What is the other name  for a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe with the Soviet Union having occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany?
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European theatre of World War II The European theatre of World War II, also known as the Second European War, was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe, from Germany's and the Soviet Union's joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 until the end of the war with the Soviet Union conquering much of Europe along with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 (Victory in Europe Day). The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts (the Eastern Front and Western Front) as well as in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre.
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Military occupations by the Soviet Union During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret protocol Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included Eastern Poland (incorporated into two different SSRs), as well as Latvia (became Latvian SSR), Estonia (became Estonian SSR), Lithuania (became Lithuanian SSR), part of eastern Finland (became Karelo-Finnish SSR) and eastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR and part of Ukrainian SSR). Apart from Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and post-war division of Germany, USSR also occupied and annexed Carpathian Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia in 1945 (became part of Ukrainian SSR).
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Carpathian Ruthenia during World War II Carpathian Ruthenia was a region in the easternmost part of Czechoslovakia (Subcarpathian Ruthenia, or Transcarpathia) that became autonomous within that country in September 1938, declared its independence as the "Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine” in March 1939, was immediately invaded and annexed by Hungary, invaded by the Soviet Red Army in 1944 and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1946.
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Polish resistance movement in World War II The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistances in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European anti-fascist resistance movement. The Polish resistance is most notable for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front, providing military intelligence to the British, and for saving more Jewish lives in the Holocaust than any other Western Allied organization or government. It was a part of the Polish Underground State.
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Order of battle for Operation Barbarossa This is the order of battle for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. It was fought between the German-led Axis Forces and the Soviet Forces. The operation started on June 22, 1941, and ended on December 5, 1941, at the conclusion of Operation Typhoon.
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Western Bloc The Western Bloc or Capitalist Bloc during the Cold War refers to the countries allied with the NATO against the Soviet Union and its allies. The latter were referred to as the "Eastern Bloc". The governments and press of the Western Bloc were more inclined to refer to themselves as the "Free World" or the "Western world".
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End of World War II in Europe The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Soviet Union and the Western Allies took place in late April and early May 1945.
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Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940) The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to their invasion and annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941.
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Ukraine after the Russian Revolution Ukrainian territory was fought over by various factions after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the First World War, which added the collapse of Austria-Hungary to that of the Russian Empire. The crumbling of the empires had a great effect on the Ukrainian nationalist movement and in the short period of four years a number of Ukrainian governments sprung up. This period was characterized by optimism and nation-building, as well as chaos and civil war. It ended in 1921, with the territory of modern-day Ukraine divided between Soviet Ukraine (which would become a constituent republic of the Soviet Union) and Poland, with small regions belonging to Czechoslovakia and Romania.
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Reichsgau Sudetenland The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the "Sudetenland" territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 1938 Munich Agreement. The "Reichsgau" was headed by the Sudeten German activist Konrad Henlein in the rank of a "Reichsstatthalter". The administrative capital was Reichenberg (Liberec).
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NKVD prisoner massacres The NKVD prisoner massacres were a series of mass executions carried out by the Soviet NKVD secret police during World War II against political prisoners across Eastern Europe, primarily Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, Bessarabia and other parts of the Soviet Union from which the Red Army was retreating following the Nazi German attack on the Soviet positions in occupied Poland, known as Operation Barbarossa.
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Reichskommissariat Don-Wolga Reichskommissariat Don-Wolga, literally "Reich Commissariat Don-Volga", was a theoretical civilian occupation regime of Nazi Germany discussed during the early stages of German planning for its occupation of territories in the Soviet Union, one of several other Reichskommissariats. It is also referred to in German memoranda as simply the Dongebiet ("Don territory").
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The Holocaust in Ukraine The Holocaust in Ukraine took place during the occupation of Ukraine by Nazi Germany. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately 3,000,000 Ukrainian and other non-Jewish victims were killed as part of Nazi extermination policies, along with approximately 1,600,000 Jews. An additional 3,000,000 inhabitants of Ukraine died as soldiers of the Soviet army or indirectly as a consequence of World War II.
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Military Administration (Nazi Germany) During World War II, Nazi Germany created military-led regimes in occupied territories which were known as a Military administration or Military administration authority (de: "Militärverwaltung"). These differed from "Reichskommissariate" which were led by Nazi Party officials. A "Military administration" was normally led by a "military commander" ("Militärbefehlshaber", official acronym "MilBfh.").
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Carpathian Ruthenia Carpathian Ruthenia, Carpatho-Ukraine, or Zakarpattia (Rusyn and Ukrainian: Карпатська Русь , "Karpats'ka Rus' " , or Rusyn and Ukrainian: Закарпаття , "Zakarpattja " ; Slovak and ; Hungarian: "Kárpátalja" ; Romanian: "Transcarpatia" ; Polish: "Zakarpacie" ; German: "Karpatenukraine" ) is a historic region in the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast, with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia (largely in Prešov Region and Košice Region) and Poland's Lemkovyna. Before World War I most of this region was part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. In the interwar period, it was part of the First and Second Czechoslovak Republic. During World War II, the region was annexed by the Kingdom of Hungary once again. After the war, it became part of Soviet Ukraine.
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Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. It was one of the largest operations in World War II, involving almost 4,000,000 troops stretched on a 1400 km long front. During its four-month duration, the eastern bank of the Dnieper was recovered from German forces by five of the Red Army's fronts, which conducted several assault river crossings to establish several lodgements on the western bank. Subsequently, Kiev was liberated in the Battle of Kiev.
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Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe, abbreviated CEE, is a generic term for the group of countries in Central Europe, Southeast Europe/the Balkans, Northeast Europe/the Baltics, and Eastern Europe, usually meaning former communist states in Europe. It is in use after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989–90. In scholarly literature the abbreviations CEE or CEEC are often used for this concept. The definition of this region varies, depending on the source.
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Battle of Hanko (1941) The Battle of Hanko (also known as the Hanko Front or the Siege of Hanko) was a lengthy series of small battles fought on Hanko Peninsula during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union in the second half of 1941. As both sides were eager to avoid a major, costly ground battle, fighting took the form of trench warfare, with artillery exchanges, sniping, patrol clashes, and small amphibious operations performed in the surrounding archipelago. A volunteer Swedish battalion served with Finnish forces in the siege. The last Soviet troops left the peninsula in December 1941.
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Army Group Courland Army Group Courland (German: "Heeresgruppe Kurland" ) was a German Army Group on the Eastern Front which was created from remnants of the Army Group North, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army forces during the 1944 Baltic Offensive of the Second World War. The army group remained isolated until the end of World War II in Europe. All units of the Army Group were ordered to surrender by the capitulated Wehrmacht command on 8 May 1945.
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Kholm Pocket The Kholm Pocket (German: "Kessel von Cholm" ; Russian: Холмский котёл ) was the name given for the encirclement of German troops by the Red Army around Kholm south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front, from 23 January 1942 until 5 May 1942. A much larger pocket was simultaneously surrounded in Demyansk, about 100 km to the northeast. These were the results of German retreat following their defeat during the Battle of Moscow.
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German-occupied Europe German–occupied Europe or Nazi Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were occupied by the military forces of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945 and administered by the Nazi regime.
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Axis powers The Axis powers (German: "Achsenmächte" , Japanese: 枢軸国 "Sūjikukoku", Italian: "Potenze dell'Asse" ), also known as the Axis and the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied forces. The Axis powers agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity.