The Eastern Front in 1945 saw massive Soviet offensives all along the front line, with the German Army's units falling back and retreating towards Berlin and Vienna. At the beginning of 1945 the fascist German High Command continued to wage a war on two fronts, but, just as they had been doing until then, the Germans kept their main forces deployed on the Eastern Front to fight against the Red Army. Thus, on January 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht had 299 divisions and 31 brigades (5 million men), 43,000 guns and infantry mortars, 7,000 tanks and assault guns, and 6,800 aircraft deployed from north to south on the Easter Front. For their final offensive, on the other hand, the Soviets had about 6.5 million men, 91,400 guns and infantry mortars, 2,993 rocket-launching artillery installations, about 11,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 14,500 combat planes.
The 1945 Red Army's campaign on the Soviet-German Front began on January 12, with a massive Soviet offensive in East Prussia and Poland. This forced the German High Command to transfer considerable numbers of troops from the Western Front to the Soviet-German Front, which eased the situation of the Anglo-American armies. From January 13 to April 25, 1945, Soviet troops carried out the East Prussian Operation with the forces of the Third Belorussian Front, under General of the Army Ivan D. Chernyakhovsky, and the Second Belorussian Front, led by Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky, with the support of the Baltic Fleet. Soviet troops broke through the enemy’s powerful and deeply echeloned defense and reached the sea on January 26, cutting off the enemy’s East Prussian grouping, which was split into three parts. Four German divisions were pressed to the sea on the Samland Peninsula, and five divisions and other units in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and more than 20 divisions in the Heilsberg fortified region southwest of Königsberg were encircled by the Red Army. The troops of the Third Belorussian Front destroyed these German units between February and April 1945.
From January 12 to February 3, 1945, the Vistula-Oder Operation had been carried out by the troops of the First Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov) and the First Ukrainian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev) with the active support of the armies of the left wing of the Second Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky, and the right wing of the Fourth Ukrainian Front (commanded by General of the Army Ivan E. Petrov). The troops of the First Belorussian Front struck westward from the Magnuscew and Pulawy bases of operations, while the troops of the First Ukrainian Front did so from the Sandomierz base of operations; they broke through the mighty Vistula defense line and advanced more than 500 km, reached the Oder, forced it without preparation, and captured several bases of operations on the eastern bank of the Oder.
From February 10 to April 4, 1945, the troops of the Second and First Belorussian Fronts successfully carried out the Eastern Pomeranian Operation, during which they routed the German Army Group Vistula (commanded by SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler), reached the shore of the Baltic Sea, advancing in a wide front and eliminating the threat of a flank attack from the north against the Soviet Army's forces that was preparing to launch an attack on Berlin. The Baltic Fleet was able to shift its combat actions into the Baltic waters of the enemy.
From February 8 to February 24, 1945, the troops of the right wing of the First Ukrainian Front successfully executed the Lower Silesian Operation in the course of which they reached the Neisse River by the end of the month , on the same line as the troops of the First Belorussian Front. They encircled large enemy garrisons in Glogau (Glogow) and Breslau (Wroclaw) and occupied positions advantageous for an offensive on Berlin from the south and southeast. The main forces of the Front subsequently regrouped toward its left wing and, from March 15 to 31, 1945, carried out the Upper Silesian Operation, in the course of which the Soviet troops reached the foothills of the Sudetes, occupying a line advantageous for protecting the thrust on Berlin from the south.
Final Drive on Berlin
On April 16, 1945, the troops of the First Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy K. Zhukov) and the First Ukrainian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Konev) and, from April 20 on, also the troops of the Second Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky) began the Berlin Operation. The Polish First Army (commanded by Lieutenant General S. G. Poplawski) and the Second Army (commanded by Lieutenant General K. K. Swerczewski) also participated in the offensive. The First Belorussian and the First Ukrainian Fronts launched a mighty offensive that broke through the strong defense of the German 9th Army on the western bank of the Oder and on the Neisse (Battle of the Oder-Neisse). After this military engagement, these two Soviet Fronts continued their offensive, enveloping Berlin from the north and southwest. On April 24-25 they encircled an enemy grouping of almost half a million men and split it in half. At the same time the forward elements of the Fifth Guards Army of the First Ukrainian Front reached the Elbe River and, on April 25, met the troops of the American First Army in the region of Torgau.
By May 1, 1945, the troops of the First Belorussian and the First Ukrainian Front liquidated the enemy’s forces at Frankfurt-Guben, southeast of Berlin, while southwest of Berlin the Soviets repulsed the German 12th Army's counterattack, which attempted to break through and link up with the German troops at Frankfurt-Guben. Fierce combat broke out in Berlin itself. On April 28 the enemy’s Berlin forces were split into three parts. On April 30, Soviet troops took the Reichstag by storm and hoisted the Banner of Victory on it. On May 2 the remnants of the Berlin garrison capitulated. The troops of the Second Byelorussian Front delivered a blow on Rostock, routed the enemy’s Third Panzer Army, reached the shore of the Baltic Sea, captured Rügen Island, and made contact with the British troops along the line of Wismar, Schwerin, and the Elbe River. (See Battle of Berlin).
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| Above, a map that shows the military situation on the Eastern Front in 1945. |
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| Troops of the German 9th Army waiting for the Soviet attack on the western bank of the Oder River. Notice the haggard faces of the battle-hardened yet war-weary German soldiers. |