Nibelungen position
The Nibelungen position was an intended line of defense along the Oder during World War II , which had been developed as part of the Guderian Plan . In the reconnaissance order for the OKH's Nibelungen position of November 28, 1944, the defensive position was planned along the line Pressburg-Brünn-Olmütz-Glatz-Frankfurt (Oder) -Küstrin-Stettin. Due to the rapid advance of the Soviet troops, only preparations could be made. In addition, the order was to be used to reactivate the Oder-Warthe-Bogen and the Pommernwall (Pomeranian position) from the 1920s / 1930s. If the Vistula position could not be held, the units of the Eastern Army should have occupied these new prepared positions.
Occasionally, defenses were built and manpower and material were made available, for example in Frankfurt (Oder) , where aprons were built for the Nibelungen position. Units of the Reich Labor Service in places (such as Reitwein and Klessin ) along the Seelower Heights have also been identified.
Since the Soviet troops had already crossed the Oder at the end of January / beginning of February, it was no longer possible to carry them out. The aforementioned forces even had to form the first line of defense and stop the further advance of the Soviet troops.
On January 30, 1945, Soviet troops reached Kienitz in the Oderbruch and on February 2, 1945 advance divisions of the 1st Belarusian Front crossed the Oder between Göritz (Oder) and Reitwein.
Individual evidence
- ^ Rolf-Dieter Müller : Final battle in the realm? The importance of the Oder line in spring 1945 (PDF; 222 kB). In: Werner Künzel, Richard Lakowski (ed.): Defeat, victory, new beginning. Spring 1945. Brandenburg State Center for Political Education, Potsdam 2005, ISBN 3-932502-46-9 , pp. 10–25 (here especially p. 18).