The official dates of the Koenigsberg operation are April 6-9, 1945. Everything is rather short: in three or four days the city was taken. Nevertheless, the assault on the Prussian capital was preceded by quite important events - the battles for East Prussia.
The creation itself, the formation of plans for the East Prussian operation began as early as November 1944, when our troops from Lithuania reached the borders of the Third Reich. Then Zhukov and Vasilevsky, who at that time was the chief of the General Staff, were called to Stalin to plan the operation. In early December, it was officially issued. January 13, 1945 is the official day of its beginning, and April 25 is the day of completion, although individual German units fought almost until the end of the war. The battle for Königsberg itself is part of this operation.
Hitler called Königsberg "an impregnable bastion of the German spirit"
Many people ask: maybe it was worth isolating the German grouping in East Prussia, holding out until the end of the war and moving to Berlin? This is impossible for geographical reasons: too large a territory inhabited by Germans. From there, a strong blow could be delivered to the flank of our troops, and it is practically impossible to block such territory - it is easier to eliminate it.
In addition, there is another reason: during the war, we carried out defensive operations specifically on the Kursk Bulge - this is not our style - like in hockey: we have to attack and score goals. This is how we planned this operation: we had to smash the enemy grouping to the ground, which, in fact, we did, with some rough edges, but quite successfully.
Soviet gunners at the 57-mm anti-tank gun ZIS-2 and fighters of the assault group are fighting for Königsberg, April 1945
Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was appointed to the post of commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front on February 18, 1945, while at the Bolshoi Theater. During the performance, an adjutant approached him and said that Stalin was asking him to answer the phone. Vasilevsky heard the sad voice of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who informed him of the death of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, General of the Army Chernyakhovsky. “The Stavka intends to put you at the head of the 3rd Belorussian Front,” Stalin said in conclusion.
The assault on Koenigsberg demonstrated the professionalism of the Red Army
I must say that during the operation, a lot depends on the personality of the front commander himself. Still, Vasilevsky was not such a “man of the people”: his father was a priest (although he refused him). Alexander Mikhailovich graduated from a military school in Moscow (the same as Shaposhnikov, whom he replaced as chief of the General Staff), was educated in the Imperial Army, so he approached the East Prussian operation more systematically. For the assault on Königsberg, a fairly strong group of tanks and self-propelled artillery units was assembled - 634 units. But the main means of combating the long-term structures of the city-fortress was artillery, including large and special power.
Two Volkssturm shooters in the trenches near Königsberg, January 1945
A significant role in the defense of Königsberg was played by the famous Gauleiter of East Prussia, Erich Koch, who developed frantic activity in the surrounded city. With all this, he himself behaved like a party leader: from time to time he flew to Königsberg by plane, sent telegrams that the Volkssturm detachments would hold the city. And when things got really bad, Koch on the icebreaker, which he constantly kept with him in the port of Pillau, sailed to Denmark, leaving the army to its fate. The German army fought to the end - almost all the officers wore the prefix "von" and were from East Prussia, descendants of the knights. Nevertheless, on April 9, by order of General Lyash, commandant of Königsberg, the German garrison capitulated.
Hitler was enraged by the fall of the city and in impotent fury sentenced Otto von Lasch to death in absentia. Still: after all, before that, he declared Koenigsberg "absolutely impregnable bastion of the German spirit"!
For the surrender of Koenigsberg, Otto von Lyash was sentenced to death
It is worth noting that the so-called ShISBrs - assault engineering and sapper brigades - were involved in the storming of the city. The first two battalions of these brigades were manned by people under the age of 40. They (if visually) wore white camouflage coats, put on bulletproof vests on top. That is, it was such an assault infantry. There were flamethrowers and miners in the department. The tactical technique worked out by them was quite original: a heavy self-propelled gun SU-152 thrashed the upper floors of buildings, preventing the Germans from firing any fire; at this moment, a tank equipped with an anchor was pulling apart the barricades; after that, a group of attack aircraft entered the course, which first burned everything with a flamethrower, and then cleaned the building. That is, our fighters at that time were very prepared. It was already an army of victors, which realized that it was moving forward, to win, it had no fear of the Germans. Many peoples of Europe surrendered as soon as the Third Reich started the war, we did not have this fear.
German soldiers captured after the assault on Königsberg, April 9, 1945
Nevertheless, the battle for Königsberg became one of the bloodiest clashes of the Great Patriotic War. Yes, interestingly, there were practically no SS formations in the Prussian capital itself. At that time, all of Hitler's elite units were on the southern flank, in the Balaton area. And in general, in the entire East Prussian operation, only the division “Grossdeutschland”, “Grossdeutchland” (although, if you look at it, it was an elite formation of the Wehrmacht), and the division “Hermann Goering” (an elite unit of the Luftwaffe) can be attributed to the elite units of the SS) . But they no longer participated in the battles for Königsberg. To repel the attacks of the enemy, the Germans created detachments of the people's militia (Volkssturm), which, let's say, fought in different directions: some units were persistent (due to internal, subjective reasons), some simply fled.
Yes, on the one hand, the German army defended itself stubbornly, but, on the other hand, where could it flee? Koenigsberg itself was cut off, there was no way to evacuate. However, the prevailing thought among the German population was that it was necessary to hold out as long as possible: the allies would diverge in political views, and Germany would somehow survive and not turn into a potato field. That is, unconditional surrender can be avoided. However, this did not happen.
In honor of the capture of Koenigsberg in Moscow, a salute of the highest category was given
Back to the fight itself. As for the losses, on our part for the entire East Prussian operation, the official, approved and published data is 126 thousand 646 people. For a strategic offensive operation, these are average indicators - not outstanding, but not small either. The Germans had much more losses - somewhere over 200 thousand people, since most of the population was not evacuated because of Koch, all men were drafted into the Volkssturm.
During the Koenigsberg operation, almost the entire city was destroyed. And yet, for the sake of objectivity, it must be said that the fortress suffered back in 1944 after the British bombing. It is not entirely clear why our allies did this: after all, there were not a large number of military enterprises in East Prussia, they were concentrated in two places - in the Ruhr and Upper Silesia.
On the street of Königsberg after the assault, April 10, 1945
And yet, the decision of the Headquarters to storm Koenigsberg was more military than political. East Prussia is too large a territory, and in order to cut it off from the rest of the Reich, to clean it up, the efforts of the fleet, two fronts, and aviation were required. In addition, the capture of Königsberg also had a certain symbolic meaning - after all, the "citadel of Prussian militarism." By the way, the father of Generalissimo Suvorov was at one time the Governor-General of East Prussia. Of course, ordinary soldiers hardly thought about it, they had one desire - to end this war as soon as possible.
