British Army during the Second World War the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Cunningham. Over time the Eighth Army would be commanded by Neil Ritchie, Claude Auchinleck, Bernard Montgomery, Oliver Leese and Richard McCreery. In the early years of the war Eighth Army suffered from poor leadership and repeated reversals of fortune until the Second Battle of El Alamein when it advanced across Libya into Tunisia and joined the First Army in the 18th Army Group. The Eighth Army, under 15th Army Group command, later took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Allied invasion of Italy and the Italian Campaign, where progress was slow and
Battle of the Oder–Neisse of the Marshals of Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front, Georgy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front and Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front, that assaulted the defending Wehrmacht Army Group Vistula commanded by Colonel-General (Generaloberst) Gotthard Heinrici and Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner's Army Group Centre. Most of the fighting took place during 1st Belorussian Front's assault on the Seelow Heights, that were defended by the German 9th Army (part of Army Group Vistula), in what became known as the "Battle of the Seelow Heights". 1st Ukrainian Front encountered much lighter resistance crossing the Neisse to penetrate defensive lines of Army Group