January 1945

Eastern Front

The III Panzer Corps attack from Mor fizzles out, the Germans being exhausted after days of bitter fighting. Heavy fighting continues in Pest as the Soviets capture Ujpest, pushing the Feldherrnhalle Division back. Bitter fighting erupts in the Varosliget Park.

Following Churchill's appeal, Stalin brings the start date for the offensive in Poland forward to the 12th. The attacks are to be staggered, starting first in the south and then rolling to the north, de-stabilizing and ultimately destroying Army Groups Center and A.

From the Baltic theater in the north to the Hungarian plains in the south, the Ostheer is reeling back upon its homeland. The Soviets are poised to unleash their next great offensive, an advance which will take them to the gates of the Reich capital and begin the final, bloody collapse of the German Army.

Everywhere along the combat line the Ostheer struggled to hold back the host of Soviet forces pressing into the Reich. As the German armies in the west failed in their attempt to drive a wedge between the Americans and British, Stalin brought his offensive towards the Oder forward. Millions of Soviet troops with thousands of tanks stood ready to crush the Ostheer, a force of increasingly limited military capability as its supplies and replacements failed to materialize. From its Vistula bridgeheads the Red Army would bring the war to the very gates of Berlin.