February 1945

Eastern Front

Neustettin (now Szczecinek) falls to elements of the 19th Army after a bitter battle. Prechlau is also captured.

The fighting on the Eastern Front during the first 2 months of 1945 sees more outstanding achievements by the Red Army and catastrophic defeats for the Ostheer. All Poland has fallen to the Russians, some 400,000 Germans being killed or captured at a cost of over half a million Soviet killed or missing. Across the whole front the Germans deployed 28 panzer, 14 panzer grenadier and 131 infantry divisions while Hungary deploys 11 divisions. The vast majority of these divisions barely have the strength of a regiment, let alone a division.

On the northern wing Army Group Kurland remains incarcerated with its 250,000 men. The 18th Army deploys the X, I, L and II Corps and the 16th Army the XXXVIII Panzer, VI SS, XVI and LXIII Corps.

Army Group North in East Prussia has around 400,000 soldiers in teh Danzig/Eastern Pomeranian, Heiligenbeil and Konigsberg pockets. The 4th Army is deployed between the Samland-Konigsberg pocket (designated Detachment Samland), and the Heiligenbeil pocket. The Samland Detachment has the IX Corps and Fortress Konigsberg under command, while the Heiligenbeil group has the XXVI, VI and XX Ckorps and XLI Panzer Corps. To the west are the badly battered armies of Army Group Vistula, spread out on a line from the Oder to the eastern tip of Pomerania. This group comprises the 9th Army on the Oder with around 150,000 men among its V SS Mountain, XI SS and CI Corps and the LVI Panzer Corps. At Stettin and east into Pomerania is the 3rd Panzer Army with around 100,000 men in the III SS Panzer and X SS Corps and Group Tettau. The 2nd Army covers eastern Pomerania with the VII Panzer, XVIII Mountain, LXVI Panzer, XXVII and XXIII Corps and Corps Group Rappart.

Holding the line from the Niesse River to central Slovakia is Army Group Center. This group has the 4th Panzer Army southeast of Berlin, the 17th Army covering the Czech-Silesian border the the 1st Panzer Army on the southern flank of Slovakia. The 4th Panzer has around 120,000 men and 200 panzers between the V, XXIV Panzer, Grossdeutschland and XL Panzer Corps, while the 17th Army comprises the VI, XXVII, XLVIII Panzer, LVII Panzer and XXXIX Panzer Corps. The 1st Panzer Army deploys the XXXIX Mountain, LIX and XI Corps and Corps Groups Schlesein.

Arrayed from Slovakia to the Drava River are the armies of Army Group South. This force deploys the 8th Army in Slovakia (IV Panzer, LXXII and XXIX Corps), 3rd Hungarian Army, battered and demoralized, south of the Danube with its II Hungarian and III Panzer Corps, and between Lakes Balaton and Venencei the 6th Army with its IV Panzer and VIII Hungarian Corps. South of Lake Balaton is the 2nd Panzer Army with its LXVII and XXII Corps, completing the line to the Drava. From here on the combat line is fluid as Army Groups E and F struggle to escape from the partisan war in Yugoslavia. However, behind Army Group South the 6th SS Panzer Army (I and II SS and III Panzer Corps) is beginning to assemble in preparation for Operation FRÜLINGSERWACHEN.

Impressinve though the German dispositions might seem the bulk of these divisions are vastly under strength and lack all kinds of essential equipment. Despite having some of the most technologically advanced weapons of the war, the German army is no longer the modern force it used to be, being rendered immobile through lack of fuel. Air support, so vital to the success of many offensives is a thing of the past, the Luftwaffe having been drawn west to deal with the Allied bomber offensive and the ramainder grounded by lack of aviation fuel.

While the Ostheer continues its preparations for the attack in Hungary, the Red Army assembles its forces on the northern flank to strike at the German armies in Pomerania. The 1st Belorussian has swung its main weight north, deploying the 47th, 61st, 2nd Guards Tank, 3rd Shock, 1st Guards Tank and 1st Polish Armies between the Oder and Neustettin, while the 2nd Belorussian Front is already in the process of severing the 2nd Army from the 3rd Panzer Army. The 2nd Belorussian has the 19th, 70th, 49th, 65th and 2nd Shock Armies deployed for the attack that is scheduled to begin on March 1.