FREE THE ODER FRONT 1945: DOCUMENTS, REPORTS AND PERSONAL ACCOUNTS V. 2 PDF

A. Stephan Hamilton | 320 pages | 15 Jan 2014 | Helion & Company | 9781907677267 | English | Solihull, World War II - The Soviet advance to the Oder, January–February | Britannica

Joseph Stalin 1st Belorussian Front :. On 9 March, Germany established its defence plan for the city with Operation Clausewitz. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of were made on 20 March, under the newly appointed commander of Army Group VistulaGeneral . 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. Before the main commenced, the encircled the city The Oder Front 1945: Documents successful battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. The garrison consisted of several depleted and disorganised Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions, along with poorly trained Volkssturm The Oder Front 1945: Documents Hitler Youth members. Over the course of the next week, the Red Army gradually took the entire city. On 30 April, Hitler committed suicide with several of his officials also committing suicide shortly afterwards. 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 as some German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets. In the south the Siege of Budapest took place. Three German divisions' attempts to relieve the encircled Hungarian capital city failed, and Budapest fell to the Soviets on 13 February. Between June and Septemberthe Wehrmacht had lost more than a million men, and it lacked the fuel and armaments needed to operate effectively. Roosevelt had died. No plans were made by the Western Allies to seize the city by a ground operation. The Soviet offensive into central Germany, what later became East Germanyhad two objectives. Stalin did not believe the Western Allies would hand over territory occupied by them in the post-war Soviet zone, so he began the offensive on a broad front and moved rapidly to meet the Western Allies as far west as possible. But the overriding objective was to capture Berlin. Another consideration was that Berlin itself held useful post-war strategic assets, including and the German nuclear weapons program. Heinrici correctly assessed that the main Soviet thrust would be made over the Oder River and along the main east-west Autobahn. Instead, Heinrici arranged for engineers to fortify the Seelow Heightswhich Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 the Oder River at the point where the Autobahn crossed them. Heinrici thinned out the line in other areas to increase the manpower available to defend the heights. German engineers turned the Oder's flood plain, already saturated by the spring thaw, into a swamp by releasing the water from a reservoir upstream. Behind the plain on the plateau, the engineers built three belts of defensive emplacements [39] reaching back towards the outskirts of Berlin the lines nearer to Berlin were called the Wotan position. This freed up Marshal Rokossovsky 's 2nd Belorussian Front to move west to the east bank of the Oder river. While this redeployment was in progress, gaps were left in the lines; and the remnants of General Dietrich von Saucken 's German II Armywhich had been bottled up in a pocket near Danzigmanaged to escape into the Vistula delta. The three Soviet fronts had altogether 2. The sector in which most of the fighting in the overall offensive took place was the Seelow Heights, the last major defensive line outside Berlin. During 19 April, the fourth day, the 1st Belorussian Front broke through the final line of the Seelow Heights; and nothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin. These breakthroughs allowed the two Soviet Fronts to envelop the German 9th Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 in a large pocket west of Frankfurt. Attempts by the 9th Army to break out to the west resulted in the Battle of Halbe. In the meantime, RAF Mosquitos were conducting large tactical air raids against German positions inside Berlin on the nights of 15 April bombers17 April 61 bombers18 April 57 bombers19 April 79 bombersand 20 April 78 bombers. On 20 AprilHitler's 56th birthday, Soviet artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front began shelling Berlin and did not stop until the city surrendered. The weight of ordnance delivered by Soviet artillery during the battle was greater than the total tonnage dropped by Western Allied bombers on the city. The corps was still holding on to the Berlin- Cottbus highway front line. He ordered the IX Army to hold Cottbus and set up a front facing west. This would supposedly allow them to form a northern pincer that would meet the IV Panzer Army coming from the south and envelop the 1st Ukrainian Front before destroying it. He stressed that it was already too late for it to move north-west to Berlin and would have to retreat west. On 22 Aprilat his afternoon situation conference, Hitler fell into a tearful rage famously dramatized in the German film Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 when he realised that his plans, prepared the previous day, could not be achieved. He declared that the war was lost, blaming the generals for the defeat and that he would remain in Berlin until the end and then kill himself. This assumption was based on his viewing of the captured Eclipse documents, which organised the partition