Bratislava–Brno Offensive
| Bratislava-Brno Offensive | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Nazi Germany |
 Czechoslovakia | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Otto Wöhler |
 Rodion Malinovsky | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Army Group South (renamed Army Group Ostmark) | 2nd Ukrainian Front | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | 16,933 killed | ||||||||
The Bratislava–Brno Offensive was an offensive conducted by the Red Army in Slovakia towards the end of World War II. The offensive was held between 25 March and 5 May 1945 using the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front to capture Slovakia, Bratislava and Brno.[1]
Background
in the spring of 1945, the Red Army launched a major offensive on the southern wing of the Eastern Front. On 10 March, 4th Ukrainian Front began the Moravian-Ostrava Offensive and on 15 March 3rd Ukrainian Front began the Vienna Offensive. The 2nd Ukrainian Front, which was located between the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, had to capture Bratislava and Brno.
Orders of Battle
USSR
The 2nd Ukrainian Front (commanded by Marshal Rodion Malinovsky; its chief of staff was Army General Matvei Zakharov) was composed of the following units.
- 7th Guards Army (Colonel General Mikhail Shumilov)
- 40th Army (Lieutenant General Filipp Zhmachenko)
- 6th Guards Tank Army (Colonel General Andrei Kravchenko)
- 53rd Army (Lieutenant General Ivan Managarov)
- 1st Guards Mechanized Cavalry Group (Lieutenant General Issa Pliyev)
- 5th Air Army (Colonel General Sergey Goryunov)
- Danube Flotilla (Rear Admiral Georgy Kholostyakov)
- 1st Romanian Army (General B. Atanasiu)
- 4th Romanian Army (General N. Deskelesku)
Germany
Elements of Army Group South (commanded by Otto Wöhler)
- 8th Army (Hans Kreysing)
- LXXXII Army Corps (Werner Schmidt-Hammer)
Soviet American- built M4 Sherman medium tank in Brno, April 1945 - LVII Panzer Corps (Friedrich Kirchner)
- XXIX Army Corps (Kurt Röpke)
Air support was provided by Luftflotte 4.
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