16 April: the Berlin Offensive begins
In the Forst sector the 3rd Guards Army crossed the Neisse. A Pamyat Naroda combat journal reports bridgeheads secured by 08:00 and a penetration several kilometres deep by 10:30.
Assault on Forst
The 76th Rifle Corps journal describes resistance in prepared urban blocks and an unsuccessful crossing attempt under heavy machine-gun, artillery and mortar fire.
Source criticism: not every publicly searchable excerpt displays its exact daily date. Individual episodes are therefore not automatically assigned to 16 April.
16-18 April
Michelmann dates the city fighting to 16-18 April. Later Russian syntheses identify 18 April as the capture of Forst. For detailed chronology the combat journals take precedence.
Sources and source criticism
Sources
Pamyat Naroda - Berlin Offensive and combat journalsRussian Ministry of Defence portal. Used here for excerpts from the 76th Rifle Corps and 3rd Guards Army combat journals concerning Forst and the Neisse crossing.
Pamyat Naroda - Berlin Offensive and combat journalsRussian Ministry of Defence portal. Used here for excerpts from the 76th Rifle Corps and 3rd Guards Army combat journals concerning Forst and the Neisse crossing.
Sources
City of Forst (Lausitz) - “Grenzrose” materialMunicipal source: on 14 Feb 1945 Soviet tanks were on the east bank between Jähnsdorf and the Sacro bridge; on 16 Apr the major offensive began and the Neisse was crossed north of the memorial site.
City of Forst (Lausitz) - “Grenzrose” materialMunicipal source: on 14 Feb 1945 Soviet tanks were on the east bank between Jähnsdorf and the Sacro bridge; on 16 Apr the major offensive began and the Neisse was crossed north of the memorial site.
Sources
Jeannette Michelmann - dissertation on local government and the 1945 transitionAcademic secondary source: Neisse front from mid-February, evacuation, fighting on 16-18 Apr and destruction. Its statement that Forst was declared a “fortress” in late March relies on later literature (Ihlo/Scholze 1972), not on a primary Wehrmacht order located in this research.
Jeannette Michelmann - dissertation on local government and the 1945 transitionAcademic secondary source: Neisse front from mid-February, evacuation, fighting on 16-18 Apr and destruction. Its statement that Forst was declared a “fortress” in late March relies on later literature (Ihlo/Scholze 1972), not on a primary Wehrmacht order located in this research.