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{{Short description|1945 invasion of Nazi-occupied territory by the Red Army during WWII}}
{{FixBunching|beg}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox Military Conflict
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Vistula-Oder Strategic Offensive Operation
| conflict = Vistula–Oder offensive
|partof=the ] of ]
| partof = the ] of ]
|image=]
| image = Lodz liberation2.jpg
|caption=Soviet troops enter ]
| image_size = 300px
|date=12 January – 2 February 1945
| caption = Soviet troops enter ], led by an ] ]
|place=] and Eastern ]
| date = 12 January – 2 February 1945
|casus=
| place = ] and ]
|territory=
| casus =
|result=Soviet Victory
| territory = Soviet and Polish troops advanced into most of the pre-war Polish territory
|combatant1={{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} ]
| result = Soviet victory
|combatant2={{flagicon|USSR}} ] <br> {{flagicon|Poland}} ]
* ] and other ]
|commander1=],<br>]<br>(])
* Disintegration of the ]
|commander2=]<br>(]),<br>]<br>(])
| combatant1 = {{Flag icon|Nazi Germany}} ]
||strength1=450,000<ref>Duffy pages 51, 59 </ref>
| combatant2 = {{Flag icon|USSR|1936}} ]<br />{{Flagicon|Poland|1928}} ]
|strength2=2,203,000
| commander1 = {{Flag icon|Nazi Germany}} ] (])<br />{{small|(From 20 January)}}<br />{{Flag icon|Nazi Germany}} ] (])<br />{{small|(Until 20 January)}}
|casualties1= Losses on the '''eastern front''' during January and February: OKW claims:
| commander2 = {{Flag icon|USSR|1936}} ] (])<br />{{Flag icon|USSR|1936}} ] (])<br />{{Flag icon|Poland|1928}} ] (])
<br>377,000 killed;<br> 334, 000 wounded and <br>292,000 missing; <br>total 1.103,000 <ref>Max Hastings Armageddon. The Battle for Germany 1944-45 published by Macmillan, London</ref>
| strength1 = 450,000–800,000 men<ref>Duffy pp. 51, 59</ref>
| strength2 = 2,203,600 men<ref name=glantz>Glantz (1995), p. 300</ref>
| casualties1 = <!--41,805 killed <br />68,515 missing<br />146,368 wounded<ref name = ww2stats>http://ww2stats.com/cas_ger_okh_dec45.html {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref><ref name = axishistory.com>http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=112689&start=15 {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref><br /> Forum and dead link are not accepted. Please find a more decent source.-->


Soviet claim:<br>'''626,000''' casualties<br /> 295,000 killed<br />147,000 taken prisoner<br />189,000 wounded<ref name=Bahm>Bahm, pp. 51-52</ref>
<br>Soviet claims:
| casualties2 = 43,476 killed or missing <br />150,715 wounded and sick<ref name=glantz/>

<br>695,000 enemy killed and <br>86,000 enemy captured {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
|casualties2=43 251 killed and missing; <br>149 874 wounded and sick; <br>193 125 total<ref>Russia and USSR in wars of the XX century - Military losses; Moskow, "Olma-Press", 2001, available online at http://www.soldat.ru/doc/casualties/book/</ref>
}} }}
{{Campaignbox Axis–Soviet War}}
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{{Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War}} {{Campaignbox Poland 1944–1945}}
{{FixBunching|end}}


The '''Vistula–Oder offensive''' ({{Langx|ru|Висло-Одерская операция|Vislo–Oderskaya operatsiya}}) was a ] operation on the ] in the ] in January 1945. The army made a major advance into ]-held ], capturing ], ] and ]. The Red Army had built up their strength around a number of key ]s, with two fronts commanded by Marshal ] and Marshal ]. Against them, the German ], led by Colonel-General ] (soon replaced by Colonel-General ]), was outnumbered five to one. Within days, German commandants evacuated the ], sending the prisoners on their ] to the west, where ethnic Germans also started fleeing. In a little over two weeks, the Red Army had advanced {{convert|300|mi|km|order=flip}} from the ] to the ], only {{convert|43|mi|km|order=flip}} from Berlin, which was undefended. However, Zhukov called a halt, owing to continued German resistance on his northern flank (]), and the advance on Berlin had to be delayed until April.
The '''Vistula-Oder Strategic Offensive Operation''' was a successful ] operation on the ] in the European Theatre of ]; it took place between ], 1945 and ], ]. The offensive took Soviet forces from their start lines on the ] river in ] to the ] river deep in ], about seventy kilometers from the capital ].


==Background== ==Background==
In the wake of the successful ], the ] managed to secure two ]s west of the Vistula river between 27 July and 4 August 1944.<ref>Duffy, p. 11</ref> The Soviet forces remained inactive during the failed ] that started on 1 August, though their frontline was not far from the insurgents. The ] captured an additional large bridgehead at ] (known as the Baranow bridgehead in German accounts), some 200&nbsp;km south of Warsaw, during the ].<ref>Duffy, p. 12</ref>


Preceding the offensive, the Red Army had built up large amounts of ] and manpower in the three bridgeheads. The Red Army greatly outnumbered the opposing Wehrmacht in infantry, artillery, and armour. All this was known to German intelligence. General ], head of '']'', passed his assessment to ]. Guderian in turn presented the intelligence results to ], who refused to believe them, dismissing the apparent Soviet strength as "the greatest imposture since ]".<ref name=Beevorp>Beevor, pp. 6, 7</ref> Guderian had proposed to evacuate the divisions of ] trapped in the ] to the Reich via the ] to get the necessary manpower for the defence, but Hitler forbade it. In addition, Hitler commanded that one major operational reserve, the troops of ]'s ], be moved to ] to support ].
In the wake of the successful ] the ] managed to secure two ]s west of the ] river between ] and ] 1944.<ref>Duffy, p.11</ref>The Soviets remained inactive during the failed ] that started on ], ], though their frontline was not far from the insurgents. The ] captured an additional large bridgehead at ] (known as the Baranow bridgehead in German accounts) during the ].<ref>Duffy, p.12</ref>


The offensive was brought forward from 20 to 12 January because meteorological reports warned of a thaw later in the month, and the tanks needed hard ground for the offensive. It was not done to assist American and British forces during the ], as Stalin chose to claim at Yalta.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Beevor |title=Ardennes 1944: Hitler's last gamble |publisher=Viking |date=2015 |location=New York |page= |url=https://archive.org/details/ardennes1944hitl0000beev|url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-670-02531-2}}</ref>
Preceding the offensive, the Soviets had built up large amounts of ] and manpower in the three bridgeheads. The Soviets greatly outnumbered the opposing German army in infantry, artillery, and armour. All this was known to German intelligence and General ], head of '']'' passed his assessment to ]. Guderian presented the intelligence results to ], who refused to believe them, dismissing the apparent Soviet strength as "the greatest imposture since Genghis Khan".<ref name=Beevorp>Beevor, p.</ref> Guderian had proposed to evacuate the divisions of ] trapped in the ] to the Reich via the ] to get the necessary manpower for the defence, but Hitler forbade it. In addition, Hitler commanded that one major operational reserve, the troops of ]'s ], were moved to ] to support ].


