south of Stettin forcing the centre of the III Panzer Army back to Prenzlau. 26 April 2BF takes Stettin. 27 April 2BF captures Prenzlau and Angermünde 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Berlin 5 May elements of the 2BF entered Peenemünde. On 9 April 1945 Königsberg in East Prussia finally fell to the Red Army. This freed up 2BF to move west to the east bank of the Oder river. During the first two weeks of April the Soviets performed their fastest Front redeployment of the war. General Georgy Zhukov concentrated his 1st Belorussian Front (1BF) which had been deployed along the Oder river from Frankfurt in the south to the Baltic, into an area in front of the Seelow Heights. The 2BF moved into the positions being vacated by the 1BF north of the Seelow Heights. While this redeployment was in progress gaps were left in the lines and the remnants of the German II Army which had been bottled up in a pocket near Danzig managed to escape across the Oder. In the early hours on 16 April the final offensive of the war to capture Berlin and link up with Western Allied forces on the Elbe started with attacks by 1BF and To the south General Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front (1UF). On 20 April the 2BF join in the attack. By 25 April 2BF broke out of its bridge head south of Stettin and had by the end of the war captured all of Germany north of Berlin as far west as the front lines of the British 21 Army Group which had advanced over the river Elbe in some places. Atrocities In Demmin on and around 1 May 1945 members of the 65th Army of 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. Many Demmin civilians committed suicide. Post-war The Headquarters of the 2nd Byelorussian Front become the Headquarters of the Northern Group of Forces (NGF), the Soviet occupation force in Poland, effective on 10 June 1945. Most of the NGF's forces were drawn from 2nd Belorussian Front, along with some elements of the 1st Byelorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts. Component Armies The Armies that were part of the 2nd Belorussian Front included: 2nd Shock Army 19th Army 49th Army 50th Army 65th Army 70th Army 5th Guards Tank