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23-568: The bridgehead was finally crushed as part of the subsequent Soviet East Prussian offensive in early 1945. The Soviet Belorussian offensive of June–August 1944 (commonly known as Operation Bagration ) had seen the German Army Group Centre nearly destroyed and driven from what is now Belarus, most of what is now Lithuania and much of Poland. During August and September of that year, a series of German counter-offensives – Operations Doppelkopf and Casar – succeeded in stalling

46-498: A corresponding build-up of German forces, and attempting to convince the German command that the main axis of attack would be towards Riga . At the end of November Panzer-Grenadier-Division "GrossDeutschland" and 7th Panzer Division were withdrawn and replaced by the 95th Infantry Division . On 5 October, Bagramyan opened the offensive against Raus's 3rd Panzer Army on a sixty-mile front, concentrating his breakthrough force against

69-512: 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

92-548: The German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front (World War II) . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May. The Battle 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 the second East Prussian offensive. The first East Prussian offensive (also known as

115-556: The Gumbinnen Operation ), took place from 16 to 27 October 1944, and was carried out by the 3rd Belorussian Front under General I.D. Chernyakhovsky as part of the Memel offensive of the 1st Baltic Front . The Soviet forces took heavy casualties while penetrating 30–60 km (19–37 mi) into east-northern part of Poland , and the offensive was postponed until greater reserves could be gathered. The main thrust of

138-478: The Gumbinnen Operation , ran into extremely strong German resistance and was halted within a few days. The stalling of the Gumbinnen Operation meant that Soviet forces (mainly from the 43rd Army) settled down to a blockade of the German troops that had withdrawn into Memel. The German force, largely made up of elements from the Großdeutschland and 58th Infantry Divisions and the 7th Panzer Division ,

161-468: The Narew on 14 January; on 20 January, he received orders to swing the axis of his advance northward toward Elbing . 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 of Allenstein on 22 January, threatening the rear of Hossbach's formation. On 24 January, Rokossovsky's leading tank units had reached

184-515: The German forces in Pomerania and eliminating any possible threat to the northern flank of their eventual advance on Berlin . 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 of Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic . Reinhardt gave up his command with

207-620: The Soviet advance and maintaining the connection between the German Army Groups Centre and North; however, Stavka made preparations for an attack by the 1st Baltic Front against the positions of the 3rd Panzer Army and thence towards Memel, splitting the two Army Groups. Soviet General Bagramyan planned to make his main attack in a 19 km sector to the west of Šiauliai . He concentrated up to half of his entire force in this area, using concealment techniques to avoid

230-524: The coast south of Memel, while Volsky had encircled the town from the north. In the south, the northern flank of Chernyakhovsky's 3rd Belorussian Front was advancing on Tilsit . Third Panzer Army's headquarters were overrun by the 5th Guards Tank Army, and Raus and his staff had to fight their way into Memel. The neighbouring Army Group commander, Ferdinand Schoerner , signalled on 9 October that he would mount an attack to relieve Memel if troops could be freed up by evacuating Riga . A decision on this matter

253-554: The meantime, Chernyakhovsky had succeeded in rolling up the defences from the East, pushing the remnants of the 3rd Panzer Army into Königsberg and Samland . On 28 January, Bagramyan's forces captured 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 on reducing

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276-433: The offensive was to be conducted by the 3rd Belorussian Front under Ivan Chernyakhovsky . His forces were tasked with driving westwards towards Königsberg, against the defensive positions of the 3rd Panzer Army and 4th Army , the northern armies of Generaloberst Georg-Hans Reinhardt 's Army Group Centre . From the north, on Chernyakhovsky's right flank, General Hovhannes Bagramyan 's 1st Baltic Front would attack

299-583: The positions of the 3rd Panzer Army on the Neman , as well as crushing its small bridgehead at Memel . Chernyakhovsky's left flank would be supported by the 2nd Belorussian Front of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky , which was initially ordered to push north-west to the Vistula , through the lines of the 2nd Army , thereby sealing off the whole of East Prussia. The Soviet offensive began on 13 January with

322-504: The price of high losses; the defenders having the advantage of substantial fortifications in the Insterburg Gap east of Königsberg, and around Heilsberg . Over the next few days, the 3rd Panzer Army of Generaloberst Erhard Raus was largely destroyed or withdrew into Königsberg, while General der Infanterie Friedrich Hossbach ′s 4th Army began to find itself outflanked. Against fierce resistance, Rokossovsky attacked across

345-507: The relatively weak 551st Grenadier Division . The latter collapsed on the first day, and a 16 km (10 mile) penetration was achieved; Bagramyan then committed Volsky's 5th Guards Tank Army to the breach, aiming for the coast to the north of Memel. There was a general collapse of the Third Panzer Army's positions by 7 October, and a penetration further south by Afanasy Beloborodov 's 43rd Army . Within two days, it had reached

368-572: The shore of the Vistula 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 a pocket centered on East Prussia. On the same day, Hossbach began to pull his units back from the fortified town of Lötzen —a center of the East Prussian defence system—and through a series of forced marches attempted to break out westward. In

391-545: The town, and military wounded, were evacuated by sea. During this time, the Großdeutschland and 7th Panzer Divisions were withdrawn, having suffered heavy losses, and were replaced by the 95th Infantry Division , which arrived by sea. The town was finally abandoned on 27 January 1945. The success of the Soviet East Prussian offensive to the south made the position of the bridgehead untenable, and it

414-624: The words "There is nothing more to say". 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 the Vistula Spit , the long sandbar enclosing the Vistula Lagoon, until the end of the war. 95th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) The 95th Infantry Division ( German : 95. Infanterie-Division )

437-669: Was a German division in World War II . It was formed on 19 September 1939 in Wildflecken and Hammelburg . On 22 June 1944, the day of the Red Army's Operation Bagration , the 95th Infantry Division was in the reserves of 3rd Panzer Army . The division was destroyed in June 1944 near Vitebsk. On 10 September 1944, a newly formed 95th Division was placed under command of the defeated army group Mitte in East Prussia. In

460-545: Was aided by heavily fortified tactical defences, artillery fire from the German Task Force Thiele , centered around the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Lützow , and a tenuous connection with the remainder of East Prussia over the Curonian Spit . The blockade, and defence, was maintained through November, December and much of January, during which period the remaining civilians who had fled into

483-629: Was decided to withdraw the XXVIII Corps from the town into Samland to assist in the defence there; the remaining troops of the 95th and 58th Infantry Divisions were evacuated to the Curonian Spit, where the 58th Division acted as a rearguard for the withdrawal. The last organized German units left at 4am on 28 January, Soviet units taking possession of the harbour a few hours later. Memel, which had been part of Lithuania only between 1923 and 1939 prior to being reincorporated into Germany ,

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506-474: Was delayed, but the Kriegsmarine managed to withdraw much of the garrison and some civilians from the port in the meantime. The German XXVIII Corps under Gollnick held a defensive line around the town itself. The success of the offensive in the northern sector encouraged the Soviet command to authorise the 3rd Belorussian Front to attempt to break through into the main area of East Prussia. This offensive,

529-528: Was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR under the Soviet administration. In 1947 it was formally changed to its Lithuanian name, Klaipėda . East Prussian offensive [REDACTED] Red Army [REDACTED] Soviet Navy [REDACTED] Wehrmacht [REDACTED] Volkssturm The East Prussian offensive was a strategic offensive by the Soviet Red Army against

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