| East Prussian offensive | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theEastern Front ofWorld War II | |||||||||
 Soviet offensive in East Prussia | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Soviet Union Kampfgruppen[1] |  Germany Italy | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Konstantin Rokossovsky Aleksandr Vasilevsky Ivan Bagramyan Ivan Isakov | Georg-Hans Reinhardt Lothar Rendulic Friedrich Hossbach Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Erhard Raus Walter Weiß Dietrich von Saucken | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| IX Settembre Battalion[2] | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 1,669,100 men,[3] 3,000 tanks 25,000 guns and 3,000 aircraft | 580,000 men
| ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 126,464 dead or missing 458,314 wounded and sick[4] | Unknown killed or wounded 220,000 captured[5] | ||||||||
TheEast Prussian offensive[6] was astrategic offensive by theSovietRed Army against theGermanWehrmacht on theEastern Front (World War II). It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May. TheBattle of Königsberg was a major part of the offensive, which ended in victory for the Red Army.
The East Prussian offensive is known to German historians as thesecond East Prussian offensive. Thefirst East Prussian offensive (also known as theGumbinnen Operation), took place from 16 to 27 October 1944, and was carried out by the3rd Belorussian Front under GeneralI.D. Chernyakhovsky as part of theMemel offensive[7] of the1st Baltic Front. The Soviet forces took heavy casualties while penetrating 30–60 km (19–37 mi) into the east-northern part ofPoland, and the offensive was postponed until greater reserves could be gathered.
The main thrust of the offensive was to be conducted by the 3rd Belorussian Front underIvan Chernyakhovsky. His forces were tasked with driving westwards towards Königsberg, against the defensive positions of the3rd Panzer Army and4th Army, the northern armies ofGeneraloberstGeorg-Hans Reinhardt'sArmy Group Centre.[8]
From the north, on Chernyakhovsky's right flank, GeneralHovhannes Bagramyan's1st Baltic Front would attack the positions of the 3rd Panzer Army on theNeman, as well as crushing its small bridgehead atMemel. Chernyakhovsky's left flank would be supported by the2nd Belorussian Front of MarshalKonstantin Rokossovsky, which was initially ordered to push north-west to theVistula, through the lines of the2nd Army, thereby sealing off the whole of East Prussia.[9]
The Soviet offensive began on 13 January with a heavy preparatory bombardment. At first, the Red Army made disappointing progress; the 3rd Belorussian Front gained just 1.5 km on the first day. Over the next five days, the Soviets managed to advance only a further 20 km, at the cost of very high casualties. Eventually, after almost two weeks of severe fighting, the Red Army began making steady progress, although again, this came at the price of high losses; the defenders having the advantage of substantial fortifications in theInsterburg Gap east of Königsberg, and aroundHeilsberg. Over the next few days, the 3rd Panzer Army ofGeneraloberstErhard Raus was largely destroyed or withdrew into Königsberg, whileGeneral der InfanterieFriedrich Hossbach's 4th Army began to find itself outflanked.
Against fierce resistance, Rokossovsky attacked across theNarew on 14 January; on 20 January, he received orders to swing the axis of his advance northward towardElbing.[10] This sudden change of direction caught Reinhardt and Hossbach by surprise; on Rokossovsky's right flank, the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps captured the major town ofAllenstein on 22 January, threatening the rear of Hossbach's formation.[11] On 24 January, Rokossovsky's leading tank units had reached the shore of theVistula Lagoon, severing land communications with the rest of German armed forces for the entire 4th Army along with several divisions of the 2nd Army which were now trapped in apocket centered on East Prussia. On the same day, Hossbach began to pull his units back from the fortified town ofLötzen—a center of the East Prussian defence system—and through a series of forced marches attempted to break out westward.[12]
In the meantime, Chernyakhovsky had succeeded in rolling up the defences from the East, pushing the remnants of the 3rd Panzer Army into Königsberg andSamland. On 28 January, Bagramyan's forcescaptured Memel; the remnants of the three divisions defending the town were evacuated and redeployed in Samland to reinforce the defence there.
With the remnants of Army Group Centre effectively contained, Soviet forces could concentrate onreducing the German forces in Pomerania and eliminating any possible threat to the northern flank of their eventual advance onBerlin. Reinhardt and Hossbach—who had attempted to break out of East Prussia and save their troops—were relieved of command, and the Army Group (redesignated Army Group North) was placed under the command ofGeneraloberstLothar Rendulic. Reinhardt gave up his command with the words "There is nothing more to say".[13] Raus and the staff of the destroyed 3rd Panzer Army were assigned to a new formation. The defending forces, in the meantime, were besieged in three pockets by Chernyakhovsky's armies:
Even after this time, German forces continued to resist on theVistula Spit, the long sandbar enclosing the Vistula Lagoon, until the end of the war.
