Battle of the Seelow Heights 1945
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 April 1945 – 19 April 1945 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1945 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Eastern Front, World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 52.5347, 14.3959 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Seelow Heights (German: Schlacht um die Seelower Höhen) was part of the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (16 April – 2 May 1945). A pitched battle, it was one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions of the Second World War. It was fought over three days, from 16 to 19 April 1945. Close to 1,000,000 Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the Polish 1st Army), commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, attacked the position known as the "Gates of Berlin". They were opposed by about 110,000 soldiers of the German 9th Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula.
This battle is often incorporated into the Battle of the Oder–Neisse. The Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place, but it was only one of several crossing points along the Oder and Neisse rivers where the Soviets attacked. The Battle of the Oder–Neisse was itself only the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin.
The result was the encirclement of the German 9th Army and the ensuing Battle of Halbe in which the 9th Army was destroyed.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Seelow Heights (revision 1380674701), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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