Events of the
Great Patriotic War
- 1945 -

  

 

 
1945 - Victory
 

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

The final year of the war was marked by incredible violence as combat shifted to the urban centers of Eastern Europe and finally into Berlin itself.  After many hard years of fighting the Red Army would emerge victorious in Europe.

With the defeat of Germany the Soviet Union was then able to shift its forces to the Far East.  They then engaged the Imperial Japanese army for the first time since 1939.  The short campaign ended with the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War.

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
Back to History and Battles
of the Great Patriotic War

 

 

January 1945
 
2 January Germans counterattack near Komarno. 4th SS Panzer drives 16th Guards Rifle Corps back 20 miles.
12 January Koniev's 1st Ukrainian Front begins attack against Gen. Graeser's 4th Panzer Army.
15 January Gen. Nehring's 14th Panzer Army is destroyed.
17 January Warsaw is liberated by Soviet forces.  Russians cross the Warthe river.
19 January The SS Panzer Corps reaches the Danube river at Dunapantele and cuts off the communications of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front.
23 January A detachment from 14th Tank Corps reaches Elbing near the Baltic Sea.

26 January

German 3rd Panzer Army and part of 2nd Army is cut off in East Prussia.  Reinhardt and Hossbach are dismissed by Hitler.
February 1945
 
2 February
 		Soviet attack by 26th Army restores contact with 4th Guards Army.
7 February
 		4th SS Panzer withdraws.
10 February
 		2nd Belorussian Front advance is stopped after 10 days of heavy fighting.
11 February
 		A German force of 16,000 men attempts to break out of Budapest.
15 February
 		German counter-offensive at Stargard is halted shortly after it begins.
25 February
 3rd Panzer Army is ordered by Hitler to hold Kolberg as a fortress city.
28 February

Red Army takes Neustettin.

March 1945
  5 March General Kozlov's 19th Army cuts off German 2nd Army and reaches Koslin.  Stargard captured.  Gen. Loehr's Army Group E strikes at the Bulgarian 1st and Yugoslav 3rd Armies across the Drava river.  2nd Panzer Army attacks Soviet 57th Army south of Lake Balaton.
13 March Red Army assaults Konigsberg.  German attacks rapidly lose momentum.
18 March Red Air Force aids in Soviet counter-attacks as weather clears.
19 March German 4th Army is forced into a narrow bridgehead on the Balga Peninsula.  The 6th Guards Army under General Kravchenko, is committed to southern offensives.

 

 

April 1945
 
4 April 2nd Ukrainian Front takes Bratislava.
6 April Soviet forces enter Konigsberg.
13 April Vienna is taken by the forces of the Red Army.
16 April The 1st Belorussian Front begins final assault on Berlin.
24 April Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front and 1st Belorussian Front make contact at a point South-West of Berlin.
25 April 4th Guards Tank Army under General Lelyushenko makes contact with 47th Army under General Perkhorovich to the west of Berlin.
General Zhadov's 5th Guards Army contacts U.S. 1st Army near Torgau on the Elbe river.

30 April

Hitler commits suicide.  Krebs ask for a truce with General Chuikov.  Soviets begin final assault on the Tiergarten.
May 1945
  1 May  

General Wenck falls back towards Elbe after failing to reach Berlin, then attempts to surrender to U.S. forces.

2 May Chuikov receives a Russian language message from the 56th Panzer Corps asking for a cease fire.  Commander of the German troops in Berlin, Weidling, orders all troops to cease resistance.
6 May Breslau ends all resistance after a three month defense that resulted in 29,000 military and civilian casualties.
7 May Nazi Germany accepts unconditional surrender terms demanded by Soviet Union and Western Allies.
9 May Victory Day declared in Soviet Union.

 

 

August 1945
 

8 August

 Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
September 1945
 

 2 September

Japan signs surrender document and the Second World War ends.

 

 


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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