At the beginning of the offensive the 7th Guards Army, in a surprise night attack, broke through defenses of German 153rd and 357th Infantry Divisions on the river Hron.

These units were assisted by ships of the Soviet Danube Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Klostakakov and members of the 83rd Independent Marine Brigade.

March 29, when Red Army units conquered Komárom (with part of Komárno) in Hungary and Nové Zámky in Slovakia.

However, on 26 March 1945 the Romanian 4th Army liberated Banská Bystrica, the centre of the Slovak National Uprising, defeated in the previous year.

President Tiso and the government of the puppet Slovak Republic had already left the capital and by 5 April found asylum in Austrian monastery of Kremsmünster.

[2] The next main obstacle to further Soviet advance was the Slovak-Moravian border created by the Morava river, which in the area (between Devín and Hodonín) was surrounded by riparian forests and wetland.

Despite this, on 6 April the first reconnaissance units of the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps crossed the river and the next day they secured the damaged bridge and railway embankment, which was the only way above water.

On 18 April the commander of Army Group Centre ordered to abolish the "Festung Brno" and to encounter the enemy on the approaches to the city.

Because the Feldherrnhalle division was behind the Jihlava river and this area was defended only by SS training units and Volksturm, the tanks of 16th Panzer-Division were called for the assistance in counterattack.

In the night 23/24 April, the 7th Mechanized Corps launched new attack and relieved the encircled units, the next day once more liberated Ořechov.

The next morning the city centre was liberated and by noon also the Špilberk Castle, which until then served as the Brno Gestapo prison.

Meanwhile, both the Romanian 1st and 4th armies advanced along the Morava River and before the end of the war liberated the towns of Otrokovice, Kroměříž, and Prostějov.

[14][15] The 2nd Ukrainian Front (commanded by Marshal Rodion Malinovsky; its chief of staff was Army General Matvei Zakharov) was composed of the following units.