238 ENDGAME AND AFTERMATH 1944–1955
The Red Army’s advance of summer 1944 had cleared the Germans
from Soviet soil and penetrated Poland, Romania, and the Baltic states.
However, it stalled outside Warsaw while the Germans crushed an
uprising by the Polish Home Army (see pp.184–185). To the south, Soviet
forces invaded Bulgaria before taking the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, with
Josip Broz Tito’s partisans. In Hungary, the Red Army beat a path to
Budapest in December, but took almost two months to capture the
city, which was defended by German and Hungarian forces.Overwhelming forces
The final push into Germany began on January 12, 1945, with an
offensive by Marshal Zhukov’s 1st Ukrainian Front, joined two days
later by Marshal Konev’s 1st Belorussian Front (see right). With more
than two million men and 700 tanks, the armies advanced almost
300 miles (500 km) by early February, with Zhukov penetrating the
industrial area of Silesia, and Konev reaching the River Oder, less
than 45 miles (70 km) east of Berlin. The Soviet advance liberated
Auschwitz on January 27, and droves of German civilian refugees
fled west, panicked by reports of Soviet atrocities. Zhukov halted at
the Oder to resupply his army, while in the north the Soviets took
control of East Prussia and the Baltic states. The Soviets began their
final assault on April 16 (see pp.242–243). After four days Zhukov broke
the defenses; by April 20 Berlin was encircled. On April 25, US and
Soviet troops met triumphantly at Torgau on the Elbe.THE FINAL
SOVIET ATTACK
In the final stage of the war in Europe, a series of hard-
fought victories brought Soviet armies into the heart of
central Europe and the Balkans, with major consequences
for both the war and the continent itself.
△ The Allies meet
A lieutenant from the US 69th Infantry Division (in helmet) poses with soldiers
from the Soviet 58th Guards Division in Torgau, Germany, in April 1945. The site
would become the border of their future military occupation zones.US_238-239_Final_Soviet_Offensive.indd 238 24/05/19 1:17 PM