of Germany among the Allies. In the evening Heinrici was given permission to make the link-up. A Soviet tank spearhead was on the Havel River to the east of Berlin, and another had at one point penetrated the inner defensive ring of Berlin. The capital was now within range of field artillery. A Soviet war correspondent, in the style of World War II Soviet journalism, gave the following account of an important event which took place on 22 April at local time: [67]. On the walls of the houses we saw Goebbels Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 appeals, hurriedly Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 in white paint: 'Every German will defend his capital. We shall stop the Red hordes at the walls of our Berlin. Steel pillboxesbarricades, mines, traps, suicide squads with grenades clutched The Oder Front 1945: Documents their hands—all are swept aside before the tidal wave. Drizzling rain began to fall. Near Biesdorf I saw batteries preparing to open fire. Then came the tremendous words of command: 'Open fire on the capital of Fascist Germany. It was exactly a. Ninety-six shells fell in the centre of Berlin in the course of a few minutes. The The Oder Front 1945: Documents available to General Weidling for the city's defence included roughly 45, soldiers in several severely depleted German Army and Waffen-SS divisions. To the north of the city was the 9th Parachute Division. The foreign contingents of the SS fought particularly hard, because they were ideologically motivated and they believed that they would not live if captured. In the early hours of 29 April the Soviet 3rd Shock Army crossed the Moltke bridge and started to fan out into the surrounding streets and buildings. It was not until the damaged bridges were repaired that artillery could be moved up in support. After very heavy fighting The Oder Front 1945: Documents managed to capture Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrechtstrassebut a Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 counter-attack forced the Soviets to withdraw from the building. By the next day, 30 April, the Soviets had solved their bridging problems and with artillery support at they launched Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 attack on the Reichstag, but because of German entrenchments and support from The German troops inside made excellent use of this and were heavily entrenched. At that point there was still a large contingent of German soldiers in the basement who launched counter-attacks against the Red Army. During the early hours of 30 April, Weidling informed Hitler in person that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition during the night. Hitler granted him permission to attempt a breakout through the encircling Red Army lines. As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, they became concentrated into a small area in the city centre. By now there were about 10, German The Oder Front 1945: Documents in the city centre, which was being assaulted from all sides. One of the other main thrusts was along Wilhelmstrasse on which the Air Ministry, built of reinforced concretewas pounded by large concentrations of Soviet artillery. During the early hours of 1 May, Krebs talked to General Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, [98] informing him of Hitler's death and a willingness to negotiate a citywide surrender. In the afternoon, Goebbels and his wife killed their children and then themselves. General Weidling surrendered with his staff at hours. He was taken to see General Vasily Chuikov atwhere Weidling ordered the city's defenders to surrender to the Soviets. The strong garrison of the Zoo flak tower left the building. There was sporadic fighting in a few isolated buildings where some SS troops still refused to surrender, but the Soviets reduced such buildings to rubble. At some point on 28 April or 29 April, General Heinrici, Commander-in-Chief of , was relieved of his command after disobeying Hitler's direct orders to hold Berlin at all costs and never order a retreat, and was replaced by General Kurt Student. There remains some confusion as to who was in command, as some references say that Student was captured by the British and The Oder Front 1945: Documents arrived. Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended to attack. Thirdly of the location of the IX Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the IX Army will break through. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolf Holste 's spearhead. In the early morning of 30 April, The Oder Front 1945: Documents replied to Krebs: []. Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Thirdly, bulk of the IX Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive. While the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front encircled Berlinand started the battle for the city itselfRokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front started his offensive to the north of Berlin. The successes Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 the 1st Ukrainian Front during the first nine days of the battle meant that by 25 April, they were occupying large swathes of the area south and south-west of Berlin. Their spearheads had met elements of the 1st Belorussian The Oder Front 1945: Documents west of Berlin, completing the investment of the city. They were part of Wenck's XX Corps and The Oder Front 1945: Documents made up of men from the officer training schools, making them some of the best units the Germans had in reserve. According to Wenck, no attack The Oder Front 1945: Documents Berlin was possible. Nearly 30, Germans were buried after the battle in the cemetery at Halbe. Nobody knows how many civilians died but it could have been as high as 10, Wenck crossed the Elbe under small arms fire that afternoon and surrendered to the American Ninth Army. According to Grigoriy Krivosheev 's work based on declassified archival data, Soviet forces sustained 81, dead for the entire operation, which included the battles of Seelow Heights and the Halbe; [10] anotherwere reported wounded or sick during the operational period. In those areas that the Red Army had captured and before the fighting in the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities took measures to start restoring essential services. During and immediately following the assault, [] [] in many areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops often rear echelon units [] engaged in mass rapepillage and murder. All they knew about foreign countries was there was unemployment, starvation and exploitation. And when they came to Europe they saw something very different from Stalinist Russia They were really furious, they could not understand why being so rich, Germans came to Russia". Despite Soviet efforts to supply food and rebuild the city, starvation remained a problem. The Oder Front Volume 2 (Hardcover) - -

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Here at Walmart. Your email address will never be sold or distributed to a third party for any reason. Sorry, but we can't respond to individual comments. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Customer Care. Your feedback helps us make The Oder Front 1945: Documents shopping better for millions of customers. Recent searches Clear All. Enter Location. Update location. Learn more. Report incorrect product information. Volume 2 Hardcover Average Rating: 0. A Stephan Hamilton. Walmart Out of stock. Book Format. Select Option. Current selection is: Hardcover. Delivery not available. Pickup not available. Add to list. Add to registry. About This Item. We aim to show you accurate product information. Manufacturers, suppliers and others provide what you see here, and we have not verified it. See our disclaimer. Heeresgruppe Weichsel Vistula was created on the order of Adolf Hitler in part to "organize the national defense Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 German soil. Relying on primary documents from Heeresgruppe Weichsel and that are reprinted in their entirety along with summary translations, this new volume examines why the command came into existence, what was its priority compared to that of other commands in the East, and how that translated into men and material support for its combat divisions. Specific attention is given to the daily operational deployments of the Heeresgruppe divisions and how they were reconstructed after the brutal combat in Pomerania. The Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 between Himmler and Heinrici's command styles are examined Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 questions are raised about what, if anything Himmler contributed to Germany's final defense. Hitler's operational goals are also revealed for the first time through his daily guidance issued to the East Front field commands during the last month of war. Surprisingly, Heeresgruppe Weichsel and Berlin's defense were not Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 his top priorities. Operations of the 3. Panzer Armee are presented through the perspective of its three senior officers. The previously unpublished wartime diary of General der Infanterie Martin Gareis and the postwar interviews of Generaloberst Hasso-Eccard Freiherr von Manteuffel, and Generalmajor Burkhart Mueller-Hillebrand provide detail on the situation of the Armee through the end of the war and offer insights into key military and political personalities of the Third Reich. Stephan Hamilton's second volume in The Oder Front series offers a wealth of Reports and Personal Accounts v. 2 information on arguably Germany's single most important command during the final months of the war in Europe. Specifications Language English. Customer Reviews. Ask a question Ask a question If you would like to share feedback with us about pricing, delivery or other customer service issues, please contact customer service directly. Your question required. Additional details. Send me an email when my question is answered. Please enter a valid email address. I agree to the Terms and Conditions. Cancel Submit. Pricing policy About our prices. We're committed to providing low prices every day, on everything. So if you find a current lower price from an online retailer on an identical, in-stock product, tell us and we'll The Oder Front 1945: Documents it. See more details at Online Price Match. Related Pages :. Email address. Mobile apps. Walmart Services. Get to Know Us. Customer Service. In The Spotlight. Shop Our Brands. All Rights Reserved. To ensure we are able to help you as best we can, please include your reference number:. Thank you for signing up! How was your experience with this page? Thank you. Thank you!