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WWII On This Day: January 19

What happened on January 19 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1944
Soviet soldiers fighting in Pushkin during the January 1944 operations south of Leningrad. Commons dates the photograph to 2 January 1944, so it is used as related phase imagery rather than a same-day image of the Ropsha link-up.
Soviet soldiers fighting in Pushkin during the January 1944 operations south of Leningrad. Commons dates the photograph to 2 January 1944, so it is used as related phase imagery rather than a same-day image of the Ropsha link-up. RIA Novosti archive #309 / Boris Kudoyarov · CC BY-SA 3.0 Source
The Siege of Leningrad

The Oranienbaum and Pulkovo forces link at Ropsha

The two Leningrad Front attack groups linked near Ropsha and cut off German formations remaining around Peterhof and Strelna. Eighteenth Army began dismantling and abandoning the siege artillery as its position south of the city collapsed.

Continue in The Siege of Leningrad →
1945
Soviet armour advancing across Poland, January 1945.
Soviet armour in Poland, January 1945 · RIA Novosti archive · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photograph pending verification
The Vistula–Oder Offensive

Kraków is occupied

1st Ukrainian Front entered Kraków after the German defence withdrew under pressure from the north and east. The city was not subjected to the kind of prolonged fortress battle that destroyed Warsaw, but claims that one dramatic Soviet deception alone saved every monument simplify a wider operational withdrawal.

Continue in The Vistula–Oder Offensive →