THE VISTULA-ODER OFFENSIVE: The Soviet Destruction of German Army Group A, 1945

1-242010

Fully illustrated book (contains 120-150 photographs and maps) relates this story of defeat and survival, offering a detailed visual record of Germany Army's demise in 1944 to 1945 througha a recap of several Soviet offensives. German attempts to hold their lines and avoid being sucked into a maelstrom of destruction were unsuccessful. Army Group A would collapse almost all the way back to Berlin, ending the Third Reich's desperate efforts to cling onto land captured in Poland five years earlier, and stem enemy forces spilling over into Germany and threatening Berlin. The battle saw some 295,000 soldiers killed and 147,000 captured, as well as thousands of tanks, artillery, and machine guns destroyed. Within two months of the offensive the battle of Berlin was launched.