<P> As the end of Nazi Germany approached, Hitler, still not wanting to give up, issued orders that were impossible for the Germans to execute given the situation . While meeting in his secret bunker under Berlin, Hitler's chief staff members offered personnel to defend the Oder . Commander Hermann Göring of the Luftwaffe offered 100,000 Luftwaffe men; Heinrich Himmler offered 25,000 SS troopers; and Admiral Doenitz offered 12,000 navy men . However, the new commander of Army Group Vistula, Commander Gotthard Heinrici, who had replaced Himmler, did not agree with the personnel addition and believed that the inexperienced soldiers would be useless and ultimately slaughtered . Goering countered that statement by stating that his Luftwaffe men were "Übermenschen" or superhuman . Hitler ended their argument by telling Heinrici that reinforcements would arrive in time . Heinrici disagreed with Hitler's statement but kept it to himself . </P> <P> As the new commander of Group Vistula, General Heinrici was an excellent defensive tactician in the German Army . He predicted that the main Soviet forces would go through the Oder river and along the main east - west autobahn--at the Seelow Heights . Deciding to concentrate his defenses near the Seelow Heights, he deployed a small number of units, enough to screen the Oder river, as the opening defenses while making three defensive lines behind the Seelow Heights, where a large amount of his forces were concentrated . These lines spread all the way to Berlin where the last line--the Wotem line--was almost 10--15 mi (16--24 km) behind the front defenses . However, even though the Red Army broke through the defenses, it did buy Hitler time to try to reorganize the final defense . </P> <P> Zhukov's Front entered Berlin from the north then expanded north - west from the Oder River . Konev's Front had chosen the southern areas of Berlin to enter from . Both Fronts continued to expand north - west in an attempt to complete a pincer movement or in other words, they were trying to encircle Berlin . On 23 April 1945, Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front finally linked up with members of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, thereby ending any hope for the Germans to escape . </P>

Who was the first to reach berlin in wwii
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