peashooter85:The Last Great Offensive of World War II Europe — The Prague OffensiveOn April 30th, 19
peashooter85:The Last Great Offensive of World War II Europe — The Prague OffensiveOn April 30th, 1945, Hitler shot himself as his infamous “One Thousand Year Reich” collapsed around him. Everywhere German troops were surrendering as it became abundantly clear that the war was over. On May 7th, German High Command ordered all German armed forces to cease-fire and surrender, and on May 8th the German government and military officially surrendered to Allied forces. While the surrender of Germany on May 7th-8th signaled the end of the war, and most German forces throughout Europe laid down their arms, the fighting did not come to a complete end on that date. In fact for the next month there would be sporadic fighting between remnants of the German Army, Allied forces, and various partisan groups. It is interesting to note that the last great offensive of the war, the Prague Offensive, ended 4 days after the official surrender of Germany. When Hitler shot himself on April 30th, the last large pocket of German soldiers, what remained of Army Group Center, was located in what is now the Czech Republic. Under the command of Field Marshal Ferdinand Schorner, Army Group Center was composed of 1 million men and around 1,900 tanks. While a million man army may seem like a powerful force, by then Army Group Center was a paper tiger in reality. The men were exhausted, lacking food and ammunition, the tanks were out of gas. However Schorner doggedly fought on, continuing to resist a massive Soviet advance while pretty much all the other armies around him had surrendered. On May 1st, the Red Army began its last major offensive to obliterate Army Group Center. Led by Marshal Ivan Konev, the Soviets attacked with a force of almost 2 million men. The offensive consisted of a double pronged attack, with simultaneous advances from the northeast and southeast. Under the furious Soviet assault, German forces were pushed back to Prague.On March 5th, the Czechoslovak Army rebelled against the the German occupation force, an event known as the Prague Uprising. The Germans quickly crushed the rebellion and continued the fight against Soviet forces. On May 7th, Schorner received news of the cease-fire and surrender. However he refused to surrender to the Soviets, which would result in him and his men spending the rest of their lives chipping rocks in one of Stalin’s gulags. Instead he ordered his men to conduct a fighting withdrawal to the west where they could surrender to the Americans. The Americans treated German POWs well, so much of the final days of the war was a mad scramble by German soldiers to surrender to the British and Americans before being captured by the Soviets. So in other words, the German soldiers of Army Group Center were fighting not to win, but were fighting to lose. On March 8th, VE Day, Schorner abandoned his command and went into hiding in Vienna. Without anyone in charge Army Group Center quickly became a chaotic mob. However the fighting continued. Over the next four days, Soviet forces continued their advance, facing staunch resistance in some areas, or panicked fleeing troops in others. Despite the disorganization many German units continued their fighting retreat to the west, a retreat that would ultimately be doomed. On May 11th the Soviets completely encircled Army Group Center. By then most German soldiers threw down their weapons and accepted their fates. Soviet forces suffered around 50,000 dead, wounded, and missing. Around 860,000 German soldiers surrendered and were captured. Many would never return home. Sporadic fighting continued on May 12th. On that day the last battle of the offensive occurred, known as the Battle of Slivice. 6,000 retreating German soldiers were mere miles away from the Americans when they were blocked by Czech Partisans. The Soviets attacked (as well as the American 4th Armored Division) and the men were quickly killed or captured. After the Prague Offensive sporadic fighting continued in Europe. On the 14th and 15th of May Yugoslav Partisans ambushed remnants of the German Army retreating east at the Battle of Poljana. The last shots of the war were fired on May 20th, when a bloody battle between Georgian rebels and German soldiers on the Dutch island of Texel was ended by Allied Forces. -- source link