The city of Koenigsberg was taken by Soviet troops on April 9, 1945 during the Koenigsberg operation, which was part of the East Prussian offensive operation. This is a major strategic operation in the final period of the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from January 13 to April 25, 1945. The purpose of the operation was to defeat the enemy's strategic grouping in East Prussia and northern Poland. The East Prussian operation was carried out by troops of the 2nd (Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky) and 3rd (General of the Army I.D. Chernyakhovsky, since February 20 Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky) Belorussian Fronts with the participation of 43- th Army of the 1st Baltic Front (Army General I. Kh. Bagramyan) and with the assistance of the Baltic Fleet (Admiral V. F. Tributs) - a total of 15 combined arms and 1 tank army, 5 tank and mechanized corps, 2 air armies (1670 thousand people, 28,360 guns and mortars, 3,300 tanks and self-propelled artillery, about 3,000 aircraft). In East Prussia, the enemy created a powerful system of fortifications. At the beginning of 1945, Army Group Center (since January 26, Army Group North) was defending here under the command of Colonel General G. Reinhardt (since January 26, Colonel-General L. Rendulich) consisting of 1 tank and 2 field armies and 1 air fleet (41 divisions and 1 brigade in total - 580 thousand people and 200 thousand Volkssturmists, 8200 guns and mortars, about 700 tanks and assault guns, 515 aircraft). The idea of the Soviet Supreme High Command is to cut off the East Prussian group from the rest of the forces of Nazi Germany, press it to the sea and destroy it with sweeping strikes north of the Masurian Lakes on Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and south of them on Mlava, Elbing (now Elblag).
Medal "For the Capture of Koenigsberg"
Troops of the 3rd
The Belorussian Front launched an offensive on January 13 and, having broken the stubborn resistance of the enemy, on January 18 they broke through the enemy defenses north of Gumbinnen (now Gusev) at a front of 65 km and to a depth of 20-30 km. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive on January 14, after intense fighting they broke through the main line of defense and, developing a swift offensive, on January 26 north of Elbing reached the Baltic Sea. On January 22-29, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front came to the coast. The main enemy forces (about 29 divisions) were divided into isolated groupings (Hejlsberg, Königsberg and Zemland); only part of the forces of the 2nd German army managed to retreat beyond the Vistula to Pomerania. The destruction of the groupings pressed to the sea was entrusted to the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, reinforced by 4 armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front, the remaining forces of which began the East Pomeranian operation of 1945. The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front resumed the offensive on March 13 and by March 29 liquidated the Heilsberg group. During the Königsberg operation of 1945, the Königsberg grouping was defeated, the remnants of which capitulated on April 9. On April 13-25, the defeat of the Zemland group was completed. In the East Prussian operation, Soviet troops showed exceptional heroism and great skill, overcoming a number of powerful defensive zones, fiercely and stubbornly defended by a strong enemy. The victory in East Prussia was achieved in long and hard battles at the cost of significant losses. As a result of the operation, Soviet troops occupied the whole of East Prussia, liquidating the outpost of German imperialism in the East, and liberated the northern part of Poland.
Koenigsberg operation:
From April 6 to April 9, 1945, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky), with the assistance of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (commander - Admiral V.F. Tributs) carried out the Koenigsberg offensive operation, the purpose of which was to destroy the Koenigsberg enemy groupings and the capture of the city and fortress of Koenigsberg.
The German command took all possible measures to prepare the fortress for long-term resistance in conditions of complete isolation. In Koenigsberg there were underground factories, numerous arsenals and warehouses. Koenigsberg belonged to the type of cities with a mixed layout. Its central part was built back in 1525 and, by its nature, was more suitable for the radial-ring system. The northern suburbs had a mostly parallel layout, while the southern suburbs had an arbitrary one. In accordance with this, the organization of the enemy's defense in different parts of the city was not the same.
The so-called outer belt of the Koenigsberg fortified area, which consisted of 12 main and 3 additional forts, a system of machine-gun pillboxes and bunkers, field positions, solid wire barriers, anti-tank ditches and combined mine fields.
The forts were located one from the other at a distance of 3–4 km. They had a fire connection between themselves and were connected by trenches, and in some areas - by a continuous anti-tank ditch 6-10 m wide and up to 3 m deep. Each fort had a large number of artillery and machine-gun caponiers and semi-caponiers, a shaft with open rifle positions and anti-tank and field artillery. The central building served to shelter the garrison, to store ammunition, etc. Each fort was designed for a garrison of 150-200 people, 12-15 guns of various calibers. All the forts were surrounded by a continuous anti-tank ditch 20–25 m wide and 7–10 m deep.
On the immediate approaches to the central part of the city, along the district street, there was an internal belt of defense, consisting of trenches of a full profile and 24 earthen forts. The forts of the inner belt were interconnected by anti-tank ditches half-filled with water.
Between the outer and inner belts of defense, along the outskirts of the suburbs, the enemy prepared two intermediate defensive lines, each of 1-2 lines of trenches, pillboxes, bunkers, covered in separate areas by wire barriers and minefields.
The basis of the defense inside the city and its suburbs was made up of strongholds, interconnected by crossfire and covered by powerful anti-personnel and anti-tank obstacles. At the same time, the main strongholds were created at the intersections of streets, in the most durable stone buildings adapted for defense. The gaps between the strongholds were closed with gouges, barricades and blockages of various materials.
aerial photography of Koenigsberg before the assault
Several strong points, which were in fire communication with each other, made up defense nodes, which, in turn, were grouped into defensive lines.
The fire system was organized by the Germans by adapting buildings to conduct dagger machine-gun and cannon fire from them. At the same time, heavy machine guns and artillery pieces were mainly located on the lower floors, and mortars, light machine guns, submachine gunners and grenade launchers - on the upper floors.
The troops defending Koenigsberg included four regular infantry divisions, several separate regiments and battalions of the Volkssturm and numbered about 130 thousand people. There were also 4,000 guns and mortars, 108 tanks and assault guns, and 170 aircraft.
Artillery in Königsberg
From the Soviet side, the 11th Guards, 39th, 43rd and 50th Armies, the 1st and 3rd Air Armies of the 3rd Belorussian Front, as well as formations of the 18th, 4 th 15th air armies. In total, the advancing troops had about 5.2 thousand guns and mortars, 538 tanks and self-propelled guns, as well as 2.4 thousand aircraft.
In order to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping, Soviet troops were supposed to strike at Koenigsberg in converging directions simultaneously from the north and from the south. An auxiliary strike was planned from the area north of Koenigsberg to Pillau in order to tie down the enemy's Zemland grouping. The offensive of the troops of the front was supported by air strikes and artillery fire by the forces of the Baltic Fleet.
Fragment of a panorama in the Historical and Art Museum of Kaliningrad
The fall of the city and fortress of Koenigsberg, as well as the fortress and strategically important port on the Baltic Sea, Pillau, was for the Nazis not only the loss of the most important strongholds in East Prussia, but, above all, a strong irreparable moral blow. The fall of Koenigsberg completely opened the way for the Red Army to the Berlin direction.
The superiority of the Red Army in forces was indisputable, but the superiority must be skillfully used in order to achieve victory and preserve the combat capability of the troops for further struggle. Unsatisfactory leadership can fail the operation even with a large superiority in forces. History knows many examples when, with poor leadership, an advantage in forces and means either did not ensure victory, or delayed its achievement for a long time. Near Sevastopol, Manstein and his 11th Army fought for eight whole months, losing up to 300 thousand people. Only as a result of the third offensive, which lasted almost a month, did the Nazis manage to take the city, the garrison of which was already practically deprived of ammunition. And the Germans had superiority in forces throughout the entire struggle for Sevastopol. Only by a blockade from the sea and air, which deprived our garrison of the supply of ammunition, Manstein achieved victory, having lost two entire compositions of his army on the outskirts of the city during its entire siege.
