March 1945

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting rages on the approaches to Gotenhofen and Danzig as the 70th, 49th, 65th and 2nd Shock Armies move closer to the ports. The German defense is aided by naval arty fire from the cruisers Schlesein, Prinz Eugen and Leipzig. Polish troops break into Kolberg and fight their way through the town. Many of the civilians have already been evacuated but the bulk of the garrison remains to hold off the enemy.

Hitler begins to transfer elements of the 3rd Panzer Army away from Altdamm to support the battle at Kustrin, fundamentally weakening the positions Manteuffel had carefully built up.

Fighting erupts in Silesia once again as the 1st Ukrainian Front attacks from Oppeln with the aim of reaching Neustadt. The 21st and 4th Tank Armies attack from Grottkau, while the 59th and 60th Armies strike the German line around Ratibor.

The German offensive in Hungary comes to an end, the attacking forces having lost more than 500 panzers and assault guns, 3,000 arty pieces and over 40,000 infantry in just 10 days of bitter fighting. The 6th SS Panzer Army and 6th Army are left in a vulnerable salient following their failed offensive, under threat of a counterattack against their exposed flanks.

To launch just such an attack the 3rd Ukrainian Front has been strengthened by the addition of the 6th Guards Tank Army from the 2nd Ukrainian Front. With more than 400 tanks and Su's the 6th will spearhead the attack.

The failure of the German counteroffensive in Hungary left the initiative in the south firmly in the hands of the Soviet armies. Hitler had squandered his last operational reserve and pinned his strongest armored units down in the south, hundreds of miles from the Oder where Soviet armies were already entrenched. With Berlin and Konigsberg already under threat, Vienna would be the next of the Reich's major cities to feel the approach of the Soviet forces.