==Opposing forces== ==Forces involved==
]


===Red Army=== ===Red Army===
Two Fronts of the Red Army were directly involved. The ], holding the sector around ] and southward in the ] and ] bridgeheads, was led by Marshal ]; the ], occupying the ] bridgehead, was led by Marshal ]. Two fronts of the Red Army were directly involved. The 1st Belorussian Front, holding the sector around ] and southward in the ] and ] bridgeheads, was led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov; the 1st Ukrainian Front, occupying the Sandomierz bridgehead, was led by Marshal ].


Zhukov and Konev had 163 divisions for the operation with a total of:<ref>Duffy ] pages 24, 25 </ref> Zhukov and Konev had 163 divisions for the operation with a total of: 2,203,000 infantry, 4,529 tanks, 2,513 ]s, 13,763 pieces of ] (76&nbsp;mm or more), 14,812 ], 4,936 ]s, 2,198 ] multiple rocket launchers, and 5,000 aircraft.<ref>Duffy pp. 24, 25</ref>
*2,203,000 troops
*4,529 tanks
*2,513 ]s
*13,763 pieces of ] (76 mm or more)
*14,812 ]s
*4,936 ]s
*2,198 ] multiple rocket launchers
*5,000 aircraft


====Deployments==== ====Deployments====
* ] (Marshal ])

** ] (])
*] (Marshal ])
**] ** ] (General ])
**] (General ]) ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (in Magnuszew bridgehead) (])
**] (in Magnuszew bridgehead) ** ] (in Magnuszew bridgehead) (General ])
**] (in Magnuszew bridgehead) (General ]) ** ] (in Puławy bridgehead) (])
**] (in Pulawy bridgehead) ** ] (in Puławy bridgehead) (])
* ] (Marshal ])
**] (in Pulawy bridgehead)
** ] (])
*] (Marshal ])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])
**] ** ] (])


===Wehrmacht=== ===Wehrmacht===
Soviet forces in this sector were opposed by ], defending a front which stretched from positions east of Warsaw southwards along the Vistula, almost to the confluence of the ]. At that point there was a large Soviet bridgehead over the Vistula in the area of ] before the front continued south to ].


There were three armies in the group; the ], deployed around Warsaw, the ], opposite the Baranow salient in the Vistula Bend, and the ] to their south.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060410215142/http://www.onwar.com/maps/wwii/eastfront2/vistula-oder.htm |date=10 April 2006 }} of Ziemke p. 26</ref> The force had a total complement of 450,000 soldiers, 4,100 artillery pieces, and 1,150 tanks.<ref>Ziemke, p. 23</ref> Army Group A was led by ] ] (who was replaced, after the offensive had begun, by Colonel-General ] on 20 January).<ref>Duffy{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
Soviet forces in this sector were opposed by ], defending a front which stretched from positions east of ] southwards along the ], almost to the confluence of the ]. At that point there was a large Soviet ] over the Vistula in the area of ] before the front continued south to ].


There were three Armies in the Group, the ] deployed around Warsaw, the ] opposite the Baranow salient in the Vistula Bend, and the ] to their south.<ref> of Ziemke ] page 26</ref> The group had a total of 400,000 troops, 4,100 artillery pieces, and 1,150 tanks.<ref>Ziemke, p. 23</ref> Army Group A was led by ] ] (who was replaced, after the offensive had begun, by Colonel-General ] on ]).<ref>Duffy page ? </ref>
====Order of battle==== ====Order of battle====
]]]
* ] (Colonel-General ] to 20 January; then ])
** ] (General ] to 20 January; then General ])
*** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])
** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])<ref name=nehring>Only two divisions of this corps, the ] and ]s, were allocated to Fourth Panzer Army, where they were committed in the attempted defence of Kielce. The remaining two formations, the ] and ]s constituted Army Group A's general reserve, and were committed in support of 9th Army.</ref>
*** ] (General ])
** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])
*** ] (General ])
*** ] (SS-Obergruppenfuhrer ])


German intelligence had estimated that the Soviet forces had a 3:1 numerical superiority to the German forces; there was in fact a 5:1 superiority.<ref>Duffy, pp. 51, 59</ref> More specifically, a report compiled by General Reinhard Gehlen of the ''Fremde Heer Ost'' (Foreign Armies East) estimated the Russians had a 11:1 superiority in infantry, 7:1 in tanks and 20:1 in artillery and aircraft for the start of the offensive. Hitler reportedly scoffed at the numbers and is quoted as saying of the numbers: "It is the greatest bluff since Genghis Khan"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beebor |first=Antony |title=Berlin: Slutstriden 1944 |publisher=Historisk Media |year=2002 |isbn=91-89442-56-3 |pages=37 |language=sv |trans-title=Berlin – The Downfall 1945}}</ref> In the large Baranow/Sandomierz bridgehead, the Fourth Panzer Army was required to defend from "strongpoints" in some areas, as it lacked the infantry to man a continuous front line.<ref name=simsp23>Sims and Schilling, p. 23</ref> In addition, on Hitler's express orders, the two German defence lines (the ''Grosskampflinie'' and ''Hauptkampflinie'') were positioned very close to each other, placing the main defences well within striking range of Soviet artillery.<ref>Duffy {{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
*] (Colonel-General ] to ]; then ])
**] (General ] to ]; then General ])
***] (General ])
***] (General ])
***] (General ])
**] (General ])
***] (General ])
***] (General ])<ref name=nehring>Only two divisions of this corps, the ] and ]s, were allocated to Fourth Panzer Army, where they were committed in the attempted defence of Kielce. The remaining two formations, the ] and ]s constituted Army Group A's general reserve, and were committed in support of Ninth Army.</ref>
***] (General ])
**] (General ])
***]
***]
***]


==Offensive==
German intelligence had estimated that the Soviet forces had a 3:1 numerical superiority to the German forces; there was in fact a 5:1 superiority.<ref>Duffy, page 51, 59 </ref> In the large Baranow / Sandomierz bridgehead, the Fourth Panzer Army was required to defend from 'strongpoints' in some areas, as it lacked the infantry to man a continuous front line.<ref name=simsp23>Sims and Schilling, p.23</ref> In addition, on Hitler's express orders, the two German defence lines (the ''Grosskampflinie'' and ''Hauptkampflinie'') were positioned very close to each other, placing the main defences well within striking range of Soviet artillery. <ref>Duffy, page ? </ref>
]
The offensive commenced in the Baranow bridgehead at 04:35 on 12 January with an intense bombardment by the guns of the 1st Ukrainian Front against the positions of the 4th Panzer Army.<ref name=duffyp67>Duffy, p. 67</ref> Concentrated against the divisions of XLVIII Panzer Corps, which had been deployed across the face of the bridgehead, the bombardment effectively destroyed their capacity to respond; a battalion commander in the ] stated that "I began the operation with an understrength battalion after the smoke of the Soviet preparation cleared I had only a platoon of combat effective soldiers left".<ref name=sims>Captain Reinhardt Mueller, interviewed in Sims and Schilling, p. 24</ref>


The initial barrage was followed by probing attacks and a further heavy bombardment at 10:00. By the time the main armored exploitation force of the 3rd Guards and 4th Tank armies moved forward four hours later, the Fourth Panzer Army had already lost up to ⅔ of its artillery and ¼ of its troops.<ref name=hastingsp280>Hastings, p. 280</ref>
==The offensive==


