Race to Berlin

General Eisenhower's Armies were facing resistance that varied from almost non-existent to fanatical[4] as they advanced toward Berlin, which was located 200 km (120 mi) from their positions in early April 1945. Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged Eisenhower to continue the advance toward Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery with the intention of capturing the city. Even General George S. Patton agreed with Churchill that he should order the attack on the city since Montgomery's troops could reach Berlin within three days.[5] The British and Americans contemplated an airborne operation before the attack. In Operation Eclipse, the 17th Airborne Division, 82d Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, and a British brigade were to seize the Tempelhof, Rangsdorf, Gatow, Staaken, and Oranienburg airfields. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers and planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.[6]

After General Omar Bradley warned, however, that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received at the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties,[6] by April 15 Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, thus immobilizing these spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks. 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg. While the U.S. Ninth and First Armies held their ground from Magdeburg through Leipzig to western Czechoslovakia, Eisenhower ordered three Allied field armies (1st French, and the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies) into southeastern Germany and Austria. Advancing from northern Italy, the British Eighth Army[7] pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining Wehrmacht elements there.[5] This later caused some friction with the Yugoslav forces, notably around Trieste.

Zhukov with Konev

After the devastating attack, Marshal Zhukov's troops advanced towards Berlin only to be ambushed by German soldiers that had withdrawn from their positions in the Oder to the fortified positions of the Seelow Heights further west after receiving intelligence about the expected artillery barrage from a captured Red Army soldier. Zhukov—seeing that his plan was not working—decided to send wave after wave of Soviet soldiers to destroy the German resistance.[8] "According to one Russian veteran, Soviet artillery was fired without proper guidance, killing scores of Red Army soldiers."[8] For three days, the attacks still relentlessly came, after the fourth day the 1st Belorussian Front finally broke through the German defensive line, but at a high cost in casualties. This provided the opportunity to advance on Berlin, located 90 km (56 mi) to the west.

Stalin ordered the 2nd Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, to support Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front to the south.[9] Although Rokossovsky's Front was not chosen to lead the attack at the Seelow Heights, it did benefit Zhukov's Front. It was the actions of Rokossovsky's Front that allowed Zhukov's Front to concentrate on their sector of the front-line while the 2nd Belorussian Front to attack in the lower half of the Oder, between Schwedt and the Baltic Sea coast. This attack on the northern flank of the German Seelow Heights position by the 2nd Belorussian Front helped to reduce resistance on the 1st Belorussian Front sector, and made it possible for the 1st Belorussian Front to emerge victorious at the battle of the Seelow Heights.

While Zhukov's Front was fighting the German forces at the Seelow Heights, Marshal Konev and his 1st Ukrainian Front was attacking the remaining German 9th Army that was trapped within pockets in the Spree Forest region near the town of Halbe.

The 9th Army's first attempt at breaking out of this pocket resulted in the capture of almost 5,000 of its troops, and the loss of 200 guns, mortars and 40 tanks captured by the Red Army. The survivors detected a weakly held sector in the 1st Ukrainian Front's position and attempted a second breakout. A large part of the 9th Army was able to escape through this breach before Konev's staff realized their mistake and sent troops to deal with the unlucky rear guard Germans who were caught in the open by the Red Army. The 9th Army's last attempt to escape resulted in many German deaths, but allowed 25,000 soldiers to escape and regroup with the 12th Army sector of the front. From there, they retreated west toward Elbe, hoping to surrender to the U.S. Army.

General of Army Andrei Yeremenko and his 4th Ukrainian Front was deployed south-west of Marshal Konev's Front, and was ordered by Stalin to continue the offensive against German forces in Saxony to the west.

The 2nd Ukrainian Front was to attack into Austria, under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, under the orders of Stalin to deny Hitler the ability to transfer German troops north to defend the Berlin area as the Red Army approached.[9]