Crimean Offensive (1944)

The Crimean Offensive (8 April 1944 - 12 May 1944) – known in German sources as the Battle of the Crimea[citation needed] – was a series of offensives by the Red Army in the effort to liberate Crimea from the German Wehrmacht occupation.

The Red Army's 4th Ukrainian Front engaged German 17. Armee of Army Group South, which consisted of German and Romanian formations, in an operation to liberate the Crimean peninsula. The result of the battle was complete victory for the Red Army, and a botched evacuation effort across the Black Sea, leading to significant German and Romanian losses.

In the summer of 1944, the Soviets launched another major offensive, which liberated the rest of Belorussia and the Ukraine, most of the Baltic states, and eastern Poland from Nazi rule. By August 1944, Soviet troops had crossed the German border into East Prussia. In January 1945, a new offensive brought Soviet forces to the Oder River, in Germany proper, about 100 miles from Berlin.