Battle of East Pomerania

The Battle of East Pomerania 1945 ( Russian Восточно-Померанская операция ) took place during the Second World War from February 10 to April 4, 1945 in what is now northern Poland , which was then part of the German Empire .

prehistory

Outline map of Pomerania

The armies of the 2nd Belarusian Front under Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossowski broke through to the Baltic Sea near Tolkemit at the end of January 1945 during the Mlawa-Elbingen operation and thus cut off East Prussia from the German Reich territory, while the city of Elbing was surrounded at the same time . The use of reinforcements from the Kurlandkessel had enabled the establishment of a new German front on the western bank of the Nogat , which extended from Graudenz via Zempelburg and Märkisch Friedland to Stargard . On the eastern part of the Pomeranian position , Soviet forces had made major incursions on the front of the German 2nd Army , which became critical by February 11.

As a result of the successful Vistula-Oder operation , the 1st Byelorussian Front under Marshal Zhukov had erected bridgeheads on the western bank of the Oder in early February 1945 and was about 60 kilometers from Berlin . The high command of the Wehrmacht began with the relocation of parts of the newly established Army Group Vistula under Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler to East Pomerania . This was intended to bind the right flank of the 1st Belarusian Front and avert the danger to Berlin. The German Army Group comprised the 2nd, 9th and 11th Army and a total of up to 26 divisions (including four armored divisions). The Soviet high command Stawka ordered the 2nd Belarusian Front to attack the Pomeranian position and to smash the opposing troops of the 2nd Army.

First stage

Soviet attack

Rokossowski's attack began on February 10th. In ten days of bitter fighting, the Red Army managed only a relatively limited break of 40 to 60 kilometers into the German defense lines. Schneidemühl, which had been locked in since the end of January, had to surrender on February 14th. The German 32nd Infantry Division had to retreat from Firchau to Schlochau in battles lasting several days , and on February 16 , in eventful battles, Deutsch-Briesen fell into Soviet hands.

German infantry soldiers in street fighting in Wollin , March 1945

Soviet IS-2 tank in Stargard near Stettin on March 19, 1945

It quickly became apparent that the forces of the 2nd Belarusian Front were insufficient to guarantee the success of the operation, namely the smashing of the German units in East Pomerania. The Stawka then ordered the intervention of the 1st Belarusian Front in the fighting. Marshal Zhukov recognized German troop concentrations in the Stettin area at an early stage . The right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front was reinforced by the 1st Armored Guard Army and the 47th Army and the 3rd Shock Army were made available as reserves.

German counterattack

On February 15, the anticipated German counterattack took place with the company Sonnenwende , which was initially carried out with three and from February 16 with six divisions. The 11th SS Panzer Army under SS General Felix Steiner led the offensive to a width of about 45 kilometers to the south, from the north from the Stargard area the breakthrough to the south was to take place first, in the second phase the siege was lifted from the northeast sought by Küstrin .

On the right wing the XXXIX. Panzer Corps under Lieutenant General Karl Decker deployed from the Stargard area in a southward direction in order to break through to Dölitz. The 10th SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg" , the Panzer Division Holstein , the 4th SS Police Panzer Grenadier Division and the 28th SS Panzer Grenadier Division were subordinated .

In the center the III. Attack (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps under Lieutenant General Martin Unrein from the Jakobshagen-Zachan line and try to relieve the besieged Arnswalde . Assigned were the 11th and 23rd SS Panzer Grenadier Divisions , 27th SS Grenadier Division and Führer-Escort Division .

On the left wing, the X. SS Army Corps under Lieutenant General Günther Krappe , which ran parallel to III. Panzer Corps should advance on Landsberg . The 163rd and 281st Infantry Divisions as well as the Führer Grenadier Division and the 104th Panzer Hunting Brigade were assigned.

The 11th SS Division "Nederland" opened the attack on February 15; Using the surprise effect, the German garrison in Arnswalde was relieved. The Soviet 47th Army was thrown back eight to twelve kilometers within three days. Zhukov, however, introduced the 61st Army and the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps into the fighting on February 19 . The three rifle corps of the Soviet 61st Army (General Below) managed to recapture Arnswalde in hard fighting. Because of the uninterrupted German counter-attacks, however, the two armored armies hardly made any further progress, so Marshal Zhukov ordered the attack to be abandoned for the purpose of regrouping. The German 83rd Infantry Division , cut off at the West Prussian border, began to break out of the Graudenz basin on February 17th, and the 257th Grenadier Regiment was completely destroyed.