The Soviet units made rapid progress, moving to cut off the defenders at ]. The armored reserves of the 4th Panzer Army's central corps, the XXIV Panzer Corps, were committed but had suffered serious damage by the time they reached Kielce, and were already being outflanked. The XLVIII Panzer Corps, on the Fourth Panzer Army's southern flank, had by this time been completely destroyed, along with much of Recknagel's XLII Corps in the north. Recknagel himself would be killed by Polish partisans on 23 January. By 14 January, the 1st Ukrainian Front had forced crossings of the ] river, and began to exploit towards ] and the ]. The 4th Panzer Army's last cohesive formation, the XXIV Panzer Corps, held on around Kielce until the night of 16 January, before its commander made the decision to withdraw.
The offensive commenced in the Baranow bridgehead at 04:35 on ] with an intense bombardment by the guns of 1st Ukrainian Front against the positions of Fourth Panzer Army.<ref name=duffyp67>Duffy, p.67</ref> Concentrated against the divisions of XLVIII Panzer Corps, which had been deployed across the face of the bridgehead, it effectively destroyed their capacity to respond; a battalion commander in the ] stated that "I began the operation with an understrength battalion after the smoke of the Soviet preparation cleared I had only a platoon of combat effective soldiers left".<ref name=sims>Captain Reinhardt Mueller, interviewed in Sims and Schilling, p.24</ref>
], ], the ], and the battles in ].]]


The 1st Belorussian Front, to Konev's north, opened its attack on the German 9th Army from the Magnuszew and Puławy bridgeheads at 08:30, again commencing with a heavy bombardment.<ref name=duffyp72>Duffy, p. 72</ref> The 33rd and 69th armies broke out of the Puławy bridgehead to a depth of {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=on}}, while the 5th Shock and 8th Guards armies broke out of the Magnuszew bridgehead. The 2nd and 1st guards tank armies were committed after them to exploit the breach. The 69th Army's progress from the Puławy bridgehead was especially successful, with the defending LVI Panzer Corps disintegrating after its line of retreat was cut off. Though the 9th Army conducted many local counter-attacks, they were all brushed aside; the 69th Army ruptured the last lines of defence and took ], while the 2nd Guards Tank Army moved on ] and the 1st Guards Tank Army was ordered to seize bridgeheads over the ] and attack towards ].<ref name=duffyp75>Duffy, p. 75</ref> In the meantime, the 47th Army had crossed the Vistula and moved towards Warsaw from the north, while the 61st and 1st Polish armies encircled the city from the south.<ref name=duffyp78>Duffy, p. 78</ref>
The intital barrage was followed by probing attacks and a further heavy bombardment at 10:00. By the time the main armoured exploitation force of the 3rd Guards and 4th Tank Armies moved forward four hours later, Fourth Panzer Army had already lost up to two-thirds of its artillery and a quarter of its troops.<ref name=hastingsp280>Hastings, p.280</ref>


The only major German response came on 15 January, when Hitler (against the advice of Guderian) ordered the '']'' of ] from ] to cover the breach made in the sector of the 4th Panzer Army, but the advance of Zhukov's forces forced it to detrain at Łódź without even reaching its objective. After covering the 9th Army's retreat, it was forced to withdraw southwest toward the Warthe.<ref name=duffyp80>Duffy, p. 80</ref>
The Soviet units made rapid progress, moving to cut off the defenders at ]. The armoured reserves of Fourth Panzer Army's central corps, the XXIV Panzer Corps, were committed, but had suffered serious damage by the time they reached Kielce, and were already being outflanked. XLVIII Panzer Corps, on Fourth Panzer Army's southern flank, had by this time been completely destroyed, along with much of Recknagel's LXII Corps in the north. By ] the 1st Ukrainian Front had forced crossings of the ] river, and began to exploit towards ] and the ]. Fourth Panzer Army's last cohesive formation, the XXIV Panzer Corps held on around Kielce until the night of ], before its commander, Nehring, made the decision to withdraw.


===Taking of Kraków; escape of the XXIV Panzer Corps===
], ], the ], and the battles in ]. See here for an .]]
On 17 January, Konev was given new objectives: to advance towards ] using his mechanised forces, and to use the combined-arms forces of the 60th and 59th armies to open an attack on the southern flank towards the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia through ]. Kraków was secured undamaged on 19 January after an encirclement by the 59th and 60th armies, in conjunction with the 4th Guards Tank Corps, forced the German defenders to withdraw hurriedly.<ref name= Duffyp88>Duffy, p. 88</ref>


The second stage of the 1st Ukrainian Front's objective was far more complex, as they were required to encircle and secure the entire industrial region of Upper Silesia, where they were faced by Schulz's 17th Army. Konev ordered that the 59th and 60th armies advance frontally, while the 21st Army encircled the area from the north. He then ordered Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army, moving on Breslau, to swing southwards along the upper Oder from 20 January, cutting off 17th Army's withdrawal.<ref name=duffyp91>Duffy, p. 91</ref>
The 1st Belorussian Front, to Konev's north, opened its attack on the German Ninth Army from the ] and ] bridgeheads at 08:30 on ], again commencing with a heavy bombardment.<ref name=duffyp72>Duffy, p.72</ref> The 33rd and 69th Armies broke out of the Pulawy bridgehead to a depth of 30 km, while the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies broke out of the Magnuszew bridgehead. The 2nd and 1st Guards Tank Armies were committed after them to exploit the breach. The 69th Army's progress from the Pulawy bridgehead was especially successful, with the defending LVI Panzer Corps disintegrating after its line of retreat was cut off. Though the Ninth Army conducted many local counter-attacks, they were all brushed aside; the 69th Army ruptured the last lines of defence and took ], while the 2nd Guards Tank Army moved on ] and the 1st Guards Tank Army was ordered to seize bridgheads over the ] and attack towards ].<ref name=duffyp75>Duffy, p.75</ref> In the meantime, the 47th Army had crossed the Vistula and moved towards ] from the north, while the 61st and 1st Polish Armies encircled the city from the south.<ref name=duffyp78>Duffy, p.78</ref>


In the meantime, the shattered remnants of the 4th Panzer Army were still attempting to reach German lines. By 18 January, Nehring and the XXIV Panzer Corps found that their intended route northwards had been blocked, so pulled back to the west, absorbing the remnants of XLII Corps that had escaped encirclement.<ref name=duffyp82>Duffy, p. 82</ref> Much of the remainder of XLII Corps was destroyed after being trapped around ]. Screened by heavy fog, the lead elements of XXIV Panzer Corps reached the Warthe on 22 January, and having linked up with Grossdeutschland Panzer Corps of von Saucken, were finally able to cross the Oder, some {{convert|350|km|mi|abbr=on}} from their positions at the start of the Soviet offensive.
The only major German response came on ], when Hitler (against the advice of ]) ordered the '']'' of ] from ] to cover the breach made in the sector of Fourth Panzer Army, but the advance of Zhukov's forces forced it to detrain at ] without even reaching its objective. After covering Ninth Army's retreat, it was forced to withdraw south-westwards to the ].<ref name=duffyp80>Duffy, p.80</ref>


===Taking of Krakow; escape of the XXIV Panzer Corps=== ===Withdrawal of 17th Army from Upper Silesia===
On 25 January, Schulz requested that he be allowed to withdraw his 100,000 troops from the developing salient around ]/Kattowitz. This was refused, and he repeated the request on 26 January. Schoerner eventually permitted Schulz to pull his forces back on the night of 27 January, while Konev – who had allowed just enough room for the 17th Army to withdraw without putting up serious resistance – secured the area undamaged.<ref name=beevorp60>Beevor, p. 60</ref>


