February 8-24
Eastern Front, Germany
Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front begins its offensive to disrupt German plans and establish an impregnable defense line along the southern Oder. By the 24th his forces have advanced 75 miles (120 km) and seized Lower Silesia, in addition to freeing 91,300 Soviet citizens and 22,500 other foreigners from German imprisonment.

February 9
Western Front, France
Following Allied pressure against the Colmar Pocket, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, German commander-in-chief in the West, convinces Hitler to pull back the Nineteenth Army across the Rhine. The west bank of the river south of Strasbourg is now free of German troops.

February 10
Eastern Front, Poland
The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front launches an offensive in the region of Grudziadz and Sepolno but runs into determined resistance from the German Second Army. Soviet progress is very slow.

German rockets scream through the air as the Second
Army tries to halt the Soviet 2nd Belorussian
Front in Poland

February 11
Eastern Front, Hungary
The trapped Axis garrison in Budapest attempts to break through the Soviet lines. However, of the nearly 30,000 Germans and Hungarians, fewer than 700 are able to escape.

February 13-14
Air War, Germany
The RAF mounts a night raid on Dresden. The 805 bombers inflict massive damage on the city's old town and inner suburbs. The bombing triggers the worst firestorm of the war, in which at least 50,000 people are killed. The raid is controversial, as the city has negligible strategic value, is virtually undefended, and is crammed with refugees. The next morning, the city is bombed again by 400 aircraft of the US 8th Army Air Force.

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