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Gedenkstätte Seelower Höhen / Memorial Complex "Seelöwer Höhen"

(Germany - Brandenburg - Seelow)

On April 16th, 1945, the last massive attack by the Red Army in the European theatre started. The offensive with its codename “Operation Berlin" was aimed to destroy the German defences for once and for all and to end the war in Berlin. In the spring of 1945 in Oderbruch and on the hilly area of Höhenzug hundreds of thousands of soldiers were facing each other supported by 14,000 pieces of artillery, 5,000 armoured vehicles and as many airplanes.

The memorial complex:

This memorial complex is in memory of the 35.000 Soviet soldiers and officers who fell in the battle of Seelöwer Höhen in April 1945. It consists of a 15 meters high memorial with a bronze Soviet soldier (3,90m) next to a turret of a fictive destroyed German tank. There is also a stone map depicting the stages of the battle.

Source

• Text: Kaj Metz
• Photos: Kaj Metz

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• Slag om de Seelower Höhen