Kindle Edition
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Brian Taylor Books
Amazon
Category:
History
Publisher: Createspace
ISBN-10: 1477676295
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 266
Copyright: 24 June 2012
ISBN-13: 9781477676295
Price: $3.10 (eBook)
The story of the fall of the East Prussian capital, October 1944 to April 1945
From October 1944 to April 1945 the Red Army fought a series of bloody battles in an effort to destroy the German Army in East Prussia and capture the capital city of the province, Königsberg.
The Battle of Königsberg, follows these events and recounts in detail the desperate defensive actions the Germans undertook to hold off the Red Army, from the Memel and Gumbinnen Offensives of October 1944 which saw Russian soldiers break into the frontier districts of East Prussia, through the overwhelming attacks of January 1945, to the final stand in Königsberg made by Otto Lasch and his garrison of soldiers, Police and Volkssturm in April 1945.
Drawing on primary sources, The Battle of Königsberg recounts the terrible story of these campaigns from both German and Soviet perspectives. It provides a detailed and uniquely in-depth study of the final battle for control of the city, giving the reader an insight into one of history’s forgotten last stands, of the fall of Fortress Königsberg.
Excerpt
As dawn broke on April 6th Vasilevsky had a difficult decision to make. His artillery had bombarded the German defences for two days but, crucially, the air force had not been able to provide any real support. As daylight approached, the weather cleared a little, although the overcast sky did not bode well for the morning. With Stalin’s words fresh in his mind, Vasilevsky gambled and gave the order to begin the attack.
As Marshal Vasilevsky made his difficult decision, a military hospital train pulled out of Königsberg’s Pillau station and built up speed as it headed west for the port of Pillau. Loaded with hundreds of wounded soldiers and refuges, no one aboard knew it, but they would be the last to leave the city before the Soviet assault began.
After the artillery fire of the last few days, which had rolled around the perimeter striking strong points, fortresses and trench positions, the barrage which began at 0800 hours in the 11th Guards Army sector was truly terrifying. An hour later the artillery of the 43rd Army also began to pound the Germans northeast of the city. The Soviet fire literally smashed the German lines to pieces, obliterating trenches and killing or dazing the defenders. Marshal Novikov, who was with Bagramyan at Beloborodov’s forward observation post near Fuchsberg, relates:
The pounding of the enemy defences lasted for more than two hours. The ground literally shuddered from the salvoes of super powerful guns. Rockets screeched as they left their fiery trails. “The God of War” as we called artillery, performed its part with precision, skill and a good display of strength...Vasilevsky found a moment to put down his binoculars and say, “That’s quite a concert!”
In the main attack sectors the Soviets had amassed thousands of artillery pieces, concentrating upwards of 250 guns to each kilometre of front. The results were stunning. As one unfortunate German soldier who suffered under this deluge of fire recorded:
‘The German positions were smashed, the trenches ploughed up, embrasures levelled with the ground, companies buried, the signals system torn apart, and ammunition stores destroyed. Smoke clouds hung over the ruined house of the city. In the streets were ruined walls, battered motor cars, the dead horses and corpses of the fallen.’
After two hours of ferocious artillery fire all fell silent. The sudden silence was soon broken by the roar of hundreds of engines as tanks and infantry rushed forwards to attack the German lines. This was the moment that Lasch unleashed his carefully plotted counter battery. Shells struck Soviet command posts and lines of communications, inflicting considerable damage. Beloborodov’s command post, in a grand house on the hill near Fuchsberg, was one of the locations targeted by the German fire that sent the Soviet commanders diving for cover. As Air Marshall Novikov recalled:
The command post was fired at suddenly by at least a battalion of enemy artillery…The shells exploded next to the house. The windowpane in the room where Bagramyan and Beloborodov were was shattered by the blast wave. Beloborodov was hurled into a corner, and Bagramyan’s face was cut with glass splinters.
This was clearly no accident. After Königsberg had been taken, one of the Nazi generals taken prisoner admitted during interrogation they had some time previously noticed the big house on the hill and watched it in expectation of a suitable opportunity to shell it.
The main attack from the north began at 1000 hours as Beloborodov’s 43rd Army smashed into Sudau’s 548th Volksgrenadier Division.
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