588th Night Bomber Regiment
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588th Night Bomber Regiment
@NguyenGiap4
Scandinavian communist and Bricklayer "Anyone who loves freedom owes such a debt to the Red Army that it can never be repaid". *Ernest Hemingway*





















What was happening on April 15 and 16 on the Eastern Front in WWII? April 15, 1945: By mid-April 1945, the Red Army had repositioned three massive fronts (1st Belorussian under Marshal Georgy Zhukov, 1st Ukrainian under Marshal Ivan Konev, and 2nd Belorussian under Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky) for the final offensive toward Berlin as part of the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation. The main German defenders were Army Group Vistula (under General-Colonel Gotthard Heinrici, including the 9th Army under General Theodor Busse) and elements of Army Group Centre. Soviet artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front began firing on German positions west of the Oder River to soften defenses ahead of the main assault. The 1st Ukrainian Front was also positioned along the Neisse River for a coordinated push. German forces, anticipating the attack (partly from POW intelligence), had withdrawn from forward trenches in places and flooded low-lying areas to create swampy obstacles. Heinrici had prepared three defensive lines at the Seelow Heights ("Gates of Berlin"), including anti-tank ditches, bunkers, and the fallback Wotan Line. Hitler issued his "Order of the Day," demanding that any soldier fleeing the Soviet advance be arrested or shot on the spot. No major ground breakthroughs happened this day; it was the final build-up after the earlier Vistula-Oder Offensive. The 2nd Belorussian Front had completed its rapid redeployment to the lower Oder north of Seelow but had not yet launched its supporting attack. April 16, 1945: The Battle of Berlin begins! Launch of the Soviet Berlin Offensive and the Battle of Seelow Heights begins. The Red Army launched its final major offensive on the Eastern Front. In the early hours (around 3–5 a.m.), Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front (nearly 1 million men, including the Polish 1st Army, about 3,000 tanks, and over 16,000 guns/mortars) unleashed a massive artillery bombardment (roughly 9,000 pieces and Katyusha rockets firing over 500,000 shells in the first 30 minutes), followed by 143 searchlights to blind German defenders. Infantry and armor then assaulted across the Oder from the Küstrin bridgehead directly into the heavily fortified Seelow Heights. Simultaneously, Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front attacked across the Neisse River farther south with its own heavy barrage starting around 4:15 a.m., followed by river crossings. The 2nd Belorussian Front remained in supporting positions north of the main effort. German forces (about 100,000–112,000 men with about 1,200 tanks/guns at Seelow under the 9th Army) had pulled back from the first trench line, avoiding the worst of the barrage, and used the swampy terrain, flooding, and prepared defenses to blunt the assault. Soviet advances were limited (4–6 km in places, up to 8 km for some units like the 7th Rifle Corps), with heavy casualties from German counter-barrages and difficult ground. By evening, the second German defensive line still held in most sectors, though Konev’s southern thrust progressed better. Zhukov committed reserves as the battle (part of the larger Oder–Neisse Offensive) stalled short of expectations. This marked the opening of the Battle of Seelow Heights and the direct road to Berlin.

【Sail for Peace, Bridge the World】On the occasion of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese PLA Navy, we sail for peace and bridge the world with our ships, to safeguard the same ocean together with you toward a bright future !


















