Race to Berlin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2008) |
The Race to Berlin refers mainly to the competition between two Soviet Marshals to be the first to enter Berlin during the final months of World War II. In early 1945, with the war in Europe coming to an obvious conclusion, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin purposely set his two Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev in a race to capture Berlin.[1] Although it was mostly their race, both Marshals were supported by another Front. Marshal Zhukov was protected by Rokossovsky's Second Belorussian Front, while Marshal Konev was supported by Yeremenko's Fourth Ukrainian Front. The two men and their separately commanded armies were pitted against one another, ensuring that they would drive their men as fast and as far as possible to a quick victory. This led to a climax in the bloody Battle of Berlin. The Soviet advance and ultimate capture of the German capital was virtually unopposed by their allies. In an effort to avoid a diplomatic issue, Allied General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower had ordered his forces into the south of Germany to cut off and wipe out other pieces of the German Army and to avoid the possibility that the Nazi government would attempt to hold out in an National Redoubt in the Alps. The failure of Operation Market Garden in late 1944 may have played a key role in this decision however. The decision to leave Eastern Germany and the city of Berlin to the Red Army eventually had serious repercussions as the Cold War emerged and expanded in the post war era.
[edit] PreludeStalin, wanting to have control over Berlin, decided that he would have to convince his allies that Berlin was of no importance to him. During the Yalta Conference, Stalin approached Eisenhower saying that Berlin is unimportant to him. Surprisingly two major things happened, Stalin not only convinced that he(Stalin) did not want Berlin, but also convinced Eisenhower himself that Berlin was of no importance to him(Eisenhower). With the knowledge that Eisenhower would not interfere, Stalin started the Race to Berlin. [edit] From the WestA lot had happened on the Western front since the Allies landed in Normandy. The British and American armies had both moved swiftly and decisively to take Western cities in France, and to move on to liberate Paris. In the later part of 1944 and early 1945, the Allied forces began making a push into Germany and over the Rhine. Germany's last offensive, the Battle of the Bulge, proved to be ultimately ineffective in stopping the allies. This did however slow their advance from the West, and might ultimately have caused the commanders to choose not to enter Berlin. [edit] General Eisenhower's ArmiesGeneral Eisenhower's Armies were facing relatively light resistance as they advanced towards Berlin located 200 km from their positions in early April 1945. Britain's war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged Eisenhower to continue the advance towards Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Field Marshal Montgomerywith the intention to capture the city. Even General Patton agreed with Churchill that he should order the attack on the city since Monty's (Montgomery) troops could reach Berlin within 3 days.[2] However, by mid-April, Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe river, and when Monty's Army Group was just 70 km away from Berlin it was instead ordered to move south, into Austria and the northern Adriatic Sea region to the borders of Slovenia to defeat the remaining Wehrmacht elements there.[2] This later caused some friction with the Yugoslav forces, notably around Trieste. [edit] From the East
 Soviet forces took the offensive after the spectacular defeat of the Army Group Centre following Operation Bagration in 1944 from which the Wehrmacht forces never recovered. In the winter of 1944 they pushed the German front lines back across Poland, with heavy casualties on both sides. That winter would turn out to be a bloody one, as the fighting came closer to Germany. Stalin had wanted to settle the score since Hitler's breach of their non-aggression pact. Using his Marshals Zhukov and Konev, he was determined to beat Eisenhower to Berlin and the Reichstag. The Soviet Army ultimately captured Berlin, though it is open to debate whether this due to the Western Allies backing down, or from Russia's determination to win the war. On April 15, 1945, the Soviet Union fired a massive barrage of some million artillery shells, one of the largest in history onto the German positions west of the Oder. [edit] Zhukov's 1st Belorussian FrontAfter the devastating attack, Marshal Zhukov's troops advance towards Berlin only to be ambushed by Germen 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 small German resistance.[3] "According to one Russian veteran, Soviet artillery was fired without proper guidance, killing scores of Red Army soldiers".[3]For 3 days, the attacks still relentlessly came, after the 4th day the 1st Belorussian Front finally broke through the German defensive line, but at a high cost in casualties, opening the opportunity to advance on Berlin located within 90km to the west. [edit] Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian FrontStalin ordered the 2nd Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, to support Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front to the north.[4] Although Rokossovsky's Front was not chosen to lead the attack at Seelow Height, it did benefit Zhukov's Front. It's was Rokossovsky's Front the allowed members of Zhukov's Front to concentrate on the 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 Seelow Heights. [edit] Konev's 1st Ukrainian FrontWhile 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 attempted at breaking out of this pocket resulted in the capture of almost 5,000 POW of its troops, and the loss of 200 guns, mortars and 40 tanks captured by the Red Army. Their second attempt was a result of a find in a weakly held sector in the 1st Ukrainian Front's positions. A large part of the 9th Army was able to escape through this breach before the 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 a high death toll paid by the Germans units, but allowed 25,000 soldiers to escape and regroup with the 12th Army sector of the front. From there, they retreated west towards Elbe in the desire to surrender to the U.S Army. [edit] Yeremenko's 4th Ukrainian FrontGeneral 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. [edit] Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian FrontThe 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 approaches into the Heart of Nazi Germany.[4] [edit] From BerlinAs the end approaches to Nazi Germany, Hitler, still not wanting to give up, would rant out orders that were just too impossible for the Germans to execute in the state that Germany was currently in. While meeting in his secret bunker under Berlin, Hitlers chief staff members, offer some personnel to defend the Oder. Commander Hermann Göring of the Luftwaffe offered 100,000 Luftwaffe men; Heinrich Himmler offered 25,000 SS troopers; and Admiral Doenitz offered 12,000 navy men.[4] However, the new commander of Army Group Vistula,Commander Gotthard Heinrici, who had replaced Himmler, did not agree with the personnel addition and that inexperienced soldiers were useless and would be slaughtered. Goering counter that statement by stating that his Luftwaffe men were 'ubermenschen' or superhuman.[4] Hitler ended their argument by telling Heinrici that reinforcement will arrive in time. However, Heinrici disagreed with Hitler's statement but kept it to himself. [edit] Army Group VistulaAs the new commander of Group Vistula, Commander Heinrici was an excellent defensive tactician in the German Army. He predicted that the main Soviet forces would go through the Oder river and along the main east-west autobahn - at Seelow Heights. Deciding to concentrate his defenses near the Seelow Heights, he deployed a small amount of units, enough to screen the Oder river, as the opening defenses while making three defensive lines behind the Seelow Heights, where a large amount of his forces are concentrated. These lines spread all the way to Berlin where the last line, the Wotem line, was almost 10-15 miles behind the front defenses. However, even though the Red Army broke through the defenses, it did buy Hitler time to try to re-organize. [edit] The OutcomeZhukov's Front enter Berlin from the north then expanding north-west from the Oder River. Konev's Front had chosen the southern areas of Berlin to enter from. Both Fronts continued to expand north-west in an attempt to do the pincer movement or in other words, they were trying to encircle Berlin. On April 23, 1945, Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front finally grouped out with members of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, thereby ending any hope for the Germans to escape.[5] [edit] See also[edit] Notes
[edit] References
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