Second stage

On February 24, the two Soviet fronts advanced: the 2nd Belarusian in the direction of Koslin and the 1st Belarusian in the direction of Kolberg . By February 28, a wide gap in the front had been torn on both sides of Neustettin , through which Soviet troops streamed north to Bublitz . On March 1, the Soviets had again penetrated to the Baltic Sea east of Köslin . On March 3, the Polish 1st Army under General Poplawski , which was under Zhukov, reached the coast of the Baltic Sea near Kolberg. The troops of General SI Bogdanov's 2nd Guards Tank Army also intervened successfully in the fighting near Stargard, the 9th Panzer Corps reached the Baltic coast on March 5 and occupied Kammin . Parts of the 8th Guards Mechanical Corps (General Dremow) advancing on the coast broke the resistance of the German troops on March 5 and captured Belgard and Köslin.

By March 5, the German units were cut in two; the Red Army reached the Baltic Sea . The districts of Rummelsburg , Bütow , Schlawe and Lauenburg were cut off, and large parts of the civilian population were still in their hometowns. Their escape route to the west was now relocated and only open via Danzig, Gdingen (Gotenhafen) and Stolpmünde .

Final fights at Altdamm and on the Bay of Danzig

In the west, the 47th Army and the 3rd Shock Army began to encompass the Altdamm bridgehead held by the German 3rd Panzer Army , which stretched for 80 kilometers between Greifenhagen and Gollnow. The attacked German corps group of General von Tettau was able to break through until March 9 with 16,000 men and about 40,000 refugees via Schivelbein north to the seaside resorts of Hoff and Horst. Fighting their way back along the coast to Dievenow , the Tettau group was able to move across the sea to the island of Wolin on March 11th and 12th with the help of the Navy .

On March 5th the Soviets invaded Bütow and on March 8th they occupied Stolpmünde. On March 8, the 1st Guards Panzer Army was temporarily assigned to the Rokossowski Front, parts of the 3rd Guards Panzer Corps and the 132nd Rifle Corps of the 19th Army (General Koslow) jointly occupied the town of Stolp . In order to accelerate the advance of the troops, Marshal Rokossovsky also ordered the 8th and 1st Guards Panzer Corps to be introduced in order to break through directly on Danzig with this strong armored force. The 3rd Guards Panzer Corps was to be deployed on Gdynia. The troops of the 1st Guards Panzer Corps should overtake the 19th Army and reach the coast of the Gdańsk Bay by March 12th at the latest. The troops of the 2nd Shock Army were to advance on Danzig from the south.

The troops of the 1st Belarusian Front controlled the Baltic coast from Kolberg to the mouth of the Oder until March 10, when Soviet troops occupied Łeba and Lębork. The troops of the German 2nd Army, which were in the Danzig area, came under the command of General von Saucken on March 12th , because Colonel General Weiss took over command of the higher Army Group North . On March 18, the besieged Kolberg fell into Polish hands.

East Pomerania coast with the Hela peninsula and Gdańsk Bay

On March 19, the remains of the German XXIII. , XXVII. Army Corps, as well as the XXXXVI. Panzer Corps in the Danzig area, or the XVIII. Mountain corps on the Fresh Spit and in the Stutthof area pushed away. On March 21, the 70th Soviet Army succeeded in breaking through the positions of the VII Panzer Corps north of Sopot near Klein Katz and reaching the coast. As a result, Gotenhafen was cut off from Danzig and surrounded, and the Sopot in between fell into Soviet hands on March 23rd.

In the west, the German Altdamm bridgehead could be removed by the Soviets by March 21. The German 3rd Panzer Army, which had been under the command of General von Manteuffel since March 10 , lost 12,000 soldiers, 126 tanks as well as 354 guns and grenade launchers and had to retreat to the western bank of the Oder.

On March 28th the Red Army took Gotenhafen (9,000 German prisoners of war) and on March 30th Gdansk (10,000 German prisoners of war). The remnants of the German 2nd Army were smashed by April 4th. The north-west of Danzig on the Oxhöfter Kämpe and on the Hela peninsula , as well as the German associations standing near Stutthof, offered sustained resistance until April 9, 1945.