On Konev's northern flank, the 4th Tank Army had spearheaded an advance to the Oder, where it secured a major bridgehead at ]. Troops of the 5th Guards Army established a second bridgehead upstream at ].
On ], Konev was given new objectives: to advance towards ] using his mechanised forces, and to use the combined-arms forces of the 60th and 59th Armies to open an attack on the southern flank towards the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia through ]. Krakow was secured undamaged on ] after an encirclement by the 59th and 60th Armies, in conjunction with the 4th Guards Tank Corps, forced the German defenders to withdraw hurriedly.<ref name=Duffyp88>Duffy, p.88</ref>


===Advance of 1st Belorussian Front===
The second stage of the 1st Ukrainian Front's objective was far more complex, as they were required to encircle and secure the entire industrial region of Upper Silesia, where they were faced by Schulz's Seventeenth Army. Konev ordered that the 59th and 60th Armies advance frontally, while the 21st Army encircled the area from the north. He then ordered Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army, moving on Breslau, to swing southwards along the upper Oder from ], cutting off Seventeenth Army's withdrawal.<ref name=duffyp91>Duffy, p.91</ref>
In the northern sector of the offensive, Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front also made rapid progress, as the 9th Army was no longer able to offer coherent resistance. Its XXXVI Panzer Corps, which was positioned behind Warsaw, was pushed over the Vistula into the neighbouring ] sector.<ref name=duffyp103>Duffy, p. 103</ref> Warsaw was taken on 17 January, as Army Group A's headquarters issued orders for the city to be abandoned; units of the 2nd Guards and 3rd Shock Armies entering the city were profoundly affected by the devastation wrought by German forces after the ].<ref name="duffy, p.104">Duffy, p. 104</ref> Hitler, on the other hand, was furious at the abandonment of the "fortress", arresting Colonel ], head of the Operations Branch of ], and sacking both the 9th Army and XXXVI Panzer Corps commanders; generals ] and ].


The 2nd Guards Tank Army pressed forward to the Oder, while to the south the 8th Guards Army reached Łódź by 18 January, and took it by 19 January. The 1st Guards Tank Army moved to encircle ] by 25 January, and the 8th Guards Army began to fight its way into the city on the following day, though there was protracted and intense fighting in the ] before the city would finally be taken.
In the meantime, the shattered remnants of Fourth Panzer Army were still attempting to reach German lines. By ], Nehring and the XXIV Panzer Corps found that their intended route northwards had been blocked, so pulled back to the west, absorbing the remnants of LXII Corps that had escaped encirclement.<ref name=duffyp82>Duffy, p.82</ref> Much of the remainder of LXII Corps was destroyed after being trapped around ]. Screened by heavy fog, the lead elements of XXIV Panzer Corps reached the ] on ], and having linked up with von Saucken, were finally able to cross the ], some 350km from their positions at the start of the Soviet offensive.


To the northeast of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, the lead elements of Marshal ] ] taking part in the ] had reached the Baltic coast of the ] by 24 January and so succeeded in isolating ] in East Prussia.<ref name=Ziemke-31>Ziemke p. 31</ref> On 27 January, the abandoned ] – Hitler's former headquarters on the Eastern Front, was captured.
===Withdrawal of Seventeenth Army from Upper Silesia===


===Zhukov's advance to the Oder===
On ], Schulz requested that he be allowed to withdraw his 100,000 troops from the developing salient around ] / Kattowitz. This was refused, and he repeated the request on ]. Schoerner eventually permitted Schulz to pull his forces back on the night of ], while Konev - who had allowed just enough room for the Seventeenth Army to withdraw without putting up serious resistance - secured the area undamaged.<ref name=beevorp60>Beevor, p.60</ref>
] (''Bellinchen''), ], immediately east of the ]. It reads, in Russian, "March 1945, Death to the Germans."]]


After encircling Poznań, the 1st Guards Tank Army advanced deep into the fortified region around the ] River against patchy resistance from a variety of '']'' and ''Wehrmacht'' units. There was heavier resistance, however, on the approaches to the fortress of ].
On Konev's northern flank, the 4th Tank Army had spearheaded an advance to the Oder, where it secured a major bridgehead at ]. Troops of the 5th Guards Army established a second bridgehead upstream at ].


The German reorganisation of command structure that resulted in the creation of ] was accompanied by the release of a few extra formations for the defense; the ], with two reserve infantry divisions, was deployed along the Obra and the prewar border fortifications known as the '']'', while the '']'' was ordered to reinforce it.<ref name=letissierp32>Le Tissier, p. 32</ref>
===Advance of 1st Belorussian Front; taking of Warsaw by Soviets===


On 16 January 1945 ] Bogislaw von Bonin, the chief of the Operational Branch of the Army General Staff (''Generalstab des Heeres'') gave Army Group A permission to retreat from Warsaw, overruling a direct order from Hitler for them to hold fast. Three days later von Bonin was arrested by the ] and imprisoned first at ] and then ] ]. The officer was eventually ] in ] by the US Army in May 1945.
In the northern sector of the offensive, Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front also made rapid progress, as Ninth Army was no longer able to offer coherent resistance. Its XXXVI Panzer Corps, which was positioned behind Warsaw, was pushed over the Vistula into the neighbouring ] sector.<ref name=duffyp103>Duffy, p.103</ref> Warsaw was taken by ], as Army Group A's headquarters issued orders for the city to be abandoned; units of the 2nd Guards and 3rd Shock Armies entering the city were profoundly affected by the devastation wrought by German forces after the ].<ref name=duffy, p.104>Duffy, p.104</ref> Hitler, on the other hand, was furious at the abandonment of the 'fortress', arresting Colonel ], head of the Operations Branch of ], and sacking both the Ninth Army and XXXVI Panzer Corps commanders, Generals ] and ].


The military historian Earl Ziemke described the advance thus:
The 2nd Guards Tank Army pressed forward to the Oder, while to the south the 8th Guards Army reached ] by ], and took it over by ]. The 1st Guards Tank Army moved to encircle ] by ], and the 8th Guards Army began to fight its way into the city on the following day, though there was protracted and intense fighting in the ] before the city would finally be taken.
{{quote|On the 25th, Zhukov's main force passed Poznań heading due west towards ], on the Oder {{convert|40|mi|km|disp=sqbr|spell=in}} east of Berlin. The path of the Soviet advance looked like the work of a gigantic snowplough, its point aimed on a line from Warsaw to Poznań, to Berlin. All of Army Group A was being caught up by the point and the left blade and thrown across the Oder. On the right the German had nothing except a skeleton army group that Hitler had created some days earlier and named Army Group Vistula.|Earl Ziemke<ref name=Ziemke-30-31>Ziemke pp. 30, 31</ref>}}


To the north east of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, the lead elements of Marshal ] ] taking part in the ] reached the Baltic coast of the ] by ] and so succeeded in isolating ] in ].<ref name=Ziemke-31>Ziemke p. 31</ref> On 25 January, Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became ]; Army Group Centre became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group Centre.<ref name=Ziemke-32>Ziemke p. 32</ref>


The 2nd Guards Tank and 5th Shock armies reached the Oder almost unopposed; a unit of the 5th Shock Army crossed the river ice and took the town of ] as early as 31 January.<ref name= hastingsp295>Hastings, p. 295</ref>
===Zhukov's advance to the Oder===


'']'' declared the operation complete on 2 February. Zhukov had initially hoped to advance directly on Berlin, as the German defences had largely collapsed. However, the exposed northern flank of the 1st Belorussian Front in ], along with a German counter-attack (]) against its spearheads, convinced the Soviet command that it was essential to clear German forces from Pomerania in the ] before the Berlin offensive could proceed.
After encircling Poznan, the 1st Guards Tank Army advanced deep into the fortified region around the ] River against patchy resistance from a variety of '']'' and ''Wehrmacht'' units. There was heavier resistance, however, on the approaches to the fortress of ].


