Chapter Six
The Russians Close In
With the arrival of the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, the 8th Guards Army was able to resume its crossing operation in daylight on 3 February. The loss of three aircraft in the first attack of the day obliged the Luftwaffe to change tactics from attacks en masse to individual sorties. Consequently, most of the infantry divisions of the 4th Guards Rifle Corps and the 79th Guards Rifle Division (28th Guards Rifle Corps) crossed the river with minimal losses, taking their artillery observers with them, although the guns had to remain on the east bank for the time being, as no bridging or ferrying facilities had come forwards with the 8th Guards Army’s vanguard.
That day saw the rapid and virtually unopposed expansion and unification of three small bridgeheads into one extending for several kilometres from Reitwein to Kietz and reaching as far forward as the Frankfurt–Küstrin railway line, which thus became unusable. The 35th Guards Rifle Division went on to occupy the southern part of Kietz and some terrain to the west of the suburb, while the 47th Guards Rifle Division occupied Neu Manschnow about noon and moved on to block the Küstrin–Seelow highway (Reichsstrasse 1) in Manschnow itself.1 The following day Soviet scouts were seen as far forward as the Golzow–Alt Tucheband road.2
Zhukov’s eyes were still firmly on Berlin, despite the previously mentioned deployment of most of his forces to clear Pomerania, as the following orders sent to Chuikov show. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of Küstrin, from which one can presume that it was considered too difficult an obstacle to overcome under the immediate circumstances, and that adequate bridging could be provided across the Oder at Reitwein and Kienitz.
On the 4th February we received a Front HQ directive setting the date for the offensive. It said: ‘The Front’s troops shall consolidate their success by active operations in the next six days, bring up all units that have fallen behind, replenish fuel to two allowances per vehicle and ammunition to two establishments, and in a swift assault take Berlin on the 15th–16th February.
