He was still optimistic. How far he was play-acting it is hard to decide. Looking back, I am inclined to think that he was literally obsessed with the idea of some miraculous salvation, that he clung to it like a drowning man to a straw.
Buoyed by his belief in providence and his own military genius, Hitler remained convinced that Berlin was not threatened by any immediate danger. Indeed, he considered that the anticipated Soviet offensive would be aimed at Prague, not Berlin. Had he too been taken in by Stalin’s disinformation which pointed towards an attack in that direction?
Whilst Hitler appeared sure where the next mighty blow by the Red Army would fall, Soviet strategic priorities appeared somewhat opaque to the Anglo-American Allies, largely due to Stalin’s obfuscations. On 15 April, a carefully worded query from the American Ambassador in Moscow regarding Soviet aims and objectives was skilfully parried by Stalin. He indicated that Eisenhower already knew that the impending major offensive on the Eastern Front was aimed at capturing Dresden. Indeed, Stalin had indicated as much at the Yalta conference in February. However, even as he spoke, final preparations were under way for the massive assault on Berlin.
Chapter Seven
The Paladins Depart
On 16 April, those Berlin cinemas still open were screening the patriotic films Comrades and Hallgarten Patrol, along with the light hearted comedies A Merry House, It All Started So Gaily, The Ideal Husband and the circus themed film The Big Number. Those with more elevated tastes could still visit the Berlin Philharmonic to see Robert Heger conduct a programme consisting of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Brahms’ Double Concerto and Death and Transfiguration by Strauss. Life somehow went on, even after the first indications of the Soviet onslaught were felt in the Berlin districts of Weissensee, Lichtenberg, Kopenick and Erkner. The sound and vibrations of the opening Soviet barrage did not penetrate as far as the more central Berlin districts, but news of the attack came quickly enough following a somewhat cautious radio announcement which said no more than that, ‘Heavy Russian attacks continue on the Oder Front’. The average Berlin citizen needed no elaboration, the moment they had long been dreading had finally arrived.
At 05.00hrs (Moscow time), Colonel-General Gotthard Heinrici’s Army Group Vistula was attacked by powerful Soviet forces following a huge artillery barrage. In the critical central sector, Lieutenant-General Helmuth Weidling’s 56th Panzer Corps defended the Seelow Heights with great skill and bravery. Zhukov’s attempt to storm the heights ended in dismal failure, the commander of 8th Guards Army General Vasily Chuikov later recalled the debacle:
The artillery bombardment, using every gun and mortar, and reinforced by bombers and dive-bombers, lasted twenty-five minutes. In its wake, and under cover of a double moving barrage, the infantry and tanks moved forward. Hundreds of powerful searchlights lit up the ground in front of the advancing troops. The plan of attack was carried out strictly, to the letter, but real conditions made alterations of their own… On many sectors the troops came to a halt in front of streams and canals running across the Oder valley, waiting for the light of dawn to show them clearly the obstacle they had to overcome… The enemy put up particularly stubborn resistance on the Haupt canal, which runs along the valley round the foot of the Seelow hills. The spring floods had turned it into an impassable barrier for our tanks and self-propelled guns. The few bridges in the area were kept under enemy artillery and mortar fire from beyond the Seelow Heights and from dug-in tanks and self-propelled guns, all well camouflaged.
Here the advance of our troops slowed down more than ever. Until the engineers had crossings ready, they were brought to a dead halt. Any kind of manoeuvre by motor vehicles or tanks was out of the question; the roads were jammed, and to try and move across country, in this marshy valley with its well-mined fields, would have been fatal.
The chaotic scenes which characterised Zhukov’s initial attempt to take the Seelow Heights were later graphically described by Vladimir Abyzov who served as a rifleman in the 236th Guards Rifle Regiment. His memoir entitled The Final Assault makes for interesting reading, in it he recalls:
We hugged the ground, waiting for the combat engineers to arrive. Shells continued to burst around us. Flares shot up into the grey sky. Eventually someone shouted, ‘We have a bridge!’ and the platoon jumped up and started to run again. We felt no fatigue and we didn’t realise that we were soaked to the skin. We didn’t even notice night change into day. Beyond the canal there was no mud, though there were many shell craters in the ground. The field was green with silky winter wheat. We ran across this field till the enemy met us with a wall of fire. We fell to the ground and quickly began to dig in. For the first time, the sky was clear of clouds. We saw hills before us. They were not high, but rather steep, some of them crowned by church spires … The Germans could see us clearly as if we were in the palm of their hand. They spared neither shells nor bullets, but we held our ground. We did not fire back – it would have been useless, because they were well out of range of our sub-machine guns.
Zhukov did not take the news that Chuikov’s troops were pinned down calmly, as every minute lost would give his rival Konev some advantage in the race towards Berlin. In order to facilitate a more rapid breakthrough, he changed his tactics by throwing his tank armies into the fray. Far from achieving the breakthrough he so desperately needed, this ill considered move produced further chaos and confusion on the battlefield as his armour floundered on the muddy terrain. A German counter-barrage inflicted heavy casualties on Zhukov’s troops and armour.
Spurred on by the news that Stalin had directed Konev’s tank armies north towards Berlin, Zhukov renewed his attack the following day. By nightfall, the second German defensive line had been overrun, but resistance on the Seelow Heights continued. The following morning, Zhukov attacked again following another series of artillery barrages. At 07.00hrs, 5th Shock Army launched an assault towards Reichenberg and Munchehof. Heavy defensive fire soon brought the advance to a shattering halt. Chuikov’s 8th Guards Army attacked at the same time in the direction of Muncheberg. Ignoring the danger of his exposed left flank, he urged his troops on towards the eastern approaches to Berlin. His determination paid off, and by the evening his troops had advanced to the Treibutz-Jahnsfelde line. Muncheberg was taken the following day after a brief check by a German flak unit near the Jahnsfelde crossroads. To the south, Konev’s tank forces were heading towards Zossen.
Despite the unfolding crisis, the authorities in Berlin seemed unable or unwilling to accept that the decisive moment had come. During his weekly ‘War Council’ meeting, Goebbels, in his role as the defender of Berlin, gave fanciful assurances to Hitler’s appointed military commander of the Berlin defence area (Lieutenant-General Hellmuth Reymann) that the city could hold out, stating that:
If the battle for Berlin was on right now you would have at your disposal all sorts of tanks and field pieces of different calibres, several thousand light and heavy machine guns, and several hundred mortars, in addition to large quantities of corresponding ammunition.