The Vistula–Oder Offensive was a successful Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European Theatre of World War II in January 1945. It saw the liberation of 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 5:1. Within days, German commanders 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 300 miles from the Vistula to the Oder, only 43 miles from Berlin, which was undefended. But Zhukov called a halt, owing to continued German resistance on his northern flank (Pomerania), and the advance on Berlin had to be delayed till April.
Causalties
146,368 wounded
147,000 taken prisoner
41,805-295,000 killed
68,515 missing
Combatant
Germany
Poland
Soviet Union
Commander
http://didactalia.net/items/OfficeHolder_fcb9df9b-1c67-44e4-ba98-a364a8fec8c2_cafbb565-e19e-4a15-bec5-fd9b2e4f624c
Date
1945-02-02
Result
Soviet victory
Strength
2,203,600 men
450,000 men
Comment
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