==Liberation of Nazi concentration camps==
The German reorganisation of command structure that resulted in the creation of ] was accompanied by the release of a few extra formations for the defense; the ], with two reserve infantry divisions, was deployed along the Obra and the prewar border fortifications known as the '']'', while the '']'' was ordered to reinforce it.<ref name=letissierp32>Le Tissier, p.32</ref>
In July 1944, the Soviet ] liberated ], and after a brief skirmish with German forces outside the city, came upon the ]. Although the Soviets invited press from around the world to witness the horrors of the camp, other war news overshadowed the event.


After being caught off guard at Majdanek, the Nazis realized that the Soviets would end up finding every camp within Eastern Europe (with all of the prisoners and guards still present) if something were not to be done. As a result, by mid-January, the ] and ] had begun forcing thousands of camp prisoners from Poland, East Prussia, ] and Pomerania to walk westward away from the advancing Red Army. The ], which took place over hundreds of kilometers in sub-zero conditions without food and medicine, resulted in thousands of concentration camp prisoners and ] dying en route. It is estimated that in March and April 1945, at least 250,000 men and women were marched on foot to the heartland of Germany and Austria sometimes for weeks at a time.<ref name="ushmm">The Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2015.</ref><ref name="yadvashem">Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority 2015. PDF direct download.</ref>
The military historian Earl Ziemke described the advance thus:
{{quote|On the 25th, Zhukov's main force passed ] heading due west towards ], on the Oder forty miles east of Berlin. The path of the Soviet advance looked like the work of a gigantic snowplough, its point aimed on a line from Warsaw to Ponznan, to Berlin. All of ] was being caught up by the point and the left blade and thrown across the Oder. On the right the German had nothing except a skeleton army group that Hitler had created some days earlier and named Army Group Vistula.|Earl Ziemke<ref name=Ziemke-30-31>Ziemke pp. 30,31</ref>}}

On ] ], Hitler renamed three army groups. ] became ]; ] became Army Group North and ] became Army Group Centre.<ref name=Ziemke-32>Ziemke p. 32</ref>

The 2nd Guards Tank and 5th Shock Armies reached the Oder almost unopposed; a unit of the 5th Shock Army crossed the river ice and took the town of ] as early as ].<ref name=hastingsp295>Hastings, p.295</ref>

'']'' declared the operation complete on ]. Zhukov had initially hoped to advance directly on ], as the German defences had largely collapsed. However the exposed northern flank of 1st Belorussian Front in ], along with a German counter-attack (]) against its spearheads, convinced the Soviet command that it was essential to clear German forces from Pomerania in the ] before the Berlin offensive could proceed.

==Liberation of Auschwitz==


On ], troops of Konev's ] (], 60th Army) liberated the ], finding graphic evidence of the ] there. On 27 January, troops from Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front (], ]) ] the ]. Despite attempts by retreating SS units to destroy parts of the camp, the Soviet forces still found graphic evidence of the ]. The Soviets would also liberate camps such as ], ], and ].


==Flight of ethnic Germans== ==Flight of ethnic Germans==
{{main|Evacuation of German civilians during the end of World War II}} {{Main|German evacuation from Central and Eastern Europe}}
According to ] and several other commentators the soldiers of the Red Army looted and committed many atrocities. As a result of the Soviet advance, many thousands of Germans fled to the West, attempting to reach the ] and ] lines.<ref>]. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5</ref>


In anticipation of the approaching Red Army, the retreating Wehrmacht left parts of the German territory largely abandoned. With widespread unchecked chaos erupting, numerous reports of looting and attacks against ethnic Germans emerged. Nazi propaganda had furthermore demonized the Soviet Army so much that most Germans attempted to run.<ref name=Rzheshevsky>Rzheshevsky (2002)</ref> Millions of ethnic German refugees ], seeking relative safety in central or western Germany, or even in the custody of the Americans and British west of the ].<ref>Beevor, pp. 28, 29, 30–37, 46–51</ref>
==Death marches of concentration camp prisoners==
{{main|Death marches (Holocaust)}}
During January, the Germans also began to 'evacuate' remaining ] and ] inmates from areas throughout Poland, ], ] and ] in the path of the Soviet offensive, sending them on forced marches for hundreds of kilometers westwards. Large numbers died in the process.


==Outcome== ==Outcome==
The Vistula–Oder offensive was a major success for the Soviet military. Within a matter of days, the forces involved had advanced hundreds of kilometers, taking much of Poland and striking deep within the pre-war borders of the Reich. The offensive broke the back of Army Group A and much of Germany's remaining capacity for military resistance. However, the stubborn resistance of German forces in Silesia and Pomerania, as well as continuing fighting in East Prussia, meant that the final offensive towards Berlin was delayed by two months, by which time the ''Wehrmacht'' had once again built up a substantial force on this axis.


==Aftermath==
The Vistula-Oder Offensive was a major success for the Soviet military. Within a matter of days the forces involved had advanced hundreds of kilometres, taking much of ] and striking deep within the borders of the Reich. The offensive broke Army Group A, and much of Germany's remaining capacity for military resistance. However the stubborn resistance of German forces in ] and ], as well as continuing fighting in ], meant that the final offensive towards Berlin was delayed by several months, by which time the ''Wehrmacht'' had once again built up a substantial force on this axis.
On 31 January, the Soviet offensive was voluntarily halted, though Berlin was undefended and only approximately {{convert|70|km|mi|abbr=on}} away from the Soviet bridgeheads across the ] river. After the war, a debate raged, mainly between ] and Georgy Zhukov, whether it was wise to stop the offensive. Chuikov argued Berlin should have been taken then, while Zhukov defended the decision to stop.

The operation was followed by a period of several weeks of mopping-up and consolidation on the part of the Red Army, along with ongoing hard fighting in pockets in the north. On 16 April, the Red Army jumped off from lines on the ], the opening phase of the ], which proved to be the culminating offensive of the war on the ]. The relatively rapid progress of this new offensive toward the German heartland seems to illustrate the cumulative extent of the erosion of the ]'s capability to defend a broad front. Nevertheless, they remained dangerous opponents for some weeks longer, especially when allowed or forced to concentrate in limited areas.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}


==See also== ==See also==
* ]
* ], German counter-offensive in Pomerania
* ], operations to clear the southern flank of 1st Ukrainian Front
* ], the parallel offensive in Slovakia


==References==
*], the parallel offensive in East Prussia
'''Notes'''
*], German counter-offensive in Pomerania
{{Reflist|30em}}
*], the operation to clear the northern flank of 1st Belorussian Front
*], operations to clear the southern flank of 1st Ukrainian Front
*]


