Vae Victis 179: La Bataille de Lauban, 1945

Launched on January 12, 1945, the Vistula-Oder offensive turned into an overwhelming victory in a few days. After a 600 km ride, the first Soviet armored points reached the Oder, the last major natural obstacle before Berlin… From the end of January, in order to cover Zhukov in charge of the main effort towards Berlin, Koniev’s 1st Ukrainian Front began its offensive in Silesia.

After the encirclement of Breslau, Rybalko and his 3rd Guards Tank Army advanced westward on February 16 with the objectives of taking Görlitz and Lauban, but were held in check by local forces. From February 25, the German high command considered counterattacking. The objective is twofold. First, on the military level, re-establish the defense of the Oder by striking the enemy’s flanks and on the political level, the sector seemed conducive to a welcome success in the catastrophic context of February 1945. Operation Gemse – a classic pincer movement around Lauban – engaged two Panzerkorps and began on March 1.

Operation Gemse 1945 simulates the Soviet attack on Lauban and the subsequent German counterattack.