The Silesian offensives ( Russian : Силезские наступления ) were two separate offensives conducted in Silesia in February and March 1945 by the Soviet Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in World War II , to protect the flanks of the Red Army during its push to Berlin to prevent a Wehrmacht counterattack. It delayed the final push toward Berlin by 2 months.
15-698: The Lower Silesian offensive ran from 8–24 February 1945, and the Upper Silesian offensive from 15–31 March. Designed to flank the Soviet main advance on Berlin , the two operations pushed the Wehrmacht out of Silesia . According to Soviet information, the Germans lost 54,000 soldiers: 40,000 dead and 14,000 captured in the Upper Silesian offensive. The 1st Ukrainian Front under Ivan Konev ’s command—having completed
30-607: Is usually simply referred to as the Neisse . Since the river runs through the historic region of Lusatia , the adjective "Lusatian" or "Western" before the name of the river Neisse is used whenever differentiating this border river from the Eastern Neisse (Polish: Nysa Kłodzka , German: Glatzer Neisse ) and the smaller Raging Neisse (Polish: Nysa Szalona ; German: Wütende Neisse or Jauersche Neisse ), both in Poland. At Bad Muskau
45-608: The Jizera Mountains , near Nová Ves nad Nisou , at the Czech border becoming the Polish – German border for its remaining 197 kilometres (122 mi), to flow into the similarly northward-flowing Oder from the left. Its drainage basin covers 4,403 km (1,700 sq mi), of which 2,201 km (850 sq mi) is in Poland, the rest is mainly in Germany. The river reaches
60-598: The Vienna offensive . Lower Silesian offensive The Lower Silesian offensive ( Russian : Нижне-Силезская наступательная операция ) was a Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945, involving forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Ivan Konev . It cleared German troops from much of Lower Silesia and besieged a large German force in the provincial capital, Breslau . The offensive began on February 8 and continued until February 24, when
75-658: 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. 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,
90-504: The tripoint of the three nations by Zittau , a German town/city, after 54 kilometres (34 mi), leaving the Czech Republic. It is a left-bank tributary of the Oder, into which it flows between Neißemünde -Ratzdorf and Kosarzyn – north of the towns of Guben and Gubin . The river was a motivations to found Gubin as a craftmanship and trading port in the 13th Century. Since
105-660: The 1945 Potsdam Agreement in the aftermath of World War II , the river has partially demarcated the German-Polish border (along the Oder–Neisse line ). The German population east of the river was expelled from Poland to Germany . It is the longest and most watered of the three rivers of its non-adjectival name in both the main languages (the two other rivers being the Eastern Neisse ( Polish : Nysa Kłodzka ; German : Glatzer Neisse ) and Raging Neisse (Polish: Nysa Szalona ; German: Wütende Neiße or Jauersche Neiße )). It
120-642: The 52nd Army and 3rd Guards Tank Army were able to secure the flanks of Lelyushenko's position. On February 24, faced with heavy German reinforcements, Konev closed the offensive phase of operations, having secured a small bridgehead across the Neisse near Forst . This effectively defined the start lines in that sector for the Battle of Berlin , or Berlin offensive, two months later. Schoerner attempted to win back some territory during March with successful counter-attacks at Lauban and Striegau . An offensive to relieve Breslau
135-517: 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). Joseph 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
150-615: The Soviets ceased their offensive having captured a small bridgehead across the Neisse River near Forst . The offensive directly succeeded the Vistula–Oder offensive , in which Konev's troops had driven the German Army Group A from Poland , liberating Kraków and taking bridgeheads over the Oder . Konev intended to break out of the Steinau and Ohlau bridgeheads, which had been secured at
165-447: The Soviets had a chance of securing Berlin much faster and with far fewer losses, and the other arguing that the possibility of large German formations (remnants of the Czech fortification system) 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
SECTION 10
#1732851067221180-550: The Steinau bridgehead. By February 15, forces from the two bridgeheads had surrounded Breslau while 3rd Guards Tank Army had closed the gap to the west, only elements of the German 269th Infantry Division managing to withdraw. Another 35,000 troops and 80,000 civilians had been blockaded in Breslau. The resulting Siege of Breslau lasted until the very end of the war. The 4th Tank Army, in
195-487: The end of the Vistula–Oder offensive , on February 8. He preceded the initial attack with a fifty-minute artillery bombardment, his troops crossing the start lines at 06:00. By the end of the day the Front's spearheads had penetrated some 60km. The 3rd Guards Tank Army was ordered to wheel southwards and then eastwards in order to encircle the city of Breslau from the rear, while the 4th Tank Army continued its push westwards from
210-462: The meantime, had pushed far ahead towards the Neisse River, against some resistance from Fourth Panzer Army. On February 14, two German corps (the Großdeutschland and XXIV Panzer Corps ) mounted a sudden counter-attack that left Lelyushenko's force in a desperate fight to avoid encirclement. The Germans were unable to close the encirclement, and ceased attacking operations within five days, when
225-442: Was however disrupted by an offensive on the 1st Ukrainian Front's right flank to the south-east: the Upper Silesian offensive . Lusatian Neisse The Lusatian Neisse ( German : Lausitzer Neiße ; Polish : Nysa Łużycka ; Czech : Lužická Nisa ; Upper Sorbian : Łužiska Nysa ; Lower Sorbian : Łužyska Nysa ), or Western Neisse , is a 252-kilometre (157 mi) river in northern Central Europe . It rises in
#220779