Another pivotal point on the Eastern Front at this time was the German defence of Breslau, which the Soviets badly wanted to take. The Soviet Sixth Army was stalled at the Silesian capital, and Marshal Ivan Konev needed the Sixth for the final drive on Berlin. There was still one major obstacle to the Soviet advance--the rolling plains and plateaus of an area known as the Seelow Heights, only 35 miles from the German capital.
By the end of the first day of the assault, the Soviets were learning just how expensive the Seelow Heights were going to be. Soviet losses added up to 75 tanks, 2,250 killed, 3,400 wounded and 12 Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik fighter-bombers lost. German losses included two Tiger I heavy tanks, four Hanomag halftracks, three Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters, seven Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers and approximately 300 killed, with a like number wounded. Konev knew he had to do something. The Kremlin wanted results, and Josef Stalin personally threatened retaliation if the attack continued to falter. Marshal Georgi Zhukov himself, Konev's adjacent Red Army commander, was also on standby for the push to Berlin.
Until recently the Russians had claimed that they lost 10,000 men during the battle for the Seelow Heights and 100,000 in Berlin. The actual figures are unknown. Yet no less than 30,000 Red Army soldiers were killed at Seelow, and the staggering figure of 600,000 killed in Berlin seems more plausible. Konev complained at one point that he was losing 1,000 men a day because Zhukov's artillery failed to shift fire when asked. Zhukov denied that allegation, stating that Konev was not using his troops intelligently.
German losses at Seelow were also high, with 11,000 of the 18,000 troops positioned on the lower hill dying and the Third Panzer Army suffering a total of 80,000 killed during the week of fighting. The survivors would, for the most part, perish in Berlin, fighting without respite in a city destined to die.
This mission features in Panzer Front Bis.