As a result of the Prague operation, the Red Army liberated the capital of Czechoslovakia and thus ended World War II in Europe. The city was cleared of Wehrmacht forces the very next day after Germany signed the act of surrender.
The day before
In the spring of 1945, the Berlin and Prague operations became the final chords of the defeat of the Nazi regime in Europe. When the capital of Germany had already capitulated, the capital of the Czech Republic had not yet been affected by the fighting. The Soviet army was waiting for the order to advance on Prague. At the final stage of the war, all of Europe turned into a pie, which was divided between the victorious countries. For some time there were negotiations about a possible attack on Prague by the American army. But in the end, Czechoslovakia passed into the sphere of influence of the USSR.
On the evening of May 8, when the German command was already signing the act of surrender, a Soviet ultimatum arrived in Prague. The Nazis, who held the city under their control, were asked to surrender unconditionally. They were given a day to think. In case of refusal, an offensive operation began. The Prague grouping of the Wehrmacht was significant. Here at the last frontierstopped Army Group Center, which retreated from the Soviet Union throughout the second half of the war. In total, there were about 900 thousand Nazi soldiers in the city, as well as their allies who fled to Prague from all over the liberated Europe.
Organization of the operation
In the preliminary preparations for the operation, the Soviet command paid special attention to the creation of large artillery groupings. By the beginning of the last offensive, about 6,000 guns and mortars had been collected. At the final stage of the war, the Red Army had no problem with supplies. This operation was no exception. The Prague attack was accompanied by sorties of the 2nd Air Army under the command of General Stepan Krasovsky. Nearly 2,000 aircraft were deployed on the main route, and another 400 on auxiliary routes.
All decisions related to determining the size of the used troops were made by the leadership of the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts. It was an initiative "from below", which was approved by the Headquarters only after consideration "on the spot". What, from the point of view of the organization, was this operation difficult? The Prague, final "chapter" of the Great Patriotic War was "finished" in an incredible hurry. So, for example, the forces of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts needed to regroup in just three days. It was about distances of 100-200 kilometers and huge masses of people.
Start of pursuit
On May 6, the intelligence of the Red Army reported that the enemy had begun an organizedretreat from the Czech-held areas about 100 kilometers from Prague. Soviet forces began to pursue the enemy. The rearguards of the Wehrmacht were knocked down and dispersed by the forward detachments of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The Prague operation, the results of which were the actual end of the entire war, was a pursuit of the fleeing Germans. Very few dared to resist. Basically, these were people who faithfully believed in the Nazi ideology and decided that in the event of the defeat of their native country in the war, they would still have nothing to lose.
The main strategy for destroying the enemy was powerful converging strikes on the enemy's flanks. So the Germans were not only surrounded, but also dissected, becoming less dangerous. The interaction of the units of the Red Army proved to be effective. At the beginning of the operation, these were mainly the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts, and then the 1st and 2nd. The advance of the tanks was fast, even though they had to operate in mountainous and wooded areas. They advanced 60-100 kilometers per day.
On the same day (May 6) the 4th Guards Tank Army was already near the slopes of the Ore Mountains. It was a blow from an unexpected Dresden direction, which made it possible to surround the 40,000-strong Wehrmacht group in Breslau. On May 7, the offensive of the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front began. Shumilov's 7th Guards Army immediately broke through the German defenses and advanced a distance of 12 kilometers. At the same time, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front were fighting for Olomouc, an important transport hub that connected the entire Czech Republic.
Escape from Prague
The rapid offensive of the Red Army in all sectors of the front demoralized the already lost faith in the victory of the Nazis. The commander of the German troops in the capital of Czechoslovakia was Ferdinand Scherner. He gave the order to evacuate to the west. The Germans preferred to surrender to the Americans than to the Soviet Union. The organized retreat in Prague began on 9 May. However, very soon it ceased to be controlled by someone and turned into a stampede.
