THE BERLIN OPERATION 1945.pdf

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The Berlin Operation 1945
tells the story of the Red Army’s penultimate offensive
operation in the war in Europe. Here the forces of three fronts (Second and First
Belorussian and First Ukrainian) forced the Oder River and surrounded the defenders of
the German capital, reduced the city and drove westward to link up with the Western
allies in central Germany.
This is another in a series of studies compiled by the Soviet Army General Staff, which
during the postwar years set itself the task of gathering and generalizing the experience of
the war for the purpose of training the armed forces’ higher staffs in the conduct of large-
scale offensive operations. The study is divided into three parts. The first contains a brief
strategic overview of the situation, as it existed by the spring of 1945, with special
emphasis on German preparations to meet the inevitable Soviet attack. This section also
includes an examination of the decisions by the Stavka of the Supreme High Command
on the conduct of the operation. As usual, the fronts’ materiel-technical and other
preparations for the offensive are covered in great detail. These include plans for artillery,
artillery and engineer support, as well as the work of the rear services and political organs
and the strengths, capabilities and tasks of the individual armies. Part two deals with the
Red Army’s breakthrough of the Germans’ Oder defensive position up to the
encirclement of the Berlin garrison. This covers the First Belorussian Front’s difficulty in
overcoming the defensive along the Seelow Heights along the direct path to Berlin, as
well as the First Ukrainian Front’s easier passage over the Oder and its secondary attack
along the Dresden axis. The Second Belorussian Front’s breakthrough and its sweep
through the Baltic littoral is also covered. Part three covers the intense fighting to reduce
the city’s defenders from late April until the garrison’s surrender on 2 May, as well as
operations in the area up to the formal German capitulation. This section contains a
number of detailed descriptions of urban fighting at the battalion and regimental level. It
closes with conclusions about the role of the various combat arms in the operation.
Richard W. Harrison earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Georgetown
University, where he specialized in Russian area studies. In 1994 he earned his doctorate
in War Studies from King’s College London. He also was an exchange student in the
former Soviet Union and spent several years living and working in post-communist
Russia.
Dr. Harrison has worked for the US Department of Defense as an investigator in
Russia, dealing with cases involving POWs and MIAs. He has also taught Russian
history and military history at college and university level, most recently at the US
Military Academy at West Point.
Harrison is the author of two books dealing with the Red Army’s theoretical
development during the interwar period:
The Russian Way of War: Operational Art,
1904–1940
(2001), and
Architect of Soviet Victory in World War II: The Life and
Theories of G.S. Isserson
(2010). He has also authored a number of articles on topics in
Soviet military history. He is currently working on a history of the Red Army’s high
commands during World War II and afterwards.
Dr. Harrison currently lives with his family near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
THE BERLIN OPERATION, 1945
THE BERLIN OPERATION, 1945
Soviet General Staff
Edited and translated by Richard W. Harrison

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