The Battle of Halbe was a battle south-east of Berlin and occurred during the last days of April 1945.

The battle was a breakout attempt of the encircled 150,000+ men of the German IX Army trying to link up with the XII Army and then to surrender to the Americans on the west bank of the Elbe river. They were joined by more than 50,000 civilians. The breakout was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. No less than 60,000 Germans and 30,000 Soviets were killed within a couple of days. The carnage was in effect the greatest slaughter of WWII, even more bloody than the bombing of Stalingrad in 1942, Hamburg in July 1943 and Dresden 1945 when in all three situations about 40,000 civilians were killed within a couple of days of sustained air bombardment. Only the breakout battle of Husi/Kishinev in August 1944 can be compared to this battle when looking at the timespan and huge losses involved.

At the same time the Battle of Berlin ended. Few escaped unscathed from the bloodbath of Halbe. Many were wounded and/or taken prisoner.

Losses were so high because the escape route was leading through dense fir forests and there were only a few escape routes leading to the West. Soviet shells exploded high above the ground so shrapnel and wood splinters of all sizes, rained down on the panic driven IX Army killing and maiming tens of thousands.