Western Allied invasion of Germany
1945 offensive by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Western Allied invasion of Germany was an attack on Nazi Germany that was done by the Western Allies in the final months of the European War in World War II. The invasion started with the Allies crossing the Rhine River. Then they spread out and moved through western Germany. The Germans surrendered on 8 May 1945. This is known as the "Central Europe Campaign" in United States military histories.
Invasion of Germany | |||||||
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Part of the Western Front of World War II | |||||||
United States Army soldiers supported by a tank move through a smoke filled street in Wernberg, Germany during April 1945 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Germany | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Adolf Hitler Albert Kesselring Gerd von Rundstedt Walther Model Paul Hausser Johannes Blaskowitz Heinrich Himmler | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army Group G | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
4,5 million troops (90 Divisions)[1] | ~1,000,000 troops [source?] |
By the early spring of 1945, the Allied forces in Europe were doing well. On the Western Front the Allies had been fighting in Germany since the October Battle of Aachen. By January, the Allies beat the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. The failure of this last major German attack took the last of Germany's strength. The Germans could not do much to stop the final Allied attacks in Europe.
Additional losses in the Rhineland weakened the German Army, leaving few troops to defend the east bank of the Rhine. By mid-March, the Allies had captured an intact bridge at Remagen. They also defended the bridge on the river's east bank.
German casualties during the Allied attacks to reach the Rhine in February–March 1945 were about 400,000 men, including 280,000 men captured as prisoners of war.[2]
On the Eastern Front[broken anchor], the Soviet Red Army had moved through Poland. The Russians were nearing Berlin. The Soviets also moved into Hungary and eastern Czechoslovakia. These advances on the Eastern Front destroyed experienced German troop groups. It also made it very hard for Adolf Hitler to strengthen his Rhine defenses.