Race to Berlin

The Race to Berlin
Part of World War II, Eastern Theater
The Reichstag was a target that both Soviet marshals wanted.
Date 15–23 April 1945 Location Germany Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union Poland		Germany
Commanders and leaders
Georgy Zhukov Konstantin Rokossovsky	Ivan Konev Andrei Yeremenko	Gotthard Heinrici Theodor Busse Walther Wenck Ferdinand Schörner
Strength
1,000,000	280,000	192,143+ German soldiers
Casualties and losses
70,000 Soviet soldiers	Approximately 20,000 Soviet soldiers	Over 72,000

The Race to Berlin was a competition between Soviet Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev to be the first to enter Berlin during the final months of World War II in Europe.

In early 1945, with Germany's defeat inevitable, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin set his two marshals in a race to capture Berlin.^[1] Although the race was mostly between one another, both marshals were supported by other fronts. Marshal Zhukov was protected by Konstantin Rokossovsky's Second Belorussian Front, and Marshal Konev was supported by Andrei Yeremenko's Fourth Ukrainian Front. Their separately-commanded armies were pitted against each other, ensuring they would drive their men as fast and as far as possible to a quick victory, leading to the climactic Battle of Berlin.

The Soviet advance and ultimate capture of the German capital was not opposed by the Western Allies. In an effort to avoid a diplomatic issue, US Army General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower had ordered his forces into the south of Germany to cut off and to wipe out the Wehrmacht there, and to avoid the possibility that the German government would attempt to hold out in a national redoubt in the Alps. The Yalta Conference had already determined that both Germany and Berlin would be divided into four zones of occupation.^[2]