Agony of the Third Reich. 75 years ago, in January 1945, the East Prussian operation began. The Red Army defeated the powerful East Prussian grouping of the Wehrmacht, liberated the northern part of Poland and occupied East Prussia, the most important military-economic part of the Third Reich.
East Prussian fortress
East Prussia was a historic fortress, Germany's strategic foothold in the Baltic. The Nazis used this region to attack Poland and the USSR in 1939 and 1941. When the Reich began to lose the war, East Prussia became a powerful stronghold for the defense of the Reich. Here, deeply echeloned defensive zones and lines, fortified areas were prepared and improved in engineering terms.
The German Army Group Center (since January 26, 1945, reorganized into Army Group North), driven back to the Baltic Sea, defended itself on a vast front over 550 km long, from the mouth of the Neman to the Vistula (north of Warsaw). It included the 2nd and 4th field, 3rd tank armies. The army consisted of 41 divisions (including 3 tank and 3 motorized), 2 battle groups, many special formations, including militia battalions (Volkssturm). In total, the commander of Army Group Center, Colonel-General G. Reinhardt, had 580 thousand soldiers and officers, plus 200 thousand militias, 8, 2 thousand guns and mortars, 7 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 500 aircraft of the 6th air force of the Luftwaffe. On the coastal flank, the Wehrmacht was supported by the German Navy from bases located in Prussia.
German soldiers and officers, despite the heavy defeats of 1943-1944, retained their fighting spirit and high combat effectiveness. The German generals were still of the highest class. Marshal Konev recalled the strength of enemy resistance during this period as follows:
“Not all Germans have seen the decline of the third empire yet, and the difficult situation has not yet introduced almost any amendments to the nature of the actions of the Hitlerite soldier on the battlefield: he continued to fight in the same way as he had fought before, differing, especially in defense, with staunchness, sometimes reaching fanaticism. The organization of the army remained at the height, the divisions were manned, armed and supplied with everything or almost everything that was due to them in the state."
In addition, many of the soldiers of the East Prussian operational-strategic group of the Wehrmacht were local natives and were determined to fight to the death. The influence of Hitler's propaganda, which depicted various horrors of the "Russian occupation", also had an effect.
The German high command tried with all its might to retain the East Prussian strategic foothold. It was necessary not only for the defense of the central part of the Reich, but also for a possible counteroffensive. Hitler's headquarters planned, under favorable circumstances, to go on the offensive from East Prussia. The local grouping hung over the 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts, which could be used for a flank attack, and the defeat of the main forces of the Red Army in the central, Warsaw-Berlin direction. Also from East Prussia it was possible to restore the land corridor with the Army Group "North", which was blocked on the Kurland Peninsula from land by the Soviet Baltic fronts.
Forces of the Red Army
The troops of the 3rd and 2nd Belorussian fronts were involved in the East Prussian operation with the support of the Baltic Fleet forces. The 3rd Belorussian Front (3rd BF) under the command of General Chernyakhovsky approached the borders of East Prussia from the east. In the Gumbinenna region, the troops of this front occupied a wide ledge. On the northern flank of the East Prussian grouping were the troops of the 1st Baltic Front of General Baghramyan (43rd Army). On the southern flank are the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (2nd BF) under the command of Marshal Rokossovsky.
The Soviet armies received the task of cutting off the enemy grouping in East Prussia from the rest of the Wehrmacht forces, pressing them to the sea, simultaneously delivering a powerful frontal strike from the east to Koenigsberg, dismembering and destroying the German troops. The 3rd BF front was supposed to deliver the main attack north of the Masurian Lakes in the direction of Königsberg. The 2nd BF was to develop an offensive along the southern border of East Prussia, bypassing the Masurian Lakes and other fortified areas, breaking through to the Baltic coast, to Marienburg and Elbing. The 43rd Army in the north developed an offensive in the Tilsit direction. The Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral Tributs was supposed to support the advancing troops on the coastal flank with its aviation and ship fire, as well as the landing of assault forces and strikes against enemy sea lanes.
