January 1945

Eastern Front

During heavy fighting in East Prussia the Soviets capture Heilsberg (now Lidzbark Warminski) and Freidland (now Mieroszow).

The 2nd Guards Tank reaches the Oder River west of Berlin, capturing Zehden after a brief struggle. Elements of the 8th Guards Army approaches Kustrin but encounters difficulties as it runs short of supplies and the exhaustion of the combat troops begins to show. Units of the 5th Shock cross the Oder at Kienitz but meets stiff German resistance.

The Germans deploy 4,881 tanks against 14,200 Russian vehicles while the Luftwaffe have 1,430 aircraft against 14,500 planes. A fraction of the German machines are operational whereas the majority of the Soviet ones are. The Ostheer has a paper strength of 25 panzer, 13 panzer grenadier and 116 infantry divisions.