1945 siege of the German city of Breslau during World War II
Siege of Breslau Part of the Eastern Front of World War II German troops in Breslau on 2 February 1945Belligerents
Soviet Union National Committee for a Free Germany
Germany Commanders and leaders
6th Army :
Festung Breslau: Strength
87,334 ≈ 80
50,000 Casualties and losses
31,604
7,177 - 13,000 [ 2] killed
24,427 - 33,000 wounded [ 3]
44,848 captured, including 6,678 - 12.000 hospitalised [ 4]
Naval warfare
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Soviet 6th Army
[ 5] (1 March 1945)
Parent unit Components 22nd Rifle Corps
• 218th Rifle Division
• 273rd Rifle Division
• 309th Rifle Division
74th Rifle Corps
• 181st Rifle Division
294th Rifle Division
359th Rifle Division
31st Artillery Division
159th Gun-Artillery Brigade
Two antitank regiments
One mortar regiment
One anti-aircraft regiment
One heavy assault gun regiment
62nd Engineer-Sapper Brigade
77th
Fortified Region
Fortress Breslau
[ 6] (February 1945)
Parent unit Components 408th Division
609th Division
Two parachute battalions
"Breslau" Artillery Regiment
Two anti-aircraft artillery battalions
One antitank battalion
Five engineer battalions
38
Volkssturm Battalions
Three signal battalions
The siege of Breslau , also known as the Battle of Breslau , was a three-month-long siege of the city of Breslau in Lower Silesia , Germany (now Wrocław , Poland), lasting to the end of World War II in Europe . From 13 February 1945 to 6 May 1945, German troops in Breslau were besieged by the Soviet forces which encircled the city as part of the Lower Silesian Offensive Operation . The German garrison's surrender on 6 May was followed by the surrender of all German forces two days after the battle.
^ Andreas R. Hofmann: Die Nachkriegszeit in Schlesien. Böhlau, 2000. S. 18.
^ Andreas R. Hofmann: Die Nachkriegszeit in Schlesien. Böhlau, 2000. S. 18.
^ Andreas R. Hofmann: Die Nachkriegszeit in Schlesien. Böhlau, 2000. S. 18.
^ Soviet General Staff Official Order of Battle for 1 March 1945
^ Georg Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS 1939 - 1945 , Vol. 14, pp. 24-25, Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1980