Soviet troops on the outskirts of Koenigsberg
Before the start of the assault on Koenigsberg, the large-caliber artillery of the front and the ships of the Baltic Fleet fired on the city and enemy defensive positions for four days, thereby destroying long-term structures.
The offensive of the troops of the front began on April 6. The enemy put up stubborn resistance, but by the end of the day the 39th Army had penetrated its defenses for several kilometers and cut the Koenigsberg-Pillau railway. The 43rd, 50th and 11th Guards Armies broke through the 1st defensive bypass and came close to the city. The units of the 43rd Army were the first to break into Koenigsberg. After two days of stubborn fighting, Soviet troops captured the port and railway junction of the city, many military and industrial facilities and cut off the garrison of the fortress from the troops operating on the Zemland Peninsula.
When approaching the city, first-echelon infantry units and tanks of direct infantry support tried by all means to take control of the outskirts on the move. In the case of organized enemy resistance, the outskirts were captured after a short preliminary preparation: additional reconnaissance, passage arrangements, fire treatment of objects of attack, and organization of battle.
When organizing a battle, the command first outlined the starting line for the attack, secretly brought infantry and its firepower here, built a battle formation, tanks were pulled up, direct-fire guns were installed in firing positions, passages were made in obstacles, then tasks were set for rifle units, tanks and artillery, organized the interaction of military branches.
F. Sachko. Storming of the royal castle in Koenigsberg. 1945
After a short but thorough preparation of direct fire guns: supporting artillery, tanks and self-propelled guns, at an established signal from a place, opened fire on the identified firing points, embrasures, windows and walls of houses in order to destroy them. The assault detachments resolutely attacked the outskirts, rapidly advancing to the outer buildings, and after a grenade battle took possession of them. Having taken possession of the outskirts, the assault detachments continued to move into the depths of the city, seeping through courtyards, gardens, parks, alleys, etc.
After capturing individual buildings and quarters, the advancing subunits immediately brought them into a defensive state. Stone buildings were strengthened and adapted to the defense (especially on the outskirts facing the enemy). Strongholds with all-round defense were created in the occupied quarters, commandants were appointed responsible for their retention.
During the first days of the assault on Koenigsberg, Soviet aviation made 13,789 sorties, dropping 3,489 tons of bombs on enemy troops and defenses.
The commandant of the Königsberg fortress Otto Lasch with an adjutant, surrounded by officers of the 16th guards. corps.
On April 8, the Soviet command, through parliamentarians, offered the garrison to lay down their arms. The enemy refused and continued to resist.
On the morning of April 9, separate units of the garrison made attempts to break through to the west, but these attempts were thwarted by the actions of the 43rd Army, and the Germans were never able to break out of the fortress. Also, a counter attack on Koenigsberg by units of the 5th Panzer Division from the Zemland Peninsula was not successful. After massive strikes by Soviet artillery and aviation on the surviving nodes of resistance, the troops of the 11th Guards Army attacked the enemy in the city center and on April 9 forced the garrison of the fortress to lay down their arms.
The infantry rests after the capture of Koenigsberg.
During the Koenigsberg operation, about 42 thousand German soldiers and officers were destroyed, about 92 thousand people, including 1800 officers and four generals, led by the commandant of the fortress - O. Lasch. 2,000 guns, 1,652 mortars and 128 aircraft were captured.
Sources:
Lubchenkov Yu., "100 great battles of World War II", Veche, 2005
Galitsky K., "In the battles for East Prussia", Science, 1970
Königsberg operation 1945 // Council, military. Encyclopedia: In 8 volumes - M., 1977.-T. 4.-S. 139-141.
Evgeniy Groisman, Sergei Kozlov: An experience paid for in blood: Assault on the fortified city of Koenigsberg, 2009.
History of the Second World War 1939-1945: In 12 vols. Vol. 10: The completion of the defeat of Nazi Germany. - M., 1979.
Vasilevsky A.M. The work of a lifetime: In 2 books. - 6th ed. - M., 1988. - Book. 2.
Beloborodoe A.P. Always in combat. - M., Economics. - 1984.
Lyudnikov I.I. The road is a lifetime. - 2nd ed. - M., 1985.
Liberation of cities: A guide to the liberation of cities during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. - M., 1985. - S. 112-116.
Assault on Koenigsberg: Sat. - 4th ed., add. - Kaliningrad, 1985.
Storming of Koenigsberg. - Kaliningrad, 2000.
Drigo S.V. After a feat - a feat. - Ed. 2nd, add. - Kaliningrad, 1984.
Grigorenko M.G. And the fortress fell ... - Kaliningrad, 1989.
Daryaloe A.P. Koenigsberg. Four days of assault. - Kaliningrad, 1995.
Strokin V.N. So Koenigsberg was stormed. - Kaliningrad, 1997.
For a long time it was believed that during the assault on Koenigsberg, the number of troops on both sides was almost equal: 130 thousand people in the German group and 137 thousand 250 soldiers in the Red Army.
These figures first appeared in the 1945 manuscript “East Prussian Operation of the Third Belorussian Front. Abstract for analysis prepared by the Department for the Study and Use of War Experience. The data are in the archive, they were subsequently used by our historians, specialists and authors of textbooks. The figures were considered correct, for a long time no one questioned them at all.
But over the past few years, objective data have appeared that are confirmed by documents. The “Book of Memory” was released in Kaliningrad, and it already contains new information about the number of both sides and losses during the assault on Königsberg.
Finally, Kaliningrad historians studied archival documents and calculated how many people actually were on both sides.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the Baltic Information and Analytical Center of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Gennady Kretinin has been dealing with this issue since the beginning of the 90s, working in the central archive of the Ministry of Defense, with documents that were once secret.
Here are the arguments he makes.
Soviet troops
In reality, a group of 106.6 thousand people took part in the assault on Koenigsberg from the side of the Soviet troops, and not more than 137 thousand, as previously stated.
First. In our and foreign literature, textbooks, there was a conviction that four armies were involved in the assault on the capital of East Prussia: the 50th, 43rd, 11th Guards and 39th. At the same time, the 39th Army operated outside of Koenigsberg, providing support from the western side. She was not directly involved in the assault on Koenigsberg. This is the "extra" 30 thousand people. At the same time, the 39th Army, like other armies of the 3rd Belorussian Front, played an important role in the operation and we will not underestimate its merits.
Second. The remaining 106.6 thousand people from the three armies do not go on the attack simultaneously and together. Attacking the first echelons, advanced units. I find in the documents an interesting term that I have not seen anywhere. These are "active fighters" - the personnel of rifle companies. On April 1, 1945, there were 24,473 such fighters. These people were directly involved in the assault. Yes, the rest also participated, fought, provided, supported. But it was these 24.5 thousand people with grenades and machine guns who went on the attack, taking on the fire. So they stormed Koenigsberg.
