Overview

On 16 April 1945 the Soviet Army launched the fourth largest offensive of WWII with the goal to capture Berlin in five operational days. The Soviet Army took four days just to breech the prepared German defenses along the Seelow Heights, followed by another four days to reach Berlin. Berlin's fall occurred after another eight days of bloody street fighting-sixteen days after the operation began and eleven days longer than planned. The backbone of Berlin's defense was the German LVI Panzer Corps, newly formed and under strength. This corps bore the brunt of the Soviet attack along the Seelow Heights by the 5th Shock, 8th Guards, 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies and now was faced with holding Berlin against the combined weight of seven separate Soviet Armies from two competing Soviet Fronts. Supporting the LVI Panzer Corps were various formations of the Volkssturm, Hitler Youth, and SS, as well as smaller ad hoc formations of foreign volunteers and locally formed units. The Battle of Berlin precipitated the death of Adolf Hitler and the fall the Third Reich-at a high cost. Soviet operational daily casualty rates were among the highest of the war, and they lost more than the equivalent of a Tank Army in armor and self-propelled guns in the streets of Berlin. Bloody Streets is a massive new work that uses previously unpublished German, Russian, and Allied first person accounts, as well as previously unused primary sources and photographs, including aerial imagery, to bring to life the largest urban assault in military history. All aspects of this battle are covered with new insights into how it was planned, shaped, and executed. This book uniquely presents a day-by-day account of the tactical fighting throughout the city's ruins in greater detail than previously published. German and Soviet units come to life through vivid first person accounts and insightful analysis that are interwoven to provide a complete picture of the brutal urban combat that ensued in the bloody streets of Berlin.

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9781906033125

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"""...uniquely presents a day by day account of the tactical fighting throughout the city's ruins in greater detail than previously published... a complete picture of the urban combat that ensued in the bloody streets of Berlin.""--Cold War Times"

...uniquely presents a day by day account of the tactical fighting throughout the city's ruins in greater detail than previously published... a complete picture of the urban combat that ensued in the bloody streets of Berlin. --Cold War Times

Author Information

Aaron Stephen Hamilton has spent the last twenty-five years researching and analyzing the final year of military conflict during World War II in Europe. He is an academically trained historian who holds a Bachelors and Master's degree in History, as well as the Field Historian designator awarded by the U.S. Army's Combat Studies Institute. His multi-volume, The Oder Front 1945 became the basis for the U.S. Army Europe's first Staff Ride and Battle Book regarding the battle of the Seelow Heights.

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