By January 1945, the war in Europe neared its final phase. In the west, the Allies had repelled the Ardennes offensive. In the east, the Red Army prepared the Vistula–Oder offensive, a huge strike that pushed German forces out of Poland. The Soviet advance carried them to the very gates of Berlin.

The Vistula–Oder offensive in 1945 liberated vast areas, including Auschwitz. It also created the springboard for the final assault on Germany. Stalin wanted more than battlefield victory. He pushed Soviet borders west, reclaimed imperial lands, and shaped Poland's fate before the war ended.

The Wehrmacht resisted fiercely. German forces launched a desperate counterattack, their last major armoured offensive on the Eastern Front.

In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, I talk with Prit Buttar, author of Into the Reich: The Red Army's Advance to the Oder in 1945.

Into the Reich is also available on Spotify and Audible

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