East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive Operation

East Pomeranian Offensive East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive Operation
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Soviet Red Army troops manning two M17 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage (MGMC) self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles (half-tracks) in Danzig in March of 1945.
Date 24 February – 4 April 1945 Location Pomerania, Danzig-West Prussia inside Germany Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union Poland
Commanders and leaders
Walter Weiß Dietrich von Saucken (2nd Army)	Konstantin Rokossovsky (2nd Belorussian Front)
Strength
Unknown	996,100
Casualties and losses
Unknown	234,360 55,315 killed or missing 179,045 wounded Materiel destroyed or captured 1,027 tanks and self-propelled guns 1,005 guns and mortars 1,073 aircraft

234,360

Materiel destroyed or captured

The East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive operation (Russian: Восточно-Померанская наступательная операция) was an offensive by the Red Army in its fight against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. It took place in Pomerania and West Prussia, and officially lasted from 10 February – 4 April 1945.

In Soviet reckoning, it involved the following subordinate operations:

The 2nd Belorussian Front—under Konstantin Rokossovsky—had initially been tasked with advancing westward north of the Vistula River toward Pomerania and the major port city of Danzig, with the primary aim of protecting the right flank of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, which was pushing towards Berlin. During the East Prussian Offensive, however, Rokossovsky was ordered to wheel directly north toward Elbing. This left substantial German forces intact in Pomerania, where they threatened the right flank of Zhukov's formations.

As a result, once the initial phase of the East Prussian Offensive was over, the 2nd Belorussian Front was redeployed with the intention of attacking westwards into Pomerania, eliminating the possibility of a German counter-offensive (similarly, the parallel Silesian Offensives of Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front in the south were in part designed to protect the 1st Belorussian Front's left flank). The need to secure the flanks delayed the Soviets' final push towards Berlin, which was originally planned for February, until April.

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