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→Operation Bagration and the Vistula front
The Vistula-Oder Operation took place on the Eastern Front between January 12 and February 2, 1945. Hitler appointed [[Heinrich Himmler]], who dreamed of being a combat leader but never had any combat training or duty, in charge of German operations on the Vistula front. Soviet troops, led by Marshals [[Georgi Zhukov]] and [[Ivan Konev]], advanced from the [[Vistula]] river in [[Poland]] to the Oder river which was only 50 miles from Berlin. The extermination camp at [[Auschwitz]] was liberated on January 27, 1945. The Wehrmacht suffered enormous losses as a result of the operation.
The Vistula-Oder Operation took place on the Eastern Front between January 12 and February 2, 1945. Hitler appointed [[Heinrich Himmler]], who dreamed of being a combat leader but never had any combat training or duty, in charge of German operations on the Vistula front. Soviet troops, led by Marshals [[Georgi Zhukov]] and [[Ivan Konev]], advanced from the [[Vistula]] river in [[Poland]] to the Oder river which was only 50 miles from Berlin. The extermination camp at [[Auschwitz]] was liberated on January 27, 1945. The Wehrmacht suffered enormous losses as a result of the operation.
From early to mid-April 1945, Hitler publicly and privately insisted that a "final victory" was still possible through sheer willpower. In a radio broadcast on January 30, 1945, he vowed that "final victory crowns our efforts". And, as in Ukraine, there were some successes. The German army achieved a final, though strategically insignificant, tactical victory in the Battle of Bautzen in late April 1945.As the Red Army neared Berlin in April 1945, Hitler continued to issue orders to non-existent or incapacitated military units, expecting them to launch decisive counter-offensives.
The Waffen-SS Division Charlemagne was formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German units. Named after [[Charlemagne]], the 9th-century Frankish emperor, it superseded the existing Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism formed in 1941 within the German Army and the SS-Volunteer ''Sturmbrigade'' France formed in July 1943. The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and ''Miliciens'', who were created by the [[Vichy regime]] to help fight the [[French Resistance]]. The SS Division Charlemagne had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment to the Eastern Front in February 1945. It fought against Soviet forces in Pomerania where it was almost annihilated within a month.
The Waffen-SS Division Charlemagne was formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German units. Named after [[Charlemagne]], the 9th-century Frankish emperor, it superseded the existing Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism formed in 1941 within the German Army and the SS-Volunteer ''Sturmbrigade'' France formed in July 1943. The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and ''Miliciens'', who were created by the [[Vichy regime]] to help fight the [[French Resistance]]. The SS Division Charlemagne had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment to the Eastern Front in February 1945. It fought against Soviet forces in Pomerania where it was almost annihilated within a month.