The Red Army advanced from Warsaw in the first few months of 1945 all the way to the Oder region. In March, the battle against Czechoslovakia and Austria began.
By January 1945, the Soviets were ready for an all-out offensive against Germany. About 4 million soldiers and countless tanks, guns and aircraft began to advance along the front line of the battle, from southern Poland all the way to the Baltic coast of Lithuania. Zhukov moved from his central staff to the front line of battle, although he also led the first Belarusian front in his march on Berlin;
The Soviet offensive was launched on 12 January, with its fiercest attack first from the bridgehead west of the Vistula River, and within a week the forces advanced smoothly to Silesia, while Warsaw was captured on the 17th.
With the collapse of the Germans on the front line, the Soviets began to accelerate their offensive. For some time, a panicked Hitler even put heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, in charge of command of the Vistula Army Group, a man of no military talent, and the new order was clearly an attempt to turn the tide. By early January, however, Zhukov's tanks had reached the Oder region, which was only 65 kilometers from Berlin.
By early January 1945, most of the German province of East Prussia was occupied by Soviet forces. The Second and Third Belorussian Front Troops, at the same time as the Vistula River Offensive, launched an attack from both the south and the northeast. In early February, the southern offensive advanced all the way to Erbin (Elblung) and cut off East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Almost all of the remainder of the province was occupied by the Soviets in early April, and the capital, Königsberg (Kaliningrad), was the most capitulated.
During this historical period, there was a large-scale sea retreat that resulted in many casualties, not only german troops, but also civilians from the Danzig Bay and Kiel port areas, who tried to evacuate safely to the western region. Some of the mining areas along the coastline remained under German control until Germany formally surrendered in May.
By February 1945, the Soviet vanguard seemed ready to advance towards Berlin and could have completed the offensive with ease. However, to the surprise of many others, Stalin did not choose such a battle plan (for which it remains a mystery). Instead, Soviet troops spent weeks taking control of Pomerania and the southern regions of Silesia. The best explanation seems to be that Stalin did not want to end the war before he had full control of Poland and other German territories. At this stage, the Western Allies were still slowly advancing towards the Rhine region, and they did not seem to want to reach the Berlin area first.
Soviet troops south of Poland did not launch much of an offensive in the first few months of 1945, ending only the siege of Budapest in February. What followed was one of germany's most important battles in this phase of the war. After the defeat at the Battle of the Salient, Hitler transferred all the elite units of the Sixth SS Panzer Division to the Hungarian front, while his offensive was limited in the Maraton area for the first two weeks of March. After the resumption of the Soviet offensive on 16 March, these places were immediately retaken by the Soviets. By April, the Soviets had captured most of Austria and, in early May, advanced into the heart of Czechoslovakia.
In March, the Anglo-American forces successfully met at the Rhine, and at that time made an urgent battle plan for the main front. At the end of March, Stalin finally ordered a decisive attack on Berlin.