Night of January 12, 1945. The Red Army is ready to launch a decisive offensive on the Vistula. The noise of engines in the last regroupings on the Sandomierz bridgehead is masked by loud music through loudspeakers. This “concert” ends with the new Anthem of the Soviet Union: “In battles we decide the fate of generations ...” rushes over the front line. “Let the Soviet banner, the people’s banner, lead from victory to victory!” As soon as the last majestic notes died down, volleys of thousands of guns struck, merging into a deafening roar... The Vistula-Oder strategic offensive operation became one of the greatest triumphs of the USSR - in just 23 days, with minimal losses, the Red Army advanced 500 km westward (the pace of the offensive was three times higher, than during Operation Bagration, faster than the loudest Hitler blitzkriegs!) It seemed that the Wehrmacht was completely crushed. It seemed that there were only a few weeks left before the Victory. But the bloody ROAD TO BERLIN took another three long months. This book reconstructs the course of the decisive battles of 1945 - from the brilliant “opening” of the Vistula bridgeheads and Prussian forts, the assaults of the “festung” of Poznan and Budapest to Balaton and Vienna.