German side
After surrendering during interrogation, the commandant of Koenigsberg, Otto Lyash, says: “We lost the entire 100,000-strong army near Koenigsberg. There were up to 30,000 wounded." Later, after returning from Soviet captivity, in which he spent about 10 years, Lyash writes in his memoirs about the 35,000-strong garrison. These figures are questionable.
In reality, in February 1945, there could be 130 thousand civilians in Koenigsberg. But in February, the encirclement of the city was broken and the population poured into Pillau, and no one could get into the city from outside. So the population has decreased significantly.
Otto Lyash says: "The population is about 130,000, of which 30,000 are military." But here Lyash makes a substitution. Most likely, and the results of the assault subsequently confirmed this, the civilian population was 30 thousand, and the military personnel - about 100 thousand.
prisoners
The summary of the Soviet Information Bureau reports 92 thousand captured German soldiers and officers in Koenigsberg. Another 40,000 died. This figure is in all the memoirs of high officials: Vasilevsky, Bagramyan, Galitsky. This is classic data.
And according to documents and reports, 70.5 thousand people were captured in the city! Why such a difference? The fact is that, occupying city blocks, Soviet troops cleared the territory - they removed all the people from the basements, from the ruins. They were concentrated in the assembly points of prisoners of war, and already there they figured out who was a civilian and who was a military man. Thus, over 90 thousand people were indeed captured. This figure was included in the summary of the Sovinformburo. But out of the total mass, about 25-30 thousand were civilians.
"learned how to fight"
Official reports on the losses of the troops of the third Belorussian Front from April 1 to April 10, 1945, and active hostilities during this period were carried out only during the assault on Königsberg, report: 3,700 people were killed. For some reason, this figure of minimal losses does not sound anywhere. But this report was compiled immediately after the assault. There was no point in embellishing or minimizing. Today, the numbers are distorted. They say 5 thousand, 10 thousand, but somehow I heard the figure of 22 thousand people. It is a myth.
During the capture of Vilnius by Soviet troops, more than 4 thousand people died. In Koenigsberg, similar in size and number, but in the fortified and prepared for defense, 3,700 people died. Given the number of opposing factions, such losses can be considered small - 3%, there is only one conclusion - they learned to fight.
The Soviet side prepared very well for the assault on Koenigsberg. They knew what they were getting into. They reduced the number of mortars, 45-mm cannons, replacing them with 76-mm guns: it was necessary to fight with the enemy, located not in open areas, but in long-term shelters. Specially prepared assault squads. Soldiers were taught to overcome obstacles, throw grenades at window openings, interact with tanks and artillery, and so on.
The whole operation was prepared and carried out in accordance with one of the principles of Suvorov science - to win not by numbers, but by skill.
Red Army:
Grouping - 106 thousand people
Field guns - 2567 barrels
Heavy artillery - 2358
Tanks and self-propelled guns - 538
Aircraft - 2174
Germans:
Grouping - 100 thousand people
Field guns - 3216
Mortars - 2220
Tanks and self-propelled guns - 193
Aircraft - 120
Trophies in Königsberg:
Guns of various calibers - 2023;
Tanks and self-propelled guns - 89;
Mortars - 1652;
Machine guns - 4673;
Armored personnel carriers - 119;
Armored trains - 2;
Cars - 8560;
Tractors and tractors - 137;
Steam locomotives - 774;
Wagons - 8544;
Boats and barges - 146;
Warehouses with military property - 441.
Exactly 70 years ago, on April 9, 1945, Soviet troops captured Königsberg by storm during the East Prussian operation.
To this event, friends, I dedicate this photo collection.
1. The commander of the 303rd Soviet aviation division, Major General of Aviation Georgy Nefedovich Zakharov (1908-1996), sets a combat mission for pilots storming Koenigsberg from the air. 1945
2. View of one of the forts of Koenigsberg. 1945
3. Line of trenches at Koenigsberg. 1945
4. A Soviet infantry unit passes through a destroyed settlement on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. January 30, 1945 East Prussia
5. Soviet Guards mortars in a firing position. Southwest of Koenigsberg. 1945
6. The heavy gun of the battery commander Captain Smirnov in a firing position is firing at the German fortifications in Koenigsberg. April 1945
7. The fighters of the battery of Captain V. Leskov bring up artillery shells on the outskirts of the city of Koenigsberg. 1945
8. Soviet soldier guards-artilleryman with a gun shell, on which is written: "Across Koenigsberg." 1945
9. The Soviet infantry unit is fighting on one of the streets of Koenigsberg. 1945
10. Soviet fighters during the battle for Koenigsberg, heading for a combat position under the cover of a smoke screen. 1945
11. Self-propelled guns with a landing of submachine gunners attack enemy positions in the area of Koenigsberg. April 1945
12. Guardsman V. Surnin, the first to break into one of the buildings of the city of Koenigsberg during the attack on the city, strengthens the flag with his name on the roof of the house. 1945
13. The corpses of German soldiers on the side of the Primorsky highway southwest of the city of Koenigsberg, left after the battle. The movement of wagons with Soviet soldiers of the 3rd Belorussian Front. March 1945
15. Group of Heroes of the Soviet Union of the 5th Army, awarded this title for the battles in East Prussia. From left to right: guards ml lieutenant Nezdoly K., guards. Captain Filosofov A., Major General Gorodovikov B.B., Guards Captain Kotin F., Sergeant Major Voinshin F. 1944 East Prussia.
16. Soviet sappers clear the streets of Koenigsberg. 1945
17. V.Yashkov, photogrammetrist of the 136th Army Cannon Artillery Brigade (1st left) with colleagues at the German railway artillery range. 1945 Germany.
18. Fighters of the Moscow Proletarian Division firing at the enemy on the Frisch Nerung Spit. 1945 East Prussia.
19. Soviet sappers clear one of the streets of Tilsit with the help of service dogs. 1945
20. A border post with the inscription "Germany" (in Russian) on the street of a German city destroyed during the fighting. 1945 East Prussia.
21. Soviet soldiers in the battle for the railway line Kenisberg - Fishhausen. 1945 East Prussia.
22. Mortar crew of the 11th Guards Army at a firing position on the outskirts of Pilau. 1945 East Prussia.
23. Soviet heavy guns are moving along the road, past one of the settlements of East Prussia. 1945
24. Soldiers of the 5th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front (from left to right): I. Osipov, P. Kornienko, A. Seleznev, the first to enter the city of Granz. April 1945
26. German transport, sunk by Soviet troops, in the port of Elbing. 1945
28. Residents of Elbing return to the city after the end of hostilities. February 1945
29. Artillery crew of the 11th Guards Army is fighting on the Frisch Nerung Spit. 1945 East Prussia
30. Soviet guardsmen on the Frisch Nerung Bay after the defeat of the enemy. April 1945 East Prussia.
31. Commander of the 11th Guards Army, Major General K.N. Galitsky and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General I.I. Semenov at the map. April 1945 East Prussia.