Our troops had an overwhelming superiority of forces and means over the enemy. The two Belorussian fronts numbered over 1.6 million people, 21.5 thousand guns and mortars (76 mm caliber and more), 3, 8 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 3 thousand aircraft.
The offensive of the Soviet armies
On January 13, 1945, the armies of the 3rd BF went on the offensive, and on January 14, the armies of the 2nd BF. At the first stage of the operation, the strike group of the 3rd BF was to defeat the Tilsit-Insterburg grouping of the enemy. North of Gumbinenna, the 39th, 5th and 28th armies of Generals Lyudnikov, Krylov and Luchinsky, the 1st and 2nd tank corps were attacking. In the second echelon was the 11th Guards Army of General Galitsky. On the northern flank of the front's shock grouping, Beloborodov's 43rd Army was advancing (on January 19, it was transferred from the 1st Baltic Front to the 3rd Baltic Fleet), striking at Tilsit together with the 39th Army. On the southern flank of the front, General Chanchibadze's 2nd Guards Army was advancing on Darkemen. From the air, the ground forces were supported by the 1st and 3rd air armies of Generals Khryukin and Papivin.
The Germans were able to identify the preparation of the Russian troops for the offensive and took preemptive measures. In addition, heavy fog reduced the effectiveness of artillery preparation and prevented effective air operations at the beginning of the operation. Given the power of the German defense in Prussia, where new engineering elements were combined with old fortifications, all this affected the pace of the Soviet offensive. The Germans retained the firing system and the command and control system, the infantry retreated to the second and third positions and did not suffer significant losses. The Nazis fought desperately. Our troops had to "gnaw through" the enemy defenses. Unfavorable weather conditions persisted for several days and the aviation could not support the ground forces. Only on January 18, the troops of the 3rd BF broke through the German defenses in a zone up to 65 km and advanced to a depth of 30 - 40 km. On January 19, the 11th Guards Army, advanced from the rear, launched an offensive at the junction of the 5th and 39th armies. By this time, due to the improvement in the weather, our aviation began to operate effectively.
On January 19, Chernyakhovsky's troops occupied Tilsit, on January 21 - Gumbinenn, on the 22nd - Insterburg and Velau. Our troops reached the approaches to Koenigsberg. The Germans were severely defeated in the area of Tilsit and Insterburg. However, the troops of the 3rd BF did not manage to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping, and on the move to begin the assault on Koenigsberg. The main forces of the 3rd tank and partly of the 4th field army, providing strong and fierce resistance, retreated to the borders of the Daime and Allé rivers, to the position of the Heilsberg fortified area, to take up defenses at new positions on the western bank of the rivers, and on the Zemland peninsula north of Koenigsberg.
The 2nd Belorussian Front, under the command of Rokossovsky, first had the task of breaking through to the north-west, carrying out close cooperation primarily with the 1st BF, which at the same time was conducting the Vistula-Oder operation. Rokossovsky's troops provided a neighbor from the northern flank and supported his breakthrough to the west. From the air, the troops of the front were supported by Vershinin's 4th Air Army. On January 14-16, Soviet armies broke into enemy defenses. On January 17, the 5th Guards Tank Army of Volsky was introduced into the breakthrough, the target of which was Marienburg. General Oslikovsky's 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps was advancing on Allenstein.
On January 19, Soviet troops occupied Mlava. On January 20, when Rokossovsky's troops were already reaching the Vistula, the Soviet Headquarters ordered the front strike grouping - the 3rd, 48th, 2nd Shock and 5th Guards Tank Armies - to turn north and northeast to help 3- mu BF and accelerate the rout of the enemy's East Prussian grouping. The armies of the 2nd BF fairly quickly developed an offensive in the northern direction. Troops of the 3rd Army crossed the old Polish border on January 20 and entered the Prussian land. They broke through with a fight the old German fortified line, erected before the war. Parts of the 48th Army, bypassing the fortified points of the enemy, also successfully advanced. On January 22, Oslikovsky's cavalry broke into Allenstein and, with the support of General Gusev's 48th Army, took the city. The defense of the Allenstein fortified area was broken.
