The Battle of Dresden was a four-month campaign in 1938 at Dresden during the Great Eastern War, part of the Spring Offensive and Elbe Campaign on the Russian side and the Saxon Defense on the Entente side. After the Spring Offensive secured crossings of the Oder-Niesse defensive line in bloody fighting and the Russians created the Cottbus Salient, the weight of the Russian forces were redeployed from the Siege of Stettin to press on through the Oder Breakout towards Berlin and Dresden. The Saxon 2nd Army, already depleted from fighting in Poland and southern Prussia the year before, made a major stand after losing the Niesse at Bautzen March 18-25, giving two French field armies time to arrive on the west bank of the Elbe and evacuate much of Dresden's civilian population, as well as Saxon leadership, westwards. Another German field army crossed the Elbe on March 28 and attempted to encircle the advancing Russians at Kamenz; though the Westphalian-Berger force was unable to complete the creation of a pocket, the fighting slowed Russians down again enough to allow Dresden's fortification. All but two crossings of the Elbe were destroyed in Saxony, and the two extant were reinforced.
Russian forces attempted to enter Dresden in mid-April after regrouping, and though they penetrated most of the east bank half of the city they were prevented from establishing a concentrated position sufficient to cross the Augustus Bridge, the only intact crossing in the city. Attempts to create bridgeheads to cross the river into the Altstadt, which was severely damaged by aerial and artillery bombardment, was repeatedly denied. Saxon and Polish commandos repeatedly infiltrated the Neustadt and wreaked havoc on Russian forces; these partizans were critical to the fighting and resistance in the Dresden Basin. The Riesa Crossing was the site of a French-led counterattack that sustained grievous casualties but was able to push the Russian back off the river northwest of the city; the attempted Russian crossing into the Altstadt under heavy air and artillery cover in early June failed to establish a foothold and the three brigades sent across were killed or captured nearly to the man. The bloodiest fighting came in July's Battle of the Heaths, when Saxon forces crossed the August Bridge under heavy fire, secured the Neustadt, and drove the Russians into the Dresden Heaths; the woodland fighting would rage for a week before the Russians withdrew on July 20th to the Kamenz Line, where trenches and makeshift fortifications on the high ground had been established ahead of their field base at Bautzen and Franco-German troops were thus bogged down in trench warfare, with artillery and anti-aircraft weaponry making it difficult for them to press through. Such fighting would continue for three months, with disproportionate Entente Casualties, until Prince Sebastien launched his Carpathian Offensive to cut off Russian supply lines to the south and broke the Russian Army at Lutsk.