32. Soldiers of the 70th Army inspect shells intended for firing from the Su-76. 1945 East Prussia.
33. View of the city of Velau. The bridge over the river Alle, blown up by the German troops during the retreat. 1945
35. Soviet trucks on one of the streets of the city of Yelsa, occupied by troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. March 1945
37. View of one of the streets of the city of Hohenstein, occupied by troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front. February 02, 1945
38. Machine gunners of the 3rd Belorussian Front are walking along the ruined street of Insterburg. 06 February 1945
39. Cavalry and infantry of the 2nd Belorussian Front on the square of the city of Allenstein. February 02, 1945
40. Soviet soldiers march past the monument erected at the burial site of the heart of M.I. Kutuzov on the square in Bunzlau. March 17, 1945
41. Soviet submachine gunners during a street battle in the city of Glogau. April 1945
42. One of the streets of the city of Willenberg, occupied by the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front. February 02, 1945
43. Artillery of the 1st Ukrainian Front on one of the streets of Neisse. April 1945
44. Soldiers of the 3rd Belorussian Front escort German prisoners of war. 1945 Koenigsberg
45. Commander of the 11th Guards Army, Colonel General Kuzma Nikitovich Galitsky (1897-1973) and chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ivan Iosifovich Semenov near the destroyed Royal Castle in Koenigsberg. April 1945
46. Preparation of the operation to bombard Koenigsberg in the 135th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment. 1945
47. Soviet soldiers are walking along the embankment of Koenigsberg, destroyed in battles. 04/09/1945
48. Soldiers of the 3rd Belorussian Front flee to the attack on one of the streets of Koenigsberg. April 1945
49. Soviet soldiers pass through the German village on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. 1945
50. German tank destroyer Jagdpanzer IV / 70 (left) and half-tracked tractor Sd.Kfz.7 knocked out by Soviet troops during the assault on Koenigsberg Street. April 1945
51. Soviet soldiers at the German 150-mm infantry howitzers sIG 33 on Steile Strasse (now Grieg Street) in captured Koenigsberg. 04/13/1945
52. Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky (left) and his deputy General of the Army I.Kh. Bagramyan clarify the plan for the assault on Koenigsberg. 1945
53. A column of Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-152 goes to new battle lines to strike at the fortress forts of Koenigsberg. April 1945
54. Soviet unit in a street fight in Koenigsberg. April 1945
55. Soviet soldiers pass through a German settlement on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. 01/25/1945
56. Abandoned German guns near the ruins of a building in Koenigsberg after the city was taken by storm. April 1945
57. German 88-mm anti-aircraft gun FlaK 36/37 abandoned on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. April 1945
58. Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-152 "St. John's wort" on the street of the captured Koenigsberg. On the right in the column is a Soviet self-propelled gun SU-76. April 1945
59. Soviet infantry, supported by self-propelled guns SU-76, attacks German positions in the Konigsberg area. 1945
60. German prisoners at the Sackheim Gate of Koenigsberg. April 1945
61. Soviet soldiers are sleeping, resting after the battles, right on the street taken by storm of Koenigsberg. April 1945
62. German refugees with a baby in Koenigsberg. March-April 1945
63. Broken cars on the street taken by storm of Koenigsberg. Soviet soldiers are in the background. April 1945
64. Soviet soldiers are fighting on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front. April 1945
65. German 150-mm heavy self-propelled gun (self-propelled howitzer) "Hummel" destroyed by a direct hit of a large-caliber projectile. April 1945
66. Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-122S is fighting in Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front, April 1945.
67. German assault gun StuG III shot down in Koenigsberg. In the foreground is a dead German soldier. April 1945
68. Koenigsberg, positions of the German air defense forces after the bombing. On the right is a sound pickup. April 1945
69. Koenigsberg, destroyed German artillery battery. April 1945
70. Koenigsberg, German bunker near Horst Wessel Park. April 1945
Assault on Koenigsberg
The world was entering 1945. The outcome of World War II was predetermined. But Nazi Germany resisted. Resisted with the despair of the doomed. Warsaw had already been liberated, the Soviet troops were moving irresistibly to the west. Berlin lay ahead. His assault became a reality. And it is not by chance that some of our military leaders developed a plan - to gather forces into one fist and fall with all their might on the capital of Nazi Germany.
But far-sighted strategists, and first of all, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, did not forget about the right and left flanks of the Berlin direction, where a significant number of enemy troops were located. Their actions could be the most unexpected. After the war, such fears were confirmed. The German command really had an intention - in the event of the formation of a "Berlin ledge", a two-sided simultaneous flank attack would cut its base. So, in the territory of East Prussia, the Zemland Peninsula and adjacent territories there was an army group, numbering a total of about forty divisions. Leaving them in the rear was extremely dangerous.
That is why the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command made a decision with the forces of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts, commanded by the talented commanders Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky and General of the Army I.D. Chernyakhovsky. With the help of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, led by General of the Army I.Kh. Bagramyan, cut these troops off from the main German forces, dismember them, press them to the sea and destroy them.
The main attack on Koenigsberg, turned into a military fortress, was assigned to the 3rd Belorussian Front. And the 2nd Belorussian Front was supposed to operate west of Koenigsberg and defeat the German troops stationed there. Both fronts had large forces. One and a half million fighters, twenty thousand guns and mortars, three thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts were ready to strike. Two air armies, the 1st and 3rd, supported the ground forces. They had three thousand aircraft. Thus, in the East Prussian direction and in northern Poland, our troops outnumbered the enemy in manpower by 2.8 times, in artillery - by 3.4, in tanks - by 4.7 and in aircraft - by 5.8 times.
Nevertheless, a very difficult task had to be solved. Before the Soviet troops lay Germany, whose territory was turned into a continuous defensive zone. Countless pillboxes, bunkers, trenches, anti-tank ditches and gouges, other engineering structures, made with German thoroughness, seemed capable of stopping any army. Any, but not Soviet, hardened in the crucible of almost four years of battle with the fascist aggressor.
Having reached the German border, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front delayed their offensive. Comprehensive and detailed preparations for the East Prussian operation began. The armies were preparing for a breakthrough. Ground and air reconnaissance was carried out around the clock, the artillerymen determined the objects that were to be struck. The maximum effect with a minimum number of victims - this rule has become the main one for every officer and general. Unfortunately, it was not assimilated immediately and paid at a very high price.
Looking through binoculars at the German land lying in front of them, our soldiers experienced a keen feeling. It was from here at dawn on June 22, 1941 that the fascist hordes rushed to our country, here was one of the bridgeheads of aggression. And now it has come - this hour of retribution for the many thousands of destroyed cities and villages, for the deaths of millions and millions of Soviet people.
The morning of January 13, 1945 came. Cold, cloudy. When it dawned, thousands of guns hit on a large stretch of the front. And soon tanks and infantry went on the attack. The assault on the East Prussian stronghold began.
But the main obstacle was not enemy resistance. From the Baltic Sea, the wind drove a thick fog. He hid enemy firing points from observation, tanks lost their bearings, aviation and artillery could not provide effective assistance to the advancing infantry. But it was no longer possible to stop, delay the actions of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front. For on the entire front from the Baltic to Budapest, a gigantic strategic offensive unfolded that day. And the East Prussian operation was an integral part of it.
