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Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War

  • Battle of UmanThe Wehrmacht advanced eastward in the initial weeks of Operation Barbarossa, defeating several Soviet mechanized corps at the Battle of Brody between 23 and…
  • Budapest offensiveThe Red Army occupied Bucharest on the 31st of August 1944. This action secured Romania for the Soviet Union and opened a path into Hungary.
  • Operation KutuzovOn the 12th of July 1943, the Soviet high command launched a massive counteroffensive against Army Group Center. This operation was named after General…
  • Leningrad–Novgorod offensiveThe first staff meeting to plan the liberation of Leningrad took place on the 9th of September 1943. This gathering occurred exactly two years and one day…
  • Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensiveIn January 1944, Soviet forces raised the Siege of Leningrad and drove the German Army Group North back to the Narva-Lake Ilmen-Pskov line.
  • East Prussian offensiveThe East Prussian offensive began on the 13th of January 1945 with a heavy preparatory bombardment. Soviet command structure placed the main thrust under…
  • First Jassy–Kishinev offensiveMarshal Ivan Konev commanded the 2nd Ukrainian Front during early March 1944. His forces began the Uman, Botoșani offensive operation on that date.
  • East Pomeranian offensiveThe East Pomeranian offensive began on the 10th of February 1945 and ended on the 4th of April 1945. This operation involved the Soviet Red Army fighting…
  • Silesian offensivesThe Lower Silesian offensive began on the 8th of February 1945 and ended on the 24th of that same month. A second operation followed shortly after, running…
  • Smolensk operationThe second Smolensk operation began on the 7th of August 1943. General Andrei Yeremenko commanded the Kalinin Front while Vasily Sokolovsky led the Western…
  • Battle of Smolensk (1941)On the 22nd of June 1941, Axis nations invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The campaign met with spectacular success as surprised Soviet troops…
  • Crimean offensiveThe German occupation of the Crimean Peninsula began in 1942. By late 1943, the Wehrmacht found itself pressed back along its entire front line in the east.
  • Battle of Narva (1944)The Narva Isthmus stretched 45 kilometres between Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland. This narrow strip of land served as a natural choke point for any…
  • Battle of Białystok–MinskField Marshal Fedor von Bock commanded Army Group Center as it prepared to strike from Poland on the 22nd of June 1941. The Wehrmacht's armored forces…
  • Battle of the DnieperThe Battle of the Dnieper began on the 26th of August 1943, marking a critical turning point in World War II. Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of…
  • First Battle of KharkovIn the fall of 1941, Kharkov stood as a vital rail and air link connecting Ukraine to Crimea, the Caucasus, the Dnieper region, and the Donbass.
  • Operation UranusOn the 28th of June 1942, the Wehrmacht began its offensive against Soviet forces opposite of Army Group South. This campaign, codenamed Case Blue, aimed to…
  • Vienna offensiveJoseph Stalin reached an agreement with the Western Allies prior to April 1945 concerning the relative postwar political influence of each party in much of…
  • Battle of StalingradOn the 28th of June 1942, the German Army Group South began its attack into southern Russia. This offensive, code-named Case Blue, aimed to capture vital…
  • Case BlueAdolf Hitler stared at a map of the Caucasus in early 1942 and saw only one path to victory. The German war machine was choking on fuel shortages that…
  • Operation MarsSoviet forces launched Operation Mars in the early hours of the 25th of November 1942. The goal was to encircle and destroy the German Ninth Army within the…
  • Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)On the 22nd of June 1941, the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Their land forces reached the Crimean peninsula in the autumn…
  • Battle of KurskThe summer of 1943 brought a massive tank battle near Kursk in southwestern Russia between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
  • Battle of Kiev (1941)On the 22nd of June 1941, Operation Barbarossa began with Army Group South advancing into Ukraine under Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.
  • Battle of KönigsbergThe Soviet Stavka ordered the East Prussian offensive to prevent flank attacks on armies rushing toward Berlin. Joseph Stalin directed Marshal Konstantin…
  • Prague offensiveBy the beginning of May 1945, Germany had been decisively defeated by the coalition of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
  • Operation BagrationOn the 22nd of June 1944, the Red Army attacked Army Group Centre in Byelorussia. This offensive occurred just over two weeks after Operation Overlord began…
  • Siege of LeningradAdolf Hitler declared that Leningrad must die of starvation in a speech at Munich on the 8th of November 1941. The German High Command viewed the capture of…
  • Battle of the Kerch PeninsulaOn the evening of the 25th of December 1941, Soviet forces packed into small fishing trawlers and began crossing the Kerch Strait from the Taman Peninsula.
  • Belgrade offensiveIn August 1943, the German Wehrmacht maintained two army formations in the Balkans: Army Group E stationed in Greece and the 2nd Panzer Army operating across…
  • Crimean campaignThe German 11th Army and the Romanian Third Army began their assault on the 26th of September 1941. This offensive marked the start of a brutal campaign…
  • Dnieper–Carpathian offensiveThe Dnieper, Carpathian offensive began on the 24th of December 1943 and stretched until early May 1944. It involved almost 3,500,000 troops from both sides…
  • Second Battle of KharkovOn the 7th of November 1941, Joseph Stalin declared that German forces would collapse by spring or summer. This speech set a dangerous tone for Soviet…
  • Second Jassy–Kishinev offensiveThe Red Army had advanced past Romania's pre-war borders in the Uman, Botoșani offensive in early April 1944. By late April, German-Romanian allies managed…
  • Vistula–Oder offensiveIn the wake of Operation Bagration, Soviet forces secured two bridgeheads west of the Vistula river between the 27th of July and the 4th of August 1944.
  • Siege of BudapestOn the 19th of March 1944, German forces launched Operation Margarethe to enter Hungary. This preemptive strike occurred as political pressure mounted within…
  • Third Battle of KharkovOn the 2nd of February 1943, the German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad. This event freed six Soviet armies under Konstantin Rokossovsky to launch new…
  • Winter campaign of 1941–1942Soviet military command declared the period from the 5th of December 1941 to the 7th of May 1942 as a specific winter campaign.