'''Bibliography'''
==Footnotes==
* {{cite book |last=Bahm |first=Karl |title=Berlin 1945: The Final Reckoning |publisher=Motorbooks International |location=St. Paul |year=2001 |isbn=0-7603-1240-0}}
{{reflist}}
* ]. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, {{ISBN|0-670-88695-5}}
* ]. '''' Routledge 1991 {{ISBN|0-415-22829-8}}
* Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler'', Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, {{ISBN|0-7006-0899-0}}
* {{Cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|author-link=Max Hastings|title=Armageddon|publisher=Macmillan| location=New York|year=2004|isbn=978-0-333-90836-5}}
* Le Tissier, T. ''Zhukov at the Oder'', Greenwood, 1996, {{ISBN|0-275-95230-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Rees|first=Laurence|author-link=Laurence Rees|title=Auschwitz|url=https://archive.org/details/auschwitznazisfi0000rees|url-access=registration|publisher=]| location=London|year=2005|isbn=978-0-563-52296-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Rzheshevsky |first=Oleg A. |script-title=ru:Берлинская операция 1945 г.: дискуссия продолжается |trans-title=The Berlin Operation of 1945: Discussion Continues |journal=Мир истории |year=2002 |issue=4 |language=ru}}
* {{Citation|last1=Sims|first1=D|last2=Schilling|first2=A|title=Breakout from the Sandomierz Bridgehead (pages 20–24)|url=https://sill-www.army.mil/firesbulletin/archives/1990/OCT_1990/OCT_1990_FULL_EDITION.pdf|work=]|date=October 1990}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ziemke|first=Earl|title=Battle for Berlin|publisher=Macdonald|location=London| year=1969|isbn=978-0-356-02960-3}}


{{World War II}}
==References==
{{Vistula}}
*]. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
*]. ''Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945'' Routledge 1991 ISBN 0-415-22829-8
*] ''Armageddon. The Battle for Germany 1944-45'', Macmillan, London
*Le Tissier, T. ''Zhukov at the Oder'', Greenwood, 1996, ISBN 0275952304
*] ''Auschwitz'' BBC books
*Sims, D and Schilling, A. ''Breakout from the Sandomierz Bridgehead'', '']'', Oct 1990
*Ziemke, Earl F ''Battle for Berlin''


{{Coord missing|Poland}}
==External links==
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Latest revision as of 20:48, 30 October 2024

1945 invasion of Nazi-occupied territory by the Red Army during WWII

Vistula–Oder offensive
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Soviet troops enter Łódź, led by an ISU-122 self-propelled gun
Date12 January – 2 February 1945
LocationPoland and Eastern Germany
Result

Soviet victory

Territorial
changes		 Soviet and Polish troops advanced into most of the pre-war Polish territory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany Germany Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland Poland
Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Ferdinand Schörner (Army Group A)
(From 20 January)
Nazi Germany Josef Harpe (Army Group A)
(Until 20 January)		 Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (1st Belorussian Front)
Soviet Union Ivan Konev (1st Ukrainian Front)
Poland Stanislav Poplavsky (1st Polish Army)
Strength
450,000–800,000 men 2,203,600 men
Casualties and losses
Soviet claim:
626,000 casualties
295,000 killed
147,000 taken prisoner
189,000 wounded		 43,476 killed or missing
150,715 wounded and sick
Eastern Front
Naval warfare
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Poland and Eastern Germany 1944–45
Red Army operations
Polish resistance operations
Wehrmacht operations

The Vistula–Oder offensive (Russian: Висло-Одерская операция, romanized: Vislo–Oderskaya operatsiya) was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European theatre of World War II in January 1945. The army made a major advance into German-held territory, capturing Kraków, Warsaw and Poznań. The Red Army had built up their strength around a number of key bridgeheads, with two fronts commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Against them, the German Army Group A, led by Colonel-General Josef Harpe (soon replaced by Colonel-General Ferdinand Schörner), was outnumbered five to one. Within days, German commandants evacuated the concentration camps, sending the prisoners on their death marches to the west, where ethnic Germans also started fleeing. In a little over two weeks, the Red Army had advanced 480 kilometres (300 mi) from the Vistula to the Oder, only 69 kilometres (43 mi) from Berlin, which was undefended. However, Zhukov called a halt, owing to continued German resistance on his northern flank (Pomerania), and the advance on Berlin had to be delayed until April.

Background

In the wake of the successful Operation Bagration, the 1st Belorussian Front managed to secure two bridgeheads west of the Vistula river between 27 July and 4 August 1944. The Soviet forces remained inactive during the failed Warsaw uprising that started on 1 August, though their frontline was not far from the insurgents. The 1st Ukrainian Front captured an additional large bridgehead at Sandomierz (known as the Baranow bridgehead in German accounts), some 200 km south of Warsaw, during the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive.

Preceding the offensive, the Red Army had built up large amounts of materiel and manpower in the three bridgeheads. The Red Army greatly outnumbered the opposing Wehrmacht in infantry, artillery, and armour. All this was known to German intelligence. General Reinhard Gehlen, head of Fremde Heere Ost, passed his assessment to Heinz Guderian. Guderian in turn presented the intelligence results to Adolf Hitler, who refused to believe them, dismissing the apparent Soviet strength as "the greatest imposture since Genghis Khan". Guderian had proposed to evacuate the divisions of Army Group North trapped in the Courland Pocket to the Reich via the Baltic Sea to get the necessary manpower for the defence, but Hitler forbade it. In addition, Hitler commanded that one major operational reserve, the troops of Sepp Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army, be moved to Hungary to support Operation Frühlingserwachen.

The offensive was brought forward from 20 to 12 January because meteorological reports warned of a thaw later in the month, and the tanks needed hard ground for the offensive. It was not done to assist American and British forces during the Battle of the Bulge, as Stalin chose to claim at Yalta.

Forces involved

Disposition of forces and advance of the Soviet Army

Red Army

Two fronts of the Red Army were directly involved. The 1st Belorussian Front, holding the sector around Warsaw and southward in the Magnuszew and Puławy bridgeheads, was led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov; the 1st Ukrainian Front, occupying the Sandomierz bridgehead, was led by Marshal Ivan Konev.

Zhukov and Konev had 163 divisions for the operation with a total of: 2,203,000 infantry, 4,529 tanks, 2,513 assault guns, 13,763 pieces of field artillery (76 mm or more), 14,812 mortars, 4,936 anti-tank guns, 2,198 Katyusha multiple rocket launchers, and 5,000 aircraft.

Deployments

Wehrmacht

Soviet forces in this sector were opposed by Army Group A, defending a front which stretched from positions east of Warsaw southwards along the Vistula, almost to the confluence of the San. At that point there was a large Soviet bridgehead over the Vistula in the area of Baranów before the front continued south to Jasło.

There were three armies in the group; the 9th Army, deployed around Warsaw, the 4th Panzer Army, opposite the Baranow salient in the Vistula Bend, and the 17th Army to their south. The force had a total complement of 450,000 soldiers, 4,100 artillery pieces, and 1,150 tanks. Army Group A was led by Colonel-General Josef Harpe (who was replaced, after the offensive had begun, by Colonel-General Ferdinand Schörner on 20 January).

