Battle for the Seelow Heights; Germany's last stand to keep the Soviets out of Berlin (UPDATED)

HistoryNet: Battle of the Seelow Heights Very good account.

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Battle of the Seelow Heights  . . . "Close to one million Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the Polish 1st Army), commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the "Gates of Berlin". They were opposed by about 110,000 soldiers of the German 9th Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula." . . .
Photo: Hitler Youth casualties at the Seelow Heights

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The battle of the Seelow heights – a battlefield tour

Still wearing their boots and helmets, the Germans who fell fighting Russians at the Gates of Berlin

70 years on, troops sacrificed in Hitler's doomed last stand are unearthed. The Battle of the Seelow Heights was part of the Soviet assault on Berlin and lasted three days in April 1945. Estimates of Russian casualties range from 5,000 to 33,000, with 12,000 Germans killed 

The Association for the Recovery of the Fallen in Eastern Europe

"Defending the German position were 110,000 soldiers of the 9th Army.

"Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place. Fighting began in the early hours of April 16 with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery weapons.

"On the third day the final line of the Seelow Heights was breached leaving nothing but fractured German divisions between the Red Army and the chancellery in Berlin."

The weapon appears to be a Sturmgewehr 44 , shown below, and here.

"The number of Russian soldiers thought to have died ranges from 5,000 to 33,000, while some 12,000 German troops perished.

"By April 23, the German capital was fully encircled and the Battle of Berlin entered its last stage. Within a fortnight, Adolf Hitler was dead and the war in Europe was effectively over.

"For many of the German soldiers who died in the battle where they fell is where they have remained ever since – buried deep in mud and soil - until now."

. . . "The association's mission statement on its website says: 'We are searching for the nameless dead, who lay without commemorative stones in the mass graves of War or were buried somewhere, as individuals and are considered as missing. 

• " 'We want to restore people to their name, which was taken from them over 60 years ago.
  "'We are not looking for soldiers of the Wehrmacht, not for U.S. GI's, Marines, soldiers of the red army or Polish Military - not for infantry, soldiers, sailors or airmen - not for Good or Bad.
  "'We are looking for people - Sons, Fathers, Brothers.
  "'Fallen soldiers are also victims - victims of a gruesome war, which they had not caused and had not wanted.'
  
  

A tourist's visit

UPDATE: Hitler's War The Eastern Front - ''The Death Trap''
"A terrible account of the last days on the Eastern Front. By this time STuGs made up a very large percentage of available German armour."

While we're on the subject of resisting the forces of socialism, read more of the Tunnel Wall here.