Eastern Front
Front
(161)1941
June
- 22
- Key eventGermany invades the Soviet UnionAt dawn on 22 June 1941 Germany and its allies attacked the USSR. Operation Barbarossa broke the pact of 1939 and opened the Eastern Front.
- The June Uprising in LithuaniaOn 22 June 1941 Lithuanians rose against the Soviets and next day proclaimed a restored state in Kaunas. Germany did not recognise it; a pogrom followed.
July
August
September
October
November
- 28
- The Red Army retakes RostovOn 28 November 1941 the Germans began leaving Rostov under attack by three Soviet armies; next day it was free. Rundstedt fell back to the Mius and was sacked.
- The Germans reach the Moscow–Volga CanalOn the night of 27–28 November 1941 a 7th Panzer Division battlegroup crossed the Moscow Canal at Yakhroma. A 1st Shock Army counter-attack threw it back.
December
1942
1943
1944
January
February
- 14
- The Mereküla landingOn 14 February 1944 Soviet naval infantry landed at Mereküla behind the Narva front, and a rifle regiment crossed Lake Peipus. Both operations were crushed.
- The National Committee of the Estonian RepublicOn 14 February 1944 representatives of Estonia's pre-war parties set up an underground committee in Tallinn to rebuild the state once the Germans withdrew.
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
- 06
- At the Dukla PassOn 6 October 1944 troops of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and the 38th Army crossed the Dukla Pass into Slovakia after a month of bloody fighting.
- The Battle of Debrecen beginsOn 6 October 1944 the 2nd Ukrainian Front advanced on Debrecen. Pliyev's group broke the Hungarian Third Army, but the Germans held Oradea.
November
December
1945
January
February
March
April
May
- 02
- The flag over the ReichstagOn 2 May 1945 the German garrison of the Reichstag surrendered. The red banner had flown on the roof since 30 April; Khaldei's famous photograph was staged.
- Key eventThe surrender of BerlinOn 2 May 1945 General Helmuth Weidling surrendered Berlin to General Chuikov and ordered the garrison to lay down arms. Krebs's talks the day before had failed.
- The breakout from the bunkerOn the night of 1–2 May 1945 the occupants of Hitler's bunker tried to break out of Berlin. Krebs and Burgdorf shot themselves; Bormann died while fleeing.
- 08
- The surrender of CourlandOn 8 May 1945, on Dönitz's orders, General Carl Hilpert's Army Group Courland surrendered to the Leningrad Front. Some 190,000 men went into captivity.
- Key eventThe surrender at KarlshorstOn 8 May 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst, Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpff signed Germany's final act of unconditional surrender before Zhukov and Tedder.