Order of battle

Delegation of German officers arriving to negotiate for the capitulation of Festung Breslau

German intelligence had estimated that the Soviet forces had a 3:1 numerical superiority to the German forces; there was in fact a 5:1 superiority. More specifically, a report compiled by General Reinhard Gehlen of the Fremde Heer Ost (Foreign Armies East) estimated the Russians had a 11:1 superiority in infantry, 7:1 in tanks and 20:1 in artillery and aircraft for the start of the offensive. Hitler reportedly scoffed at the numbers and is quoted as saying of the numbers: "It is the greatest bluff since Genghis Khan" In the large Baranow/Sandomierz bridgehead, the Fourth Panzer Army was required to defend from "strongpoints" in some areas, as it lacked the infantry to man a continuous front line. In addition, on Hitler's express orders, the two German defence lines (the Grosskampflinie and Hauptkampflinie) were positioned very close to each other, placing the main defences well within striking range of Soviet artillery.

Offensive

Vistula–Oder offensive

The offensive commenced in the Baranow bridgehead at 04:35 on 12 January with an intense bombardment by the guns of the 1st Ukrainian Front against the positions of the 4th Panzer Army. Concentrated against the divisions of XLVIII Panzer Corps, which had been deployed across the face of the bridgehead, the bombardment effectively destroyed their capacity to respond; a battalion commander in the 68th Infantry Division stated that "I began the operation with an understrength battalion after the smoke of the Soviet preparation cleared I had only a platoon of combat effective soldiers left".

The initial barrage was followed by probing attacks and a further heavy bombardment at 10:00. By the time the main armored exploitation force of the 3rd Guards and 4th Tank armies moved forward four hours later, the Fourth Panzer Army had already lost up to ⅔ of its artillery and ¼ of its troops.

The Soviet units made rapid progress, moving to cut off the defenders at Kielce. The armored reserves of the 4th Panzer Army's central corps, the XXIV Panzer Corps, were committed but had suffered serious damage by the time they reached Kielce, and were already being outflanked. The XLVIII Panzer Corps, on the Fourth Panzer Army's southern flank, had by this time been completely destroyed, along with much of Recknagel's XLII Corps in the north. Recknagel himself would be killed by Polish partisans on 23 January. By 14 January, the 1st Ukrainian Front had forced crossings of the Nida river, and began to exploit towards Radomsko and the Warthe. The 4th Panzer Army's last cohesive formation, the XXIV Panzer Corps, held on around Kielce until the night of 16 January, before its commander made the decision to withdraw.

World War II Eastern Front during the 1945 Vistula–Oder offensive; the map also shows the East Prussian offensive, Lower Silesian offensive, the East Pomeranian offensive, and the battles in Courland.

The 1st Belorussian Front, to Konev's north, opened its attack on the German 9th Army from the Magnuszew and Puławy bridgeheads at 08:30, again commencing with a heavy bombardment. The 33rd and 69th armies broke out of the Puławy bridgehead to a depth of 30 km (19 mi), while the 5th Shock and 8th Guards armies broke out of the Magnuszew bridgehead. The 2nd and 1st guards tank armies were committed after them to exploit the breach. The 69th Army's progress from the Puławy bridgehead was especially successful, with the defending LVI Panzer Corps disintegrating after its line of retreat was cut off. Though the 9th Army conducted many local counter-attacks, they were all brushed aside; the 69th Army ruptured the last lines of defence and took Radom, while the 2nd Guards Tank Army moved on Sochaczew and the 1st Guards Tank Army was ordered to seize bridgeheads over the Pilica and attack towards Łódź. In the meantime, the 47th Army had crossed the Vistula and moved towards Warsaw from the north, while the 61st and 1st Polish armies encircled the city from the south.

The only major German response came on 15 January, when Hitler (against the advice of Guderian) ordered the Panzerkorps Großdeutschland of Dietrich von Saucken from East Prussia to cover the breach made in the sector of the 4th Panzer Army, but the advance of Zhukov's forces forced it to detrain at Łódź without even reaching its objective. After covering the 9th Army's retreat, it was forced to withdraw southwest toward the Warthe.

Taking of Kraków; escape of the XXIV Panzer Corps

On 17 January, Konev was given new objectives: to advance towards Breslau using his mechanised forces, and to use the combined-arms forces of the 60th and 59th armies to open an attack on the southern flank towards the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia through Kraków. Kraków was secured undamaged on 19 January after an encirclement by the 59th and 60th armies, in conjunction with the 4th Guards Tank Corps, forced the German defenders to withdraw hurriedly.

The second stage of the 1st Ukrainian Front's objective was far more complex, as they were required to encircle and secure the entire industrial region of Upper Silesia, where they were faced by Schulz's 17th Army. Konev ordered that the 59th and 60th armies advance frontally, while the 21st Army encircled the area from the north. He then ordered Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army, moving on Breslau, to swing southwards along the upper Oder from 20 January, cutting off 17th Army's withdrawal.

In the meantime, the shattered remnants of the 4th Panzer Army were still attempting to reach German lines. By 18 January, Nehring and the XXIV Panzer Corps found that their intended route northwards had been blocked, so pulled back to the west, absorbing the remnants of XLII Corps that had escaped encirclement. Much of the remainder of XLII Corps was destroyed after being trapped around Przysucha. Screened by heavy fog, the lead elements of XXIV Panzer Corps reached the Warthe on 22 January, and having linked up with Grossdeutschland Panzer Corps of von Saucken, were finally able to cross the Oder, some 350 km (220 mi) from their positions at the start of the Soviet offensive.

Withdrawal of 17th Army from Upper Silesia

On 25 January, Schulz requested that he be allowed to withdraw his 100,000 troops from the developing salient around Katowice/Kattowitz. This was refused, and he repeated the request on 26 January. Schoerner eventually permitted Schulz to pull his forces back on the night of 27 January, while Konev – who had allowed just enough room for the 17th Army to withdraw without putting up serious resistance – secured the area undamaged.

On Konev's northern flank, the 4th Tank Army had spearheaded an advance to the Oder, where it secured a major bridgehead at Steinau. Troops of the 5th Guards Army established a second bridgehead upstream at Ohlau.

Advance of 1st Belorussian Front

In the northern sector of the offensive, Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front also made rapid progress, as the 9th Army was no longer able to offer coherent resistance. Its XXXVI Panzer Corps, which was positioned behind Warsaw, was pushed over the Vistula into the neighbouring Second Army sector. Warsaw was taken on 17 January, as Army Group A's headquarters issued orders for the city to be abandoned; units of the 2nd Guards and 3rd Shock Armies entering the city were profoundly affected by the devastation wrought by German forces after the Warsaw Uprising. Hitler, on the other hand, was furious at the abandonment of the "fortress", arresting Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, head of the Operations Branch of OKH, and sacking both the 9th Army and XXXVI Panzer Corps commanders; generals Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz and Walter Fries.

The 2nd Guards Tank Army pressed forward to the Oder, while to the south the 8th Guards Army reached Łódź by 18 January, and took it by 19 January. The 1st Guards Tank Army moved to encircle Poznań by 25 January, and the 8th Guards Army began to fight its way into the city on the following day, though there was protracted and intense fighting in the Siege of Poznań before the city would finally be taken.

To the northeast of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, the lead elements of Marshal Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front taking part in the East Prussian offensive had reached the Baltic coast of the Vistula delta by 24 January and so succeeded in isolating Army Group Centre in East Prussia. On 27 January, the abandoned Wolf's Lair – Hitler's former headquarters on the Eastern Front, was captured.

Zhukov's advance to the Oder

Tree carving in Bielinek (Bellinchen), Pomerania, immediately east of the Oder. It reads, in Russian, "March 1945, Death to the Germans."