Only three lines of trenches were captured on the first day by our troops, only one and a half kilometers, and even then not everywhere, the attackers managed to advance. The Germans threw more and more reserves into battle, including tanks. Our tank units, equipped with new models of heavy armored vehicles, entered the battle with them. In five days of fierce fighting, our troops traveled twenty kilometers, but they never managed to enter the operational space. Behind the fortieth line of trenches, the forty-first immediately began, and so on. The lines of defense stretched all the way to Koenigsberg. A day after the start of the offensive by the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, the 2nd Belorussian Front also launched hostilities, which also met with stubborn resistance from the enemy. But all the efforts of the German troops to contain the pressure of the Soviet army were in vain. Gumbinnen was taken by storm, Insterburg fell on January 22. Our troops entered the streets of other German cities. And soon the divisions of the 2nd Belorussian Front came to the coast of the Frisches-Haff Bay. No, military successes were not easy for us. The number of infantry divisions was reduced to two to three thousand people, which was less than the composition of the pre-war regiment. Heavy losses were suffered by the tankers, who were paving the way for the infantry. The whole country was hard pressed by the death on February 18 on the battlefield of the commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army I. D. Chernyakhovsky. The people have lost one of their most talented and young commanders. Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky was appointed the new commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. He was to, commanding the combined troops of the two Belorussian fronts and the joined 1st Baltic Front, complete operations in East Prussia.
The enemy defended himself with ever-increasing tenacity. He managed to detain our units for some time in the zone of the Heilsberg fortified area, where the defense was held by a powerful enemy grouping of several divisions, using nine hundred reinforced concrete houses. On February 19, having replenished the Zemland task force with troops from the Courland grouping, the enemy launched two counter strikes at the same time - one from Koenigsberg, the second from the Zemland Peninsula. After three days of fierce fighting, the Nazis managed to somewhat push back our troops and create a corridor connecting the Koenigsberg grouping with the Zemland one. That's when the need for a unified command arose. The Stavka subsequently made a fully justified decision to transfer all Soviet troops operating on the territory of East Prussia to the 3rd Belorussian Front.
And then the day came when our units reached the outer defensive lines of Koenigsberg, located fifteen kilometers from the city outskirts. But it was impossible to storm the city on the move; comprehensive, thorough, deeply thought-out preparation was required. Having surrounded the seemingly impregnable fortress, the capital of East Prussia, our troops stopped. It was necessary to replenish the combat strength of units and formations, to accumulate the necessary amount of ammunition, and most importantly, to carry out thorough reconnaissance.
The losses of the Soviet troops were tangible, we were dealing with a strong and experienced enemy. Its power is already evidenced by the fact that in the fierce battles to defeat the Heilsberg grouping in two weeks, 93 thousand were destroyed and more than 46 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. Captured and destroyed 605 tanks, 1441 guns, shot down 128 aircraft. But an even more severe test lay ahead.
Final preparations for the assault
They stood opposite each other, perfectly aware that a decisive battle was near and inevitable. By the beginning of April, in the area of Königsberg and the Zemland Peninsula, the German operational group Zemland continued to defend itself, consisting of eleven divisions, one brigade and several infantry regiments, as well as Volkssturm battalions.
The Koenigsberg garrison directly included five infantry divisions, fortress and security units, numbering over 130 thousand soldiers, up to four thousand guns, more than a hundred tanks and assault guns. Air support was provided by 170 aircraft.
But the Nazis pinned their main hope not on the number of soldiers and guns, but on those fortifications that had been created for centuries, repeatedly rebuilt and modernized. The defense of the city consisted of three lines encircling Koenigsberg in a ring. The first lane was based on 15 fortress forts 7-8 kilometers from the city limits. The second defensive line went along the outskirts of the city. The third, consisting of fortress forts, ravelins, reinforced concrete structures of new construction and stone buildings equipped with loopholes, occupied most of the city and its center. The streets were blocked by anti-tank ditches and gouges, barricades, trenches. Almost all the forts had the shape of a pentagon, surrounded by a moat with water, the depth of the moats reached seven meters. Reinforced concrete and earthen coverings of caponiers withstood the impact of 300-millimeter cannon shells and heavy air bombs. Fortress artillery was hidden in the casemates of the forts and was brought to the surface during the battle. The forts had their own power plants installed in the underground floors, large stocks of ammunition and food, which allowed them to fight for a long time in conditions of complete encirclement. The garrisons of the forts numbered from three hundred to five hundred soldiers and officers. If we take into account the tens of thousands of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines laid in the way of the attackers, then one can imagine how difficult the task was for the troops storming Koenigsberg to solve.
The main task facing the command of the 3rd Belorussian Front was to take the city, reducing the number of victims to the limit. As you know, the advancing always bear more losses. Death is always scary. But it is especially bitter at the very end of the war, when a feeling of imminent victory penetrated the soldiers' hearts. That is why Marshal Vasilevsky paid special attention to intelligence. He understood that it was impossible to storm an unfamiliar city blindfolded, that not all soldiers and officers of his armies had the experience of street fighting, when the windows of almost every building become fire-breathing embrasures. Aviation continuously bombed enemy fortifications. But planes that did not drop bombs also flew over Koenigsberg. They had a different task, these planes made aerial photographs of the city. This was how a detailed map was created, reflecting in every detail the outlines of Koenigsberg, which, under the attacks of the Allied aircraft, largely changed its appearance. The center of the city suffered especially in the fall of 1944 from the carpet bombing of the Anglo-American aviation. So the commanders of divisions, regiments and even battalions received maps of those urban areas where they were to fight.
But that was not all. At the headquarters of the front, on the basis of aerial photographs, craftsmen created a model of the entire Koenigsberg with its streets, nooks and crannies, fortresses, pillboxes, and individual houses. Day and night in this toy city, not at all children's games were played by the commanders of units and formations. There was a search for the best options for the assault. To attack blindly meant dooming thousands and thousands of soldiers' lives to death. The talent of a military leader is measured by the maximum reduction in losses.
To carry out the operation of storming Koenigsberg, the 43rd Army under the command of General A.P. Beloborodov and the 50th Army under the command of General F.P. Ozerov were involved, which attacked from the north. From the south, the 11th Guards Army of General K. N. Galitsky went to storm the city. The 39th Army was entrusted with the task of preventing German troops stationed in the area of the cities of Pillau (Baltiysk) and Fishhausen (Primorsk) from coming to the aid of the Koenigsberg garrison. To influence the enemy from the air, three air armies were allocated, which included about 2,500 aircraft. The general leadership of aviation operations was carried out by the commander of the Air Forces of the USSR, Chief Marshal of Aviation A. A. Novikov.
And yet, the decisive role in the storming of the city was assigned to artillery of all calibers, including super-high-power guns, which had not previously been used in the theater of operations due to their inactivity. Artillery was supposed to demoralize the enemy, crush his resistance, destroy his long-term defensive structures. By the beginning of the assault, the front had five thousand guns.
Within a month, the artillery of the reserve of the Supreme High Command arrived at the positions. Eight batteries of the 1st Guards Naval Railway Artillery Brigade were delivered along specially laid tracks. For heavy guns, special concrete platforms were built. In the directions of the main strikes and breakthrough areas, an extraordinary density of artillery barrels was created. So, in the zone of the forthcoming offensive of the units of the 43rd Army, 258 guns and mortars were concentrated on a kilometer of the front. A large role was assigned to the Guards mortars - the famous Katyushas.