On January 26, Volsky's tank guards reached the Frisches Huff Bay in the Tolkemito area. Soviet troops blockaded Elbing. At the same time, units of the 2nd Shock Army of General Fedyuninsky reached Elbing and the approaches to Marienburg, reached the Vistula and seized a bridgehead on the western bank of the river. Units of the 48th Army also entered the area of Elbing and Marienburg. Thus, most of the East Prussian grouping (the troops of the Army Group "Center", from January 26 - "North"), was cut off from the main forces of the German army in the Berlin direction and lost land communications with the central regions of the Reich.
On the southern flank of the front, the 65th and 70th armies of Generals Batov and Popov advanced at the junction of the two fronts, ensured their interaction and covered the neighbors who were fighting the enemy's Warsaw grouping. In the course of stubborn battles, these armies reached the line of the Lower Vistula and seized a bridgehead on the western bank of the river. On the northern flank, General Grishin's 49th Army covered the front's strike force, moving towards Ortelsburg.
Continuation of the battle
The struggle for East Prussia did not end there. The Nazis had not yet surrendered and offered fierce resistance and counterattacked. The German command, in order to return land communications to the East Prussian grouping, prepared a strike from the Heilsberg area to the west, to Marienburg, and a counter strike from the Elbing area. On the night of January 27, 1945, a German grouping (6 infantry, 1 motorized and 1 tank divisions) launched a surprise attack on parts of the 48th Army. Our troops were forced to withdraw. In the course of 4-day battles, the Germans advanced 40-50 km westward. However, the Nazis failed to advance further. The Soviet command pulled up additional forces and threw the enemy back to their original positions.
Meanwhile, the armies of the 3rd BF continued to break through to Königsberg. The 11th Guards and 39th armies were aimed at storming the main citadel of the enemy in Prussia. The resistance of the Nazis did not weaken and continued to grow as our troops approached Koenigsberg. The Germans fiercely defended their stronghold. However, the Red Army continued its offensive. The 4th German Army, in order not to fall into the "cauldron", retreated to the Masurian Lakes and further to the west. Russian troops broke through the defenses of the German rearguards on the Mazur Canal and quickly crossed the Letzen fortified area left by the Germans. On January 26, our troops took Letzen, and launched an offensive on Rastenburg. Hitler that day replaced the commander of the East Prussian group, General Reinhardt, with Colonel General Rendulich. Army Group Center changed its name to North (the army group surrounded in Latvia became known as Courland). A few days later, General Hossbach was dismissed from his post and commander of the 4th Army, and Müller became his successor.
By January 30, Chernyakhovsky's troops outflanked Konigsberg from the north and south, and also occupied most of the Zemland peninsula. On the southern flank of the front, the entire region of the Masurian Lakes was occupied. The 4th field and 3rd tank armies of the enemy were doomed. They were still fighting stubborn battles, trying to keep them on the coast in order to maintain supplies, as well as cover the escape routes along the Frischer-Nerung spit and sea communications. Also, the Germans fought desperately for the capital of East Prussia, one of the most powerful fortresses on the planet. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front on January 28 occupied Klaipeda, a large seaport and city, completing the liberation of Lithuania from the Nazis.
Thus, the East Prussian grouping of the Wehrmacht suffered a heavy defeat and was divided into three isolated groups. The first group was located on the Zemland peninsula (operational group Zemland - 4 divisions); the second was blocked at Königsberg (5 divisions and a garrison); the third was pinned to the sea in the area southwest of the East Prussian capital (20 divisions). The Nazis, despite the heavy defeat and losses, were not going to surrender. The German command planned to unblock Koenigsberg, ensure its long-term defense, and unite all isolated groups. Also, the command of Army Group North hoped to restore land communications along the coastal road Königsberg - Brandenburg. The fierce battle continued.