After encircling Poznań, the 1st Guards Tank Army advanced deep into the fortified region around the Obra River against patchy resistance from a variety of Volkssturm and Wehrmacht units. There was heavier resistance, however, on the approaches to the fortress of Küstrin.

The German reorganisation of command structure that resulted in the creation of Army Group Vistula was accompanied by the release of a few extra formations for the defense; the V SS Mountain Corps, with two reserve infantry divisions, was deployed along the Obra and the prewar border fortifications known as the Tierschtigel Riegel, while the Panzergrenadier-Division Kurmark was ordered to reinforce it.

On 16 January 1945 Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, the chief of the Operational Branch of the Army General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres) gave Army Group A permission to retreat from Warsaw, overruling a direct order from Hitler for them to hold fast. Three days later von Bonin was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned first at Flossenbürg and then Dachau concentration camp. The officer was eventually liberated along with other prisoners in South Tyrol by the US Army in May 1945.

The military historian Earl Ziemke described the advance thus:

On the 25th, Zhukov's main force passed Poznań heading due west towards Kuestrin, on the Oder forty miles east of Berlin. The path of the Soviet advance looked like the work of a gigantic snowplough, its point aimed on a line from Warsaw to Poznań, to Berlin. All of Army Group A was being caught up by the point and the left blade and thrown across the Oder. On the right the German had nothing except a skeleton army group that Hitler had created some days earlier and named Army Group Vistula.

— Earl Ziemke

On 25 January, Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became Army Group Courland; Army Group Centre became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group Centre.

The 2nd Guards Tank and 5th Shock armies reached the Oder almost unopposed; a unit of the 5th Shock Army crossed the river ice and took the town of Kienitz as early as 31 January.

Stavka declared the operation complete on 2 February. Zhukov had initially hoped to advance directly on Berlin, as the German defences had largely collapsed. However, the exposed northern flank of the 1st Belorussian Front in Pomerania, along with a German counter-attack (Operation Solstice) against its spearheads, convinced the Soviet command that it was essential to clear German forces from Pomerania in the East Pomeranian offensive before the Berlin offensive could proceed.

Liberation of Nazi concentration camps

In July 1944, the Soviet 8th Guards liberated Lublin, and after a brief skirmish with German forces outside the city, came upon the Majdanek concentration camp. Although the Soviets invited press from around the world to witness the horrors of the camp, other war news overshadowed the event.

After being caught off guard at Majdanek, the Nazis realized that the Soviets would end up finding every camp within Eastern Europe (with all of the prisoners and guards still present) if something were not to be done. As a result, by mid-January, the SS and Nazi-controlled police units had begun forcing thousands of camp prisoners from Poland, East Prussia, Silesia and Pomerania to walk westward away from the advancing Red Army. The death marches, which took place over hundreds of kilometers in sub-zero conditions without food and medicine, resulted in thousands of concentration camp prisoners and Allied POWs dying en route. It is estimated that in March and April 1945, at least 250,000 men and women were marched on foot to the heartland of Germany and Austria sometimes for weeks at a time.

On 27 January, troops from Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front (322nd Rifle Division, 60th Army) liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. Despite attempts by retreating SS units to destroy parts of the camp, the Soviet forces still found graphic evidence of the Holocaust. The Soviets would also liberate camps such as Płaszów, Stutthof, and Ravensbrück.

Flight of ethnic Germans

Main article: German evacuation from Central and Eastern Europe

In anticipation of the approaching Red Army, the retreating Wehrmacht left parts of the German territory largely abandoned. With widespread unchecked chaos erupting, numerous reports of looting and attacks against ethnic Germans emerged. Nazi propaganda had furthermore demonized the Soviet Army so much that most Germans attempted to run. Millions of ethnic German refugees fled west, seeking relative safety in central or western Germany, or even in the custody of the Americans and British west of the Rhine.

Outcome

The Vistula–Oder offensive was a major success for the Soviet military. Within a matter of days, the forces involved had advanced hundreds of kilometers, taking much of Poland and striking deep within the pre-war borders of the Reich. The offensive broke the back of Army Group A and much of Germany's remaining capacity for military resistance. However, the stubborn resistance of German forces in Silesia and Pomerania, as well as continuing fighting in East Prussia, meant that the final offensive towards Berlin was delayed by two months, by which time the Wehrmacht had once again built up a substantial force on this axis.

Aftermath

On 31 January, the Soviet offensive was voluntarily halted, though Berlin was undefended and only approximately 70 km (43 mi) away from the Soviet bridgeheads across the Oder river. After the war, a debate raged, mainly between Vasily Chuikov and Georgy Zhukov, whether it was wise to stop the offensive. Chuikov argued Berlin should have been taken then, while Zhukov defended the decision to stop.

The operation was followed by a period of several weeks of mopping-up and consolidation on the part of the Red Army, along with ongoing hard fighting in pockets in the north. On 16 April, the Red Army jumped off from lines on the Oder and Neisse Rivers, the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin, which proved to be the culminating offensive of the war on the Eastern Front. The relatively rapid progress of this new offensive toward the German heartland seems to illustrate the cumulative extent of the erosion of the Wehrmacht's capability to defend a broad front. Nevertheless, they remained dangerous opponents for some weeks longer, especially when allowed or forced to concentrate in limited areas.

See also

References

Notes

  1. Duffy pp. 51, 59
  2. ^ Glantz (1995), p. 300
  3. Bahm, pp. 51-52
  4. Duffy, p. 11
  5. Duffy, p. 12
  6. Beevor, pp. 6, 7
  7. Beevor, Antony (2015). Ardennes 1944: Hitler's last gamble. New York: Viking. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-670-02531-2.
  8. Duffy pp. 24, 25
  9. Web map copy Archived 10 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine of Ziemke p. 26
  10. Ziemke, p. 23
  11. Duffy
  12. Only two divisions of this corps, the 16th and 17th Panzer Divisions, were allocated to Fourth Panzer Army, where they were committed in the attempted defence of Kielce. The remaining two formations, the 19th and 25th Panzer Divisions constituted Army Group A's general reserve, and were committed in support of 9th Army.
  13. Duffy, pp. 51, 59
  14. Beebor, Antony (2002). Berlin: Slutstriden 1944 [Berlin – The Downfall 1945] (in Swedish). Historisk Media. p. 37. ISBN 91-89442-56-3.
  15. Sims and Schilling, p. 23
  16. Duffy
  17. Duffy, p. 67
  18. Captain Reinhardt Mueller, interviewed in Sims and Schilling, p. 24
  19. Hastings, p. 280
  20. Duffy, p. 72
  21. Duffy, p. 75
  22. Duffy, p. 78
  23. Duffy, p. 80
  24. Duffy, p. 88
  25. Duffy, p. 91
  26. Duffy, p. 82
  27. Beevor, p. 60
  28. Duffy, p. 103
  29. Duffy, p. 104
  30. Ziemke p. 31
  31. Le Tissier, p. 32
  32. Ziemke pp. 30, 31
  33. Ziemke p. 32
  34. Hastings, p. 295
  35. The Holocaust Encyclopedia, The largest death marches, winter of 1944–1945. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2015.
  36. Yad Vashem, Death Marches. The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority 2015. PDF direct download.
  37. Rzheshevsky (2002)
  38. Beevor, pp. 28, 29, 30–37, 46–51

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