Silesian Offensives

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WWII Eastern Front during 1945

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Barbarossa – Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Blue – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Battle of Narva – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Baltic – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Lublin-Brest – Balkans (Iassy-Kishinev) – Budapest – Vistula-Oder – East Prussia – East Pomerania – Silesia – Vienna – Berlin – Prague

The Silesian Offensives were two offensives by the Red Army in its fight against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front (World War II). The Lower Silesian Offensive Operation lasted from 8 to 24 February 1945, and Upper Silesian Offensive Operation lasted from 15 to 31 March 1945. Designed to flank Soviet main advance on Berlin, both attacks pushed the Wehrmacht from Silesia.

The 1st Ukrainian Front under Ivan Konev’s command, having completed the Vistula-Oder Offensive, was to advance westward toward Silesia region with the primary aim of protecting the left flank of 1st Belorussian Front, which was pushing towards Berlin. Similarly, the East Pomeranian Offensive of 2nd Belorussian Front in the north was designed to protecd the 1st Belorussian front right flank. The need to secure the flanks delayed the Soviets final push towards Berlin, which was originally planned for February, to April. By mid-April, the East Pomeranian Offensive — carried by 2nd and elements of the 1st Belorussian Fronts — had succeeded in its objectives, reaching an important port town of Szczecin (Settin). Stalin's decision to delay the push towards Berlin from February to April has been a subject of some controversy among both the Soviet generals and military historians, with one side arguing that the Soviets had a chance of securing Berlin much quicker and with much lower losses in February, and the other arguing that the danger of leaving large German formations on the flanks could have resulted in a successful German counterattack and prolonged the war further. It is likely that Stalin's aim was political, as the delay allowed him to occupy significant parts of Austria (Vienna Offensive).