Soviet division of troops

2. Belarusian Front

4th Air Army, Colonel General Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin

2nd Shock Army , Lieutenant General Ivan Fedjuninsky

98th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Georgi Ivanovich Anisimov
108th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Vitali Polenow
116th Rifle Corps, Major General Fyodor Kuzmich Fetisow

65th Army , Colonel General Pavel Batow

18th Rifle Corps, Major General Nikita Jemeljanowitsch Chukakow
46th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Konstantin Maximowitsch Jerasow
105th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Dmitri Fedorowitsch Alexejew

49th Army , Lieutenant General Ivan Grishin

70th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Vasily Grigoryevich Terentjew
121st Rifle Corps, Major General Dmitri Ivanovich Smirnov

70th Army , Colonel General Vasily Stepanowitsch Popov

47th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Mikhail Ivanovich Dratwin
96th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Yakov Dschangirowitsch Chapyshev
114th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Dmitri Ivanovich Ryabyshev

19th Army Lieutenant General Georgi Kirillowitsch Koslow

40th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Semjon Petrovich Mikulski
132nd Rifle Corps, Major General Fedor Fedorowitsch Korotkow
134th Rifle Corps, Major General Konstantin Fedorowitsch Skorobogatkin

Front troops

2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Vladimir Kryukov
3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Nikolai Sergejewitsch Oslikowski
7th Guards Cavalry Corps, General Mikhail Petrovich Konstantinov

1. Belarusian Front

1st Polish Army , Division General Stanisław Popławski

16th Air Army Colonel-General Sergei Ignatievich Rudenko

1st Armored Guard Army , Colonel General Michail Jefimowitsch Katukow

8th Guard Mechanical Corps, Major General Ivan Fyodorowitsch Drjomow
11th Guards Panzer Corps, Colonel Amazasp Khachaturovich Babashanyan
3rd Guard Panzer Corps, Lieutenant General Alexei Pavlovich Panfilow

2nd Guards Panzer Army , Colonel General Semyon Ilyich Bogdanov

9th Panzer Corps, Major General Nikolai Denisowitsch Wedenejew
12th Guards Panzer Corps, Major General Nikolai Matvejewitsch Teljakow
1st Mechanical Corps, Major General Alexander Nikolayevich Firsowitsch

3rd Shock Army , Lieutenant General Nikolai Pavlovich Simonyak

12th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Stepan Michailowitsch Bunkow
7th Rifle Corps, Major General Vladimir Afanasyevich Tschristov
79th Rifle Corps, Major General Semyon Nikiforowitsch Perevjortkin

61st Army Colonel General Pavel Alexejewitsch Below

9th Guards Rifle Corps Lieutenant General Grigori Alexejewitsch Chaljusin
80th Rifle Corps Major General Viktor Antonowitsch Werschbitzki
89th Rifle Corps Major General Mikhail Alexandrovich Siyazov

47th Army Major General Franz Josifowitsch Perkhorovich

77th Rifle Corps Major General Viktor Genrichowitsch Posnjak
125th Rifle Corps Major General Andrei Matveyevich Andreyev
129th Rifle Corps Major General Mikhail Borisovich Anashkin

consequences

The Red Army describes its successes as follows: It advanced 130 to 150 kilometers west on a 460-kilometer-wide front and smashed 20 divisions and eight brigades of the Wehrmacht (6 divisions and 3 brigades completely). 100,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner by the Soviets; 680 tanks, 3,470 guns, 431 aircraft and 277 ships of the Wehrmacht were captured from the 2nd Belarusian Front alone. However, caution should be exercised in relation to such information given by the Red Army about the level of enemy losses. The Soviet casualties, also by their own account, amounted to 226,000 soldiers (including 53,000 dead and missing); the losses of the Polish units therefore amounted to 8,668 soldiers (2,575 of them dead and missing). In addition, the Red Army lost 1,027 tanks, 1,005 guns and 1,073 aircraft in the fighting in East Pomerania.

The fear of the German population in the conquered areas of Soviet occupation and of the "vengeance of the conquerors" led to a mass exodus of the German and Kashubian population towards the west; they could not return after the end of the war and were expellees .

Red Army soldiers committed numerous war crimes (looting, murder, rape).

literature

Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1997, pp. 143–150.
Vladimir O. Daines (Владимир Оттович Дайнес): Советские танковые армии в бою (Soviet tank armies in battle) Moscow 2010, ISBN 978-5-699-41329-4 .
Алексей Валерьевич Исаев: Берлин 45-го. Сражения в логове зверя . Яуза, Эксмо, Moscow 2007, ISBN 978-5-699-20927-9 . (Russian)

Remarks

↑ ^a ^b David M. Glantz: When Titans clashed. Lawrence, University of Kansas Press 1995, p. 250.
↑ Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder, p. 145.
↑ Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder, p. 149.
^ David M. Glantz: When Titans clashed. Lawrence, University of Kansas Press 1995, p. 300.

Web links

Commons : Battle of East Pomerania - Collection of images, videos and audio files

[Glantz250-1] David M. Glantz: When Titans clashed. Lawrence, University of Kansas Press 1995, p. 250.

[2] Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder, p. 145.

[3] Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder, p. 149.

[4] David M. Glantz: When Titans clashed. Lawrence, University of Kansas Press 1995, p. 300.