through the Dukla Pass. This offensive was coordinated with an uprising in Slovakia, but neither the uprising nor 38th Army's offensive were successful, Moskalenko's forces running into stiff German opposition in the mountains. The offensive was renewed on 28 September, but it took more than a week of hard fighting before Moskalenko's forces were able to secure the Dukla Pass on 6 October. For a further three weeks 38th Army continued to advance slowly to the south, fighting off German counter-attacks on its right flank, and eventually reaching the village of Kapisova a few kilometres north of Svidnik. This offensive was terminated on 28 October. November 1944 to May 1945 During remainder of 1944 the frontline in the Krosno - Svidnik sector remained relatively static. At the end of November 38th Army was reassigned from the command of First Ukrainian Front to that of Fourth Ukrainian Front, though its frontline positions facing the right flank of the German Seventeenth Army and the left flank of First Panzer Army remained largely unchanged. By early January Moskalenko's forces had been pulled out of Slovakia to be concentrated west of Krosno in preparation for the Red Army's major winter offensive in Poland. This offensive was opened by First Ukrainian Front on 12 January 1945 and was joined by other Soviet Fronts over the next few days. Moskalenko's army, based on thirteen rifle divisions, attacked the positions of the German 545th Volksgrenadier Division, part of the German Seventeenth Army, on 14 January, and achieved a rapid breakthrough. Advancing west towards Nowy Sacz and Czchow, by 19 January 38th Army was across the river Dunajec and was advancing towards the river Raba south of Cracow. Two days later it was across the Raba and by 24 January it was southwest of Cracow. Thereafter the rate of advance began to slow, though by mid-February Moskalenko's forces had reached the area west of Bielsko Biala. Further north the armies of First Ukrainian Front and First Belorussian Front had made more spectacular progress, crossing southern and central Poland, and closing up to the Oder along much of its length. Consequently, 38th Army's positions in the western Carpathians became of lesser strategic significance. On 10 March 38th Army was one of three Soviet armies to launch the Moravian-Ostrava Offensive from southern Poland across the Czech border towards Ostrava. The offensive met well-prepared and determined German resistance, and Ostrava was