The Seelow Heights are situated around the town of

Seelow Seelow () is a German town, seat of the Märkisch-Oderland, a district of Brandenburg. As of 2013 its population was of 5,464. Geography It is situated in the extreme east of Germany, 70 km (40 miles) east of Berlin, 16 km (10 miles) wes ...

, about east of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, and overlook the

Oderbruch The Oderbruch ( pl, Kotlina Freienwaldzka) is a landscape located at the Oder river in eastern Germany on the Polish border, with a small part also in Poland. It extends from the towns Oderberg and Bad Freienwalde in the north to Lebus in the sout ...

, the western flood plain of the River Oder, which is a further to the east. They are sometimes known as the "Gates to Berlin", because the main eastern route out of Berlin runs through them.

Second World War

During April 1945, the Battle of the Seelow Heights saw some of the heaviest fighting of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

between the German defenders and the Soviet attackers. The fighting took place on the horseshoe-shaped plateau of the Seelow Heights. It ranged in height from and it overlooked a spongy valley known for the stream veining through it, the Oderbruch. Many localised Soviet attacks were held back by remnants of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

. The Soviet advances could not be held off for long. After several days of intense fighting, the Soviets managed to break through the defences and fight their way into the German capital in the Battle of Berlin. Geography of Brandenburg heights {{Brandenburg-geo-stub