Map of Allied front lines in Europe in April 1945 from Newsmap, April 23, 1945.
Liepzig was outflanked, Dresden threatened, and to the north the Elbe River was crossed despite stiff resistance. Allied airpower was smashing the Luftwaffe impotent from lack of fuel.
Two Soviet Armies liberated Vienna, and on the heels of this southern victory, Adolph Hitler told his people, the Red Army drive on Berlin had begun. Moscow remained silent, as of 17 April.
The Italian front was no longer static, both the Fifth and the Eighth Allied Armies taking the offensive. American troops took Vergato, while Eighth Army forces swept up Highway Nine through Imola toward Bologna.