Meanwhile, the strike force of the 2nd Ukrainian Front broke through another enemy defense line. She advanced 60 kilometers, establishing control over Znojmo. The left wing of this army ended up on the banks of the Danube and began to move along its northern bank, pushing back the German rearguards. During these three days, Soviet aviation made more than 7 thousand sorties, supporting the attacks of the Ukrainian fronts.
Liberation of the city
On May 9, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered Prague. Now the Red Army and representatives of the special services had to prevent the Germans from escaping from the encirclement. In this they were helped by Czech partisans, who knew the city and its surroundings much better than foreigners.
East of Prague more than 50 divisions were surrounded. These were the main forces of the enemy grouping. The German soldiers were disorganized, their command lost any control over their subordinates. Only some divisions belonging to the army group managed to escape into captivity to the AmericansAustria.
ROA environment
The Prague offensive was carried out not only against the Wehrmacht, but also against the ROA - the Russian Liberation Army. This formation included Soviet collaborators who, at the beginning of the war, agreed to cooperate with Germany. In the spring of 1945, the ROA decided to urgently evacuate to the west so as not to fall into the hands of the Soviet authorities.
On May 12, the commander of this army, General Vlasov, was arrested. He and many other ROA officers were taken to the USSR. There they were tried and shot. Ordinary soldiers of the ROA, who were captured during the operation in Prague, mostly ended up in camps and exiles.
Last Resistance
The remnants of the retreating SS units were destroyed on the night of May 12th. The head of the local administration of the death squads, Karl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghaus, also died in the battle. This last grouping consisted of the Das Reich and Wallenstein divisions.
The detachment reached the border with the Americans on May 9, but they refused to accept the surrender of the fugitives. Then the Germans, driven into a corner, created a small fortified camp. On the evening of May 11, they were attacked by a group of Chekists from the People's Commissariat of State Defense of the USSR. Soon units of the Red Army joined. By the morning of May 12, this last Nazi detachment was destroyed. Thus ended the Prague operation. Year after year, residents of the city pay tribute to the memory of Soviet liberators on anniversaries. Streets and parks are named after them. Marshal Konev, who led the offensive, became an honorary citizen of the city of B alti.
Losses and results
For two million soldiers of the Red Army and allied states (Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia), this operation was the end of the war. The Prague defense of the Germans was a desperate attempt by a few detachments to break out of the encirclement. However, these clashes also led to heavy losses - in total, 12 thousand Red Army soldiers died in the battles.
In a few days of the operation, the Soviet units managed to destroy or capture about 860 thousand soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the SS. 60 generals of the Army Group Center and others were captured. 9.5 thousand captured guns and mortars, a thousand aircraft, 1.8 thousand assault guns and tanks, as well as other all kinds of weapons and military equipment were captured.
May 11 The Prague operation came to its logical conclusion. The Soviet military reached the line of contact with the Americans. It was carried out along the border with the cities of Chemnitz and Pilsen. From that moment on, Czechoslovakia found itself in the sphere of Soviet influence for many years. This country was under communist rule. The state joined the Warsaw Pact.
Operations 1945 and 1968
Due to further developments in socialist Czechoslovakia, the operation in Prague (1945) and the operation of the Prague Spring in 1968 are often compared. The last of them began when the Soviet government sent troops to the capital of this Slavic country, arguing its decision by "normalizing the political situation." In 1968 in Czechoslovakia at full speedthere were liberal reforms that the leadership of the USSR did not like, since their consequence could be the exit of Czechoslovakia from the zone of communist influence.
The Prague Spring, Operation Danube and subsequent events became an important part of the Cold War. Today in the Czech Republic, the attitude towards the events of 1945 and 1968 is very different. just the opposite. In the first case, Soviet troops came to Prague as liberators from the Nazis, and in the second, the same army crushed the democratic freedoms of the inhabitants of Czechoslovakia with tank tracks.
