"This is the trench where Zhukov and his officers walked up". In this video, WW2HistoryHunter guides us through of the Oder river and Polish border battlefields. He shows us the Soviet General Zhukov's bunker where planned his next step on the road to crush Hitler in Berlin. Reitwein Spur just 3 km west of the Oder river and Polish border saw some of the most intense fighting between the Soviets and the Germans during the last days of the WW2.

In the very early morning of 31st of January 1945 an advance unit of the fifth shock army crossed the Oder river and met very little german resistance. After the soviet soldiers had formed the first bridgehead for the next six weeks the germans tried to drive the soviets back to the eastern side of the river. 

Finally the Red Army had managed to seize enough space to attack on 16th of April 1945. 2,5 Million soviet soldiers started their move towards Berlin. From his command post at the Reitwein Spur Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov observed the attempt of the 8th Guard Army to break through the german defense line at Seelow Height. It took the soviet forces three days instead of the estimated 24 hrs. to breach the german lines. Afterwards they moved through the countryside and little villages at the outskirts of Berlin and met bitter resistance inside the city itself.