At the end of World War II, during the Battle of Zelow Highlands on the Eastern Front, a wounded and critically ill Soviet soldier was surrounded by allied Soviet soldiers, while a Soviet soldier sitting next to him looked on.

   During the Battle of Seelow Heights on the Eastern Front at the end of World War II, a wounded and critically injured Soviet soldier was surrounded by Soviet Red Army soldiers, while a Soviet Red Army soldier sitting next to his comrade looked on with concern.

　The battle broke out over four days from April 16 to April 19, 1945. About one million soldiers of the First White Russian Army stormed from the Berlin entrance to the Zerow Heights, defended by 100,000 soldiers of the 9th Wehrmacht. The battle of the Zöllow Heights was often part of the Battle of Oder-Neisse. One of several crossings of the Oder-Neisse River by the Soviet Red Army, the Zerow Heights was the scene of fierce fighting. The German positions were finally crushed by Soviet troops on April 19, opening the way to Berlin.

　At 3:00 a.m. on April 16, the Soviets began a massive bombardment of German positions with artillery and Katyusha rockets. The bulk of the bombardment attacked the German first line of defense in front of the high ground. The Germans anticipated the bombardment and withdrew most of their troops to the second line of defense on the plateau. The Soviets were severely hampered in their invasion by swamps in the valley, canals, and other obstacles, and the Soviets soon began taking heavy losses from the German anti-tank guns on the high ground; on the morning of April 17, a massive artillery barrage began, signaling a new Soviet invasion of the Zerow Highlands. The German positions on the Zerow Heights were further damaged by the Soviet advance to the south, and on April 18 the Soviets launched another offensive and began to break through the German lines, at great cost. German positions collapsed and the Germans began to retreat westward toward Berlin. The road to Berlin was opened and the Soviet forces began a rapid advance toward the capital, Berlin.

　In the battle of the Zerow Highlands, the Germans lost about 12,000 dead and the Soviets suffered more than 30,000 casualties. The last organized German defense between the Soviets and Berlin was virtually eliminated. The Zerow Highlands were the last German defenses, and there were no longer any German troops standing in the way of the Soviet Red Army, which had only about 90 kilometers to go to Berlin. The Soviet forces invading the west besieged the German capital Berlin on April 23 and began the final battle of the Battle of Berlin; Berlin fell on May 2, and World War II in Europe ended five days later with the unconditional surrender on May 7.