Company solstice

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Destroyed Soviet T-34 tanks and killed Red Army soldiers on a street in southern Pomerania, February 20, 1945

Operation Sonnenwende , also known as "Operation Husarenritt" or the "Stargarder Panzerschlacht" , was a German offensive operation on the Eastern Front that took place from February 15 to 18, 1945 during the Battle of East Pomerania . The Wehrmacht originally envisaged the code name Husarenritt , but the SS insisted on the name Sonnenwende . Originally planned as a major offensive, it was eventually carried out as a localized attack. This was repulsed by the Red Army , but had helped to postpone the planned attack on Berlin by the Soviet high command .

planning

Heinz Guderian (on the right in the picture)

General Heinz Guderian had originally planned to carry out a large flank offensive against the 1st Belarusian Front east of the Oder . The Soviet armed forces were to be attacked both from Stargard in Pomerania in the north and from Glogau in Silesia and Guben in Brandenburg in the south. In order to carry out these plans, he demanded that the Kurland cauldron be evacuated and that Italy and Norway should be evacuated in order to have sufficient troops available.

aims

In its final form, the Sonnenwende operation consisted of a stronger counter-offensive by the three corps of the 11th SS Panzer Army , which were deployed in Pomerania against the heads of the 1st Belarusian Front. The German forces were to advance along a 50-km front around Stargard in a south-east direction to Arnswalde . Their goal was the liberation of the enclosed German garrison in Küstrin .

Units involved

Result

The attack failed after minor initial successes and ended with the retreat over the Oder.

literature