Events of the
Great Patriotic War
- 1944 -

  

 

 

 
1944 - The March to Berlin
 

This section will focus on a the events of the Great Patriotic War, also known as the Eastern Front of the Second World War.  No other war in history involved as many men and as many vehicles as this one.  It required the total effort of the Soviet people along with the resources and equipment sent to them by the United States and England to bring victory

Dates below are color coded depending on where the selected event took place.  All dates in Black took place in Europe, while naval actions will be highlighted in Dark Blue, actions that took place in the Caucasus and Asia will be highlighted in Brown.

Sources Cited

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of the Great Patriotic War
 

 

 

January 1944
 
8 January Kirovograd falls to Red Army.
9 January A Soviet tank attack disperses the headquarters of the XLVII Panzer Corps.
14 January Feduninski's 2nd Shock Army breaks out of the Oranienbaum bridgehead.
19 January The 42nd Army under Maslennikov links up with the 2nd Shock Army.
28 January Kulchler orders the German 18th Army to fall back to the River Luga.

29 January

 Kulchler is then replaced by General Model.
February 1944
 

8 February

 The German forces in Korsun receive an invitation to surrender.
12 February German army sends relief forces.  These forces reach Lysyanka, just 10 miles from the Korsun pocket.
15 February Finland asks Moscow for armistice terms.  At the same time Hitler is forced to withdraw Army Group North to the Panther Line.
17 February

The 3rd Panzer Corps links up with the troops encirlced at Korsun.

March 1944
  4 March Marshal Zhukov attacks General Manstein's left flank and overruns part of the 1st Panzer Army.
5 March The 2nd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Konev attacks from Zvenigorodka to Uman.
10 March The town of Uman is liberated by the Red Army.
21 March The Soviet 1st Tank Army under Katukov takes up attack near Cherny Ostrov.
26 March German General Hube's 1st Panzer Army is encircled.
30 March General Kleist and General Manstein are replaced by General's Model and Schorner.

 

 

April 1944
 
2 April Marshal Zhukov issues an ultimatum to General Hube stating that if he does not surrender then one third of all captured German troops will be shot.
8 April The Red Army begins attacks from the Crimea.
9 April General Hube's forces rejoin the main German line after a forced march of 150 miles.
11 April The Soviet 19th Tank Corps drives towards Simferopol.
12 April Hitler reluctantly agrees on a general withdrawal to Sevastopol.
16 April The Red Army holds Yalta and Sudak.

24 April

 Hitler orders that Sevastopol will be held to the last man.
May 1944
  7 May Sapun hill is taken by the Red Army.
9 May Reversing his earlier decision, Hitler orders that all German forces in the Crimea are to be evacuated.
10 May The last men to escape the Crimea during the German evacuation reach safety.  No other troops will escape.
12 May The remains of the German 17th Army in the Crimea are destroyed..
20 May Marshals Zhukov, Vasilevsky, and Antonov begin plans for Operation: Bagration - the plan to envelop Army Group Center.
31 May

Stalin gives his approval for Operation Bagration.

June 1944
  9 June Red Army opens a massive attack against Finland in an effort to force Finland out of the war.
22 June Soviets open their summer offensive.
23 June The 1st Baltic Front under Bagramyan breaks through German lines along the left flank of General Reinhardt's 3rd Panzer Army.  They penetrate to a depth of 10 miles along a 35 mile wide front.
25 June Gollwitzer's encircled 47th Corps attempts to fight its way out of Vitebsk.
27 June The final radio transmission from Vitebsk states that the breakout attempt is ongoing, but that ammunition stocks are almost exhausted.  No more is heard from them as the 35,000 men of the 47th Corps are wiped out by the Red Army.
28 June River Berezina is crossed by Soviet tanks.

 

 

July 1944
 
1 July The 5th Guards Tank Army under Rotmistrov cross the Berezina river.
4 July Elements of the 11th Guards and 31st Armies liberate Minsk.
8 July The German 12th Corps under General Muller surrenders along with his 57,000 men.
10 July The 2nd Baltic Front under Eremenko attacks General Hansen's 16th Army.
14 July Both the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts open a massive offensive in the Northern Ukraine.
24 July The Wehrmacht begins to evacuate Lvov.
25 July Troops of the Soviet 2nd Army reach the River Vistula near Deblin.
27 July The city of Lvov is retaken by Soviet forces.
28 July Brest-Litovsk is liberated by the Red Army.

28 July

 Radio Moscow calls upon the people of Warsaw to take up arms against the German occupation forces there.
August 1944
  1 August Bor-Komorowksi begins his insurrection (Warsaw Uprising).
21 August An envoy of the King of Rumania makes contact with the Soviets.
23 August Soviet forces attempt to encircle German forces between the Dniestr and Prut rivers.  They are only partially successful.
25 August Luftwaffe attacks Bucharest giving the Rumanian government the excuse to declare war on Germany.
27 August Organized German resistance east of the River Prut ends.
29 August The 79th Infantry Division is totally destroyed near the Berlad river.  Soviet forces clear two additional pockets along the Prut river.  180,000 Germans are captured.
30 August Ploesti falls to Soviet forces.
31 August

The city of Bucharest falls to soldiers of the Red Army. 

September 1944
  7 September The 2nd Ukrainian Front under Malinovsky crosses the South Carpathians and enters Transylvania.
10-14 September Soviet 47th Army under Gusev clears Praga.  The Polish 1st Army is ordered to support the Warsaw uprising by crossing the River Vistula.
14 September Air drops of food and ammunition to the Home Army are begun by the Red Army.
20 September Nazi Germany issues and ultimatum to Hungary because they refuse to put Hungarian troops under German command.
24 September Army Group 'South Ukraine' is order by Gunderian to withdraw to the line near Debrecen-Uzhorod, and then to behind the river Danube.
27 September Gunderian is told by Friessner that he cannot expect to hold up against another Soviet attack because he lost 4000 men in September.

 

 
October 1944
 
1 October The Hungarian delegation arrives in Moscow to sign an armistice.
2 October The Polish Home Army in Warsaw is destroyed.
4 October The German army discovers the Hungarian armistice agreement and moves to seize all communication centers within that country.
10 October Three Soviet Corps are destroyed in a huge tank battle near Debrecen.
15 October Hungary broadcasts that the war is over for its people.
16 October German forces arrest members of Hungarian government and install a loyal puppet government.
18 October The commander of the Hungarian 1st Army, General Miklos, allies his forces with the Soviet army.
19 October Hitler orders the destruction of Warsaw.
29 October The Hungarian 3rd Army is scattered near the town of Kecskemet.
November 1944
  7 November 4th Guards and 18th Tank Corps begin their push across the river Danube.
11 November Soviet forces attack General Wohler's 8th Army and the left flank of Fretter-Pico's 6th Army.
26 November The Red Army pushes north of Budapest, but their advance becomes bogged down in the Matra Hills.
December 1944
  5 December Marshal Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian Front launches offensive.
13 December The 2nd Ukrainian Front outflanks Budapest from the north with a 60-mile salient.
18 December General Fressner flies to Zossen to explain that the counter-attack at Budapest cannot be launched until the after the first winter frosts.
19 December The 8th Panzer Division counter-attacks the 6th Tank Army under Kravchenko.  The attack fails and there are desertions in the German ranks.
20 December The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts resume offensive operations.
26 December The 18th Tank Corps links up with the 2nd Ukrainian Front at Esztergom.

 

 


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Sources Cited

(1) Bauer, Eddie,  Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia (vol 24), Tarrytown, NY: H.S. Stuttman Inc, 1978

Last Updated 14 January 2019 by Ryan Stavka