May 1945

Eastern Front

After a long struggle Breslau surrenders to the Soviet 6th Army. Of the 40,000-strong garrison some 30,000 have been killed but 6th Army has suffered 60,000 casualties. The treatment of the German garrison once it had surrendered is brutal, Soviet soldiers exacting terrible revenge.

On the main combat line the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts begin a massive offensive aimed at enveloping Army Group Center. The 1st Ukrainian Front pushes down from the north and northeast with the 4th Guards Tank, 13th, 3rd Guards Tank, 3rd and 5th Guards, 2nd Polish, 28th, 52nd, 31st, 21st, 6th and 59th Armies, the 2nd Ukrainian from the southeast with the 40th, 4th Rumanian, 27th, 53rd, 1st Rumanian, 7th Guards and 6th Guards Tank Armies and the 3rd Ukrainian Front from Austria with the 4th and 9th Guards and 46th Armies. The Stavka has massed 806,000 men with the 1st Ukrainian, 351,000, with the 4th Ukrainian and 613,000 with the 2nd Ukrainian Fronts, 30,000 arty pieces, 2,000 tanks and Su's and 3,000 aircraft to defeat the Germans. Army Group Center is short of ammunition, equipment and fuel.

The German front breaks under the massive weight of the attack, the 1st Ukrainian slicing through the 4th Panzer and 17th Armies to push into the rear of the 7th Army near Chemnitz. The 4th Ukrainian Front punches a hole through the 1st Panzer Army and the 2nd Ukrainian through the 8th Army. On the northern wing Meissen falls to the 3rd Guards Army while the 8th Army defenses around Brno collapses.

There are fierce battles in Croatia as Army Group E launches a desperate effort to break through to the west. The XCVII Corps, fighting on the western flank, becomes separated and, after a bloody battle, against the 4th Yugoslav Army, surrenders.

The independent Slovene defense force surrenders to Tito's forces. Over the next few days Tito's men murder 110,000 Croats near Bleiburg, another 30,000 at Kocevje and then a further 200,000 over the coming months.