Day and night there was a thorough preparation for the assault on the city and the fortress of Koenigsberg. Assault groups were formed with strength from a company to an infantry battalion. The group was given a sapper platoon, two or three guns, two or three tanks, flamethrowers and mortars. Our soldiers successfully used faustpatrons captured from the enemy in large numbers. The artillerymen had to move along with the foot soldiers, clearing the way for them to advance. Subsequently, the assault confirmed the effectiveness of such small but mobile groups.
There was also intense study. Everyone studied: experienced soldiers, platoon and company commanders, generals hardened in many battles. At one of the meetings, the commander of the front, Marshal Vasilevsky, said: “The accumulated experience, no matter how great it is, is not enough today. Any mistake, any mistake of the commander is an unjustified death of soldiers.
The time for the assault was approaching. The offensive was originally scheduled for 5 April. But thick clouds, rainy weather and fog coming from the sea forced the assault to be postponed for a day. On March 31, a meeting of the military councils of all the armies blockading Koenigsberg was held, where the directive of the front commander to storm the fortress was announced. It defined specific, clear tasks facing the commanders of armies, military branches and other military leaders.
Artillery was the first to enter the battle four days before the assault. On April 2, the barrels of heavy guns roared. The walls of fortress forts and pillboxes shuddered from the explosions of large-caliber shells. They did not strike blindly, each battery, each gun had its own, already adjusted target.
Much attention was paid to the interaction of all branches of the armed forces, the timely provision of their ammunition, communications. In all divisions, political workers held conversations with the fighters, talked about the city that they were to storm, about the significance of taking this citadel. It was in the units that the text of the oath of the guardsmen was born, under which tens of thousands of soldiers and officers going to storm put their signatures. They vowed not to spare their lives in this one of the last battles with fascism.
Starting from April 2, three times a day, through the loudspeakers from the forward positions and on the radio, transmissions were made in German addressed to the troops of the besieged garrison. They gave reports on military operations on the fronts, reported on the decisions of the Yalta Conference of the Allied Heads of State, read a letter from fifty German generals opposing the fascist regime, calling for an end to senseless resistance. Thousands of leaflets were dropped on the city, artillerymen sent propaganda shells stuffed with leaflets.
Extremely important and dangerous work was carried out by a detachment of German anti-fascists, which was headed by Oberleutnant Hermann Rench, authorized by the National Committee for Free Germany. His assistant Lieutenant Peter and his comrades managed to penetrate Koenigsberg and withdraw almost completely one of the companies of the 561st Grenadier Division from there.
Until the very beginning of the assault, no one knew a single minute of rest. Tired to the point of exhaustion, the sappers built ladders, assault bridges and other devices. The soldiers included in the tank landings learned to jump on moving vehicles and dismount at low speed, studied signals with tank crews for interaction in battle. Miners got acquainted with new models of German mines filled with liquid explosives. Everyone learned the art of assault.
In the trenches, in the places of concentration of troops preparing for the assault, sheets with the text of the oath of the guards were passed from hand to hand. Thousands, tens of thousands of signatures of soldiers were sworn under the oath of allegiance to the Fatherland, to their people. The soldiers gave their word to spare no effort, and if necessary, life in this one of the last battles with fascism. They knew that a difficult test awaited them. By the evening of April 5, preparations for the assault were fully completed. The next morning was a decisive battle.
Dawn came slowly. The night did not seem to want to give up its place to him. This was facilitated by dense clouds hanging over the city, and never-ending fog. The minutes dragged on painfully long.
All night, from the direction of the city, quiet explosions were heard. This was done by the 213th and 314th divisions of light night bombers, Major General V.S. Molokov and Colonel P.M. Petrov. What was the small Po-2 car like? As a matter of fact, this is not a combat, but a training aircraft. Made of wood and fabric, it was completely defenseless against fighters, and it only took 200 kilograms of bombs on board. But when these machines appeared noiselessly in the night sky, with their engines turned off, like bats, the strength of their combat and psychological impact on the enemy could not be overestimated.
And at nine o'clock in the morning on April 6, 1945, an ever-increasing roar broke the silence from the south side of the city. All the artillery of the 11th Guards Army of General Galitsky spoke up. The sky was crossed out by the tracks of rockets of guards mortars. Heavy artillery fell on the well-explored and targeted fortifications. At ten o'clock in the morning the guns and mortars of the 43rd, 50th and 39th armies advancing from the north opened fire. Five thousand guns literally broke into the enemy defenses. Bad weather and thick smoke from shell explosions, which covered the city, limited the actions of aviation. This smoke screen also interfered with the gunners.
Nevertheless, at exactly twelve o'clock in the afternoon, assault groups, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns, rushed to attack enemy positions.
The 31st Guards Rifle Division, which was part of the 11th Army, looked like a twisted spring. An hour before her attack, all artillery fire was transferred to close positions. The suppression of firing points in the trenches was carried out. And when the battalions went on the assault, thirty minutes later the division commander received a report about the capture of the first line of trenches. The gunners moved their fire into the depths of the enemy's defenses.
every major building. With anti-tank grenades, assault groups knocked out the doors of houses, fought for landings, separate rooms, and met with enemy soldiers hand-to-hand. It was difficult to single out those who performed feats and those who did not. From the first minutes of the assault, heroism became massive. Senior Sergeant Telebaev was the first to attack and the first to break into the enemy trench. He killed six Nazis with a machine gun, and captured three. The sergeant himself was wounded, but refused to leave the battlefield and continued to fight. By thirteen o'clock the regiments of the division approached the second line of defense, but met stubborn resistance from the enemy, who had brought up reserves. The attack faltered. And then the regiments of the second echelon were forced to join the battle. Assault groups dragged guns on their hands. They literally bit into the enemy's defenses. Only three hours later, our soldiers broke into the second line of enemy defense.
To the left of the 31st Division, the 84th Guards Division acted just as decisively. Going on the attack after artillery preparation, she immediately took possession of the enemy's first line of defense. Dozens of soldiers were taken prisoner, a large number of weapons were captured. The relatively weak resistance of the enemy in the first hours of the assault was explained by the fact that a significant part of the enemy's manpower was destroyed and demoralized by heavy artillery fire. Most of the surviving soldiers withdrew to an intermediate line near the suburban village of Spandinen.
Fort No. 8, named after King Frederick the First, stood in the way of the attackers. It was a powerful defensive structure. Built half a century ago, the fort has been repeatedly modernized and strengthened. Thick walls reliably protected the garrison from mounted fire, the territory adjacent to the fort was shot through by fortress guns and machine guns. Around the entire perimeter, the fort was surrounded by a moat filled with water, ten meters wide and seven meters deep. The water surface of the moat with its steep stone banks was shot through with dagger fire by machine guns hidden in embrasures. The commander of the 84th division, General I.K.
