The Great Patriotic War
1944 - The March to Berlin

 A historical overview of the Great Patriotic War.

This section will focus on a the events of the Great Patriotic War, as well as the costs in men and equipment. It should be noted that no other war in history involved as many men and as many vehicles as this one.  It required every effort of the Soviet people along with the resources and equipment sent to them by the United States and England to bring victory.

1944

 

 

 

 

 

 January 8th

Kirovograd falls to Red Army.

 

January 9th

A Soviet tank attack disperses the headquarters of the XLVII Panzer Corps.

  January  14th Feduninski's 2nd Shock Army breaks out of the Oranienbaum bridgehead.
   January  19th The 42nd Army under Maslennikov links up with the 2nd Shock Army.
  January  28th Kulchler orders the German 18th Army to fall back to the River Luga.
  January 29th Kulchler is then replaced by General Model.
  February  8th The German forces in Korsun receive an invitation to surrender..
  February  12th German army sends relief forces.  These forces reach Lysyanka, just 10 miles from the Korsun pocket.
  February  15th Finland asks Moscow for armistice terms.  At the same time Hitler is forced to withdraw Army Group North to the Panther Line.
  February  17th The 3rd Panzer Corps links up with the troops encirlced at Korsun.
  March 4th Marshal Zhukov attacks General Manstein's left flank and overruns part of the 1st Panzer Army.
  March 5th The 2nd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Konev attacks from Zvenigorodka to Uman.
  March 10th The town of Uman is liberated by the Red Army.
  March 21st The Soviet 1st Tank Army under Katukov takes up attack near Cherny Ostrov.
  March 26th German General Hube's 1st Panzer Army is encircled.
  March 30th General Kleist and General Manstein are replaced by General's Model and Schorner.
  April 2nd 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.
  April 8th The Red Army begins attacks from the Crimea.
  April 9th General Hube's forces rejoin the main German line after a forced march of 150 miles.
  April 11th The Soviet 19th Tank Corps drives towards Simferopol.
  April 12th Hitler reluctantly agrees on a general withdrawal to Sevastopol.
  April 16th The Red Army holds Yalta and Sudak.
  April 24th Hitler orders that Sevastopol will be held to the last man.
  May 7th Sapun hill is taken by the Red Army.
  May 9th Reversing his earlier decision, Hitler orders that all German forces in the Crimea are to be evacuated.
  May 10th The last men to escape the Crimea during the German evacuation reach safety.  No other troops will escape.
  May 12 The remains of the German 17th Army in the Crimea are destroyed..
  May 20 Marshals Zhukov, Vasilevsky, and Antonov begin plans for Operation: Bagration - the plan to envelop Army Group Center.
  May 31 Stalin gives his approval for Operation Bagration.
  June 9th Red Army opens a massive attack against Finland in an effort to force Finland out of the war.
  June 22nd Soviets open their summer offensive.
  June 23rd 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..
  June 25th Gollwitzer's encircled 47th Corps attempts to fight its way out of Vitebsk.
  June 27th The final radio transmission from Vitebbsk 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.
  June 28th River Berezina is crossed by Soviet tanks.
  July 1st The 5th Guards Tank Army under Rotmistrov cross the Berezina river.
  July 4th Elements of the 11th Guards and 31st Armies liberate Minsk.
  July 8th The German 12th Corps under General Muller surrenders along with his 57,000 men.
  July 10th The 2nd Baltic Front under Eremenko attacks General Hansen's 16th Army.
  July 14th Both the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts open a massive offensive in the Northern Ukraine.
  July 24th The Wehrmacht begins to evacuate L''vov.
  July 25th Troops of the Soviet 2nd Army reach the River Vistula near Deblin.
  July 27th The city of L'vov is retaken by Soviet forces.
  July 28th Brest-Litovsk is liberated by the Red Army.
  July 29th Radio Moscow calls upon the people of Warsaw to take up arms against the German occupation forces there..
  August 1st Bor-Komorowksi begins his insurrection.
  August 21st An envoy of the King of Rumania makes contact with the Soviets.
  August 23rd Soviet forces attempt to encircle German forces between the Dniestr and Prut rivers.  They are only partially successful.
  August 25 Luftwaffe attacks Bucharest giving the Rumanian government the excuse to declare war on Germany.
  August 27 Organized German resistance east of the River Prut ends.
  August 29 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.
  August 30 Ploesti falls to Soviet forces.
  August 31 The city of Bucharest falls to soldiers of the Red Army.
  Sept 7th The 2nd Ukrainian Front under Malinovsky crosses the South Carpathians and enters Transylvania.
  Sept 10-14 Soviet 47th Army under Gusev clears Praga.  The Polish 1st Army is ordered to support the Warsaw uprising by crossing the River Vistula.
  Sept 14 Air drops of food and ammunition to the Home Army are begun by the Red Army.
  Sept 20 Nazi Germany issues and ultimatum to Hungary because they refuse to put Hungarian troops under German command.
  Sept 24 Army Group 'South Ukraine' is order by Gunderian to withdraw to the line near Debrecen-Uzhorod, and then to behind the river Danube.
  Sept 27 Gunderian is told by Friessner that he cannot expect to hold up against another Soviet attack because of he lost 4000 men in September.
  October 1st The Hungarian delegation arrives in Moscow to sign an armistice.
  October 2nd The Polish Home Army in Warsaw is destroyed.
  October 4th The German army discovers the Hungarian armistice agreement and moves to seize all communication centers within that country.
  October 10th Three Soviet Corps are destroyed in a huge tank battle near Debrecen.
  October 15th Hungary broadcasts that the war is over for its people.
  October 16 German forces arrest members of Hungarian government and install a loyal puppet government.
  October 18th The commander of the Hungarian 1st Army, General Miklos, allies his forces with the Soviet army.
  October 19th Hitler orders the destruction of Warsaw.
  October 29th The Hungarian 3rd Army is scattered near the town of Kecskemet.
  November 7th 4th Guards and 18th Tank Corps begin their push across the river Danube.
  November 11th Soviet forces attack General Wohler's 8th Army and the left flank of Fretter-Pico's 6th Army.
  November 26th The Red Army pushes north of Budapest, but their advance becomes bogged down in the Matra Hills.
  December 5th Marshal Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian Front launches offensive.
  December 13th The 2nd Ukrainian Front outflanks Budapest from the north with a 60-mile salient.
  December 18th General Fressner flies to Zossen to explain that the counter-attack at Budapest cannot be launched until the after the first winter frosts.
  December 19th The 8th Panzer Division counter-attacks the 6th Tank Army under Kravchenko.  The attack fails and there are desertions in the German ranks..
  December 20th The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts resume offensive operations.
  December 26th The 18th Tank Corps links up with the 2nd Ukrainian Front at Esztergom.

 

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