The term Great Patriotic War ( Velíkaya Otéchestvennaya voyná) is used in Russia and some other former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 in the many fronts of the eastern campaign of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany with its allies. The canonical end of Great Patriotic War is 9 May 1945, but for some legal purposes its period is extended to 11 May 1945 to include the end of the Prague Offensive.