Prague Offensive
From Freepedia
The Prague Offensive May 6—May 11, 1945 (Russian:Пражская наступательная операция, Prazhskaya nastupatelnaya operacia, Prague offensive operation) was the last major battle of the Eastern Front of the World War II. During the battle Prague was liberated, and the troops of Army Group Center that did not surrender after the capitulation of Germany were captured (~850,000).
The assault was carried out by 1st (Ivan Konev), 2nd (Rodion Malinovsky), 4th Ukrainian Fronts (Andrei Yeremenko), as well as the 2nd Polish Army, the 1st and 4th Romanian Armies and the 1st Czechoslovakian Army Corps, totalling to more than 2,000,000 personnel. It was opposed by about 900,000 troops of the 1st, 4th and 17th Panzer Armies of the Army Group Center (Ferdinand Schörner) and some Austrian corps under Lothar Rendulic.
The assault crushed the last sizeable pocket of German resistance which did not comply with the unconditional surrender of German forces on May 8, and it relieved the Czech partisans fighting in the Prague Uprising started on May 5, 1945 who were aided briefly by the Russian Liberation Army (Vlasov). Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front did a forced march from south of Berlin, after taking part in the just finished Battle of Berlin.
The left flank of the 2nd Ukrainian Front met with troops of the US Third Army (George Patton) in the regions of Ceske Budejovice and Pisek, thus completing the encirclement. Later, 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts met with Americans in the regions of Karlovy Vary and Klatovy. Soviet troops entered Prague on May 9, 1945. Some remnants of Army Group Center continued resistance until the May 11, (some sources say May 12).
To honor the participants of the operation, the Soviet Union instituted the Medal for the Liberation of Prague.
References
- Советская военная энциклопедия (Soviet Military Encyclopedia), vol. 6 (In Russian).
- The Soviet Military Encyclopedia, A-F: ISBN 0813314291, G-O: ISBN 0813314305, P-Z: ISBN 0813314313
