, there would be no further obstruction between Berlin and the Soviets. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the German army has no possibility of holding its position. And Zhukov also knew that the German army was about to be unable to hold its position, and he ordered his troops to continue the attack the next day, and it was necessary to break the defenses of Gothad Heinrich, and win or lose in one fell swoop!
epilogue
On 19 April, the First Belorussian Front under Zhukov's command broke through the last line of defense of Gothard Heinrich. In the face of the overwhelming and powerful offensive of the Soviet army, even though Gothad Heinrich was the first defensive general of World War II, there was no possibility of resistance now, and he could only lead the remnants to retreat to avoid total annihilation. In this battle, the German army alone lost more than 12,000 people, the wounded were captured countless times, and the Soviet army also paid for the death of more than 30,000 people for this victory. But it was worth it for the Soviets, because the road to Berlin had been opened.