From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is an article about a WWII offensives. For WWI
offensive, see Silesian Offensive.
WWII Eastern Front during 1945
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The Silesian Offensives were two 1945
offensives conducted by the Soviet Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in World War II.
The
offensives
The Lower Silesian Offensive ran
from February 8 to 24, 1945, and the Upper Silesian Offensive —
from March 15 to March 31, 1945. Designed to flank the Soviet main
advance on Berlin, the two
operations pushed the Wehrmacht out of Silesia.
The 1st Ukrainian Front under Ivan Konev’s command,
having completed the Vistula-Oder
Offensive, was to advance westward toward Silesia with the primary objective of
protecting the left flank of the 1st Belorussian Front, which was
pushing toward Berlin.
Similarly, the East Pomeranian Offensive of
the 2nd Belorussian Front in the
north was tasked with protecting the 1st
Belorussian Front's right flank.
Delay
The need to secure the flanks delayed till April the Soviets'
final push toward Berlin, which had originally been planned for
February. By mid-April, the East Pomeranian Offensive — carried out
by the 2nd, and elements of the 1st, Belorussian Fronts — had
succeeded in its objectives, reaching the important German port
city of Stettin (now
Szczecin).
Motives
Stalin's decision to delay the push toward
Berlin from February to April
1945 has been a subject of controversy among Soviet generals and
military historians, with one side arguing that in February the
Soviets had a chance of securing Berlin much faster and with much
smaller losses, and the other arguing that the possibility of large
German formations remaining on the flanks could have resulted in a
successful German counterattack and
further prolonged the war. Stalin's aim in delaying the advance on
Berlin had likely been political, as it allowed him to occupy
substantial parts of Austria
in the Vienna
Offensive.
See also
External
links
- (Polish),
Andrzej Wanderer, Piekło na Śląsku,
Tygodnik Prudnicki nr 24, 2006-06-14
Further
reading
- Beevor,
Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books,
2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
- Duffy, Christopher. Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet
March on Germany, 1945, Routledge, 1991, ISBN
0-415-22829-8
- Dubiel, P. Wyzwolenie Śląska w 1945 r. [Liberation of
Silesia in 1945], Katowice 1969
- Glantz, David M., The Soviet‐German War
1941–45: Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay
- Karl Friedrich Grau, Silesian Inferno: War Crimes of the
Red Army on Its March Into Silesia in 1945: a Collection of
Documents, Landpost Press, 1992, ISBN 1880881098
- Rawski, T. Wyzwolenie Śląska [Liberation of Silesia],
Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Śląska, t. VI, 1964
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