If the problem with the factory was solved successfully, then the storming of the fort required great efforts. He was bombarded again and again by aircraft, fired at by heavy guns. But as soon as our battalions approached the fortress, they were met by strong artillery and machine-gun fire. Escort guns, firing direct fire, could not cause significant damage to the enemy. And only by eighteen hours did the soldiers reach the defensive moat. The fighters saw flashes of exploding shells and flares reflected in the black water. It turned out to be impossible to suppress enemy machine-gun fire from caponiers. And yet, by midnight, the fort was not only completely blocked, but the sappers managed, having overcome the moat, to lay boxes of explosives near the walls of the fort.
This is how the first day of the assault on Koenigsberg went from the south side - that part of the city where the Baltic region of Kaliningrad is located today.
The main blow was inflicted on the northern part of Koenigsberg. Just like in other areas, intensive artillery preparation was carried out here four days before the assault. From here, powerful bombing strikes were carried out from field airfields against fortified enemy targets. The northern group united the troops of the 50th, 43rd and 39th armies.
Today, from the highway leading to Svetlogorsk, one can see a two-story house standing on a hillock at the fork in the road. The command post was located here, from where Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky, his deputy General of the Army I. Kh. Bagramyan and other military leaders led the assault on Koenigsberg. On April 6, just before dawn, Vasilevsky and Bagramyan arrived here. Phones rang incessantly, corps and division commanders reported on the readiness of the troops for the assault.
At nine o'clock in the morning from the opposite side of Koenigsberg came the rumble of guns. It was the artillery of the 11th army that spoke, the southern ones entered the bon. And soon more than a thousand guns of the northern grouping brought down the full power of their fire on the city. At noon, the infantry went into battle. Success was immediate. The shooters took possession of the first, and then the second line of trenches. An hour later, the commander of the 54th Corps, General A.S. Ksenofontov, reported that the assault detachment of Captain Tokmakov had reached and surrounded Fort No. 5 Charlottenburg, which was considered one of the most powerful strongholds of the enemy. Today, a memorial complex has been built there, and, probably, few Kaliningraders and guests of the city have not visited this place.
Surrounding a heavily fortified fort is far from everything. Taking it is much more difficult. Then the only right decision was made. The assault groups left the fort in their rear, while they themselves continued to advance on the city suburb of Charlottenburg (Lermontovsky village of the Central District). The fort was blocked by units of the 806th regiment of the second line. A unit of sappers was also brought up here, self-propelled artillery mounts approached.
Shortly after the start of the assault, a tragedy nearly occurred. The main command post was covered by a salvo from the enemy artillery battalion. Army General I. Kh. Bagramyan was slightly wounded, and General A. P. Beloborodov received a shell shock. A few minutes later, Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky returned from the front line. Instead of condolences, he scolded the generals: jeeps stood openly in the yard. It was they who unmasked the command post. Two of the officers who were at the command post were killed.
By the end of the day, the 235th division of General Lutskevich completely cleared Charlottenburg. Divisions of General Lopatin's 13th Guards Corps were successfully advancing in the center. The hardest part was on the right flank. Parts of the 39th Army, aimed at the Koenigsberg-Fischhausen (Primorsk) corridor, advanced very slowly.
The 5th Panzer and other divisions of the enemy's Zemland group more than once launched a counterattack, trying to prevent the complete encirclement of Koenigsberg. In battle, suffering significant losses, literally every meter had to be taken.
Bad weather interfered with air operations on the first day of the assault. The bombers were practically inactive. The attacking units were supported by IL-2 attack aircraft, performing the task of direct infantry escort. Air strikes were provided by aircraft controllers. They were in the combat formations of the advancing units, having mobile radio stations at their disposal. The main targets of attack aircraft were firing points, artillery positions, tanks and infantry of the enemy. It was only in the second half of the first day of the assault that the clouds cleared up somewhat, which made it possible to lift more aircraft into the air. Enemy aircraft offered no serious resistance. There were only a few air battles, and even then they were random meetings. Hitler's pilots simply could not evade them.
As night approached, the fighting in the city weakened. Unfortunately, the tasks assigned to the troops were not fully completed. The advance of the attacking units ranged from two to four kilometers. But the main thing was done: the enemy defenses were hacked, the enemy suffered heavy material damage, and communication between his units and command posts was disrupted. What is very important - the enemy, feeling the full power of the attackers, realized that it was impossible to defend the city, that the encircled garrison was doomed to defeat. Soldiers and officers, including seniors, began to voluntarily surrender to our troops.
Bon did not subside all night. True, they were of a sporadic nature, were not as massive as in the daytime. The enemy used the night hours to build new fortifications, restore broken communications, and pull up reserves to the first lines of defense. Conducted a night regrouping of troops and our formations. The second day of the assault was to be decisive.
Hot battles unfolded along the entire line of contact between the troops even before dawn. The enemy made a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the battle. The last reserves and hastily assembled Volkssturm detachments were thrown into the counterattack. But all this turned out to be futile.
If the first day of the assault could be called the day of artillery, then the second truly became the day of aviation. The weather improved and the sun shone through the clouds. On April 7, for the first time in daylight conditions, long-range bomber aircraft were used. The bombers of the 1st and 3rd air armies, carefully covered by fighters over the battlefield, received an unhindered opportunity to bomb enemy positions. The enemy airfields were completely blocked. In just one hour, 516 bombers dropped their deadly cargo on Koenigsberg. On April 7, our aviation made 4,700 sorties and dropped more than a thousand tons of bombs on enemy positions. It seemed that dawn would never come that day. For the night twilight was replaced by darkness created by smoke from exploding bombs and shells, burning buildings. The aviation that entered the battle finally predetermined the outcome of the battle in our favor.
Yet the enemy resisted fiercely. Only on the site of the 90th Rifle Corps of the 43rd Army advancing from the north, they launched fourteen major counterattacks in a day. One by one, the garrisons of the forts capitulated and stopped resisting. It has already been said above that our troops, advancing from the south side, blocked Fort No. 8 on the first day of the assault. The garrison, hiding behind thick walls, continued to resist. Shooting at the loopholes and direct-fire gun salvos did not give any results. At night, high-explosive flamethrowers were delivered to the fort. To overcome the moat, the commander of the assaulting battalion, Major Romanov, chose that section of the fortress that was most easily affected by flamethrowers. At dawn on April 7, smoke bombs were thrown into the ditch, and a shaft of fire erupted by flamethrowers forced the defenders to take refuge in the interior. One of the companies on the prepared assault ladders quickly descended from the sheer wall into the water and entered the gentle opposite bank. Hidden by smoke, the soldiers quickly climbed onto the roof of the fort and rushed into the gaps formed from direct hits of heavy bombs and shells. Hand-to-hand combat began in the dark passages and caponiers of the fortress. The enemy was forced to weaken the outer defenses, which allowed another company to cross the ditch. Under the cover of machine-gun fire, our soldiers crawled up to the embrasures of the lower floor of the fort and began to throw grenades at them. Unable to withstand a simultaneous blow from different sides, the garrison capitulated. The commandant of the fort, several officers and more than a hundred soldiers surrendered. 250 enemy soldiers in this battle were destroyed. The battalion captured ten guns, warehouses with a monthly supply of food, ammunition, fuel for the power plant.
On the second day of the assault, the troops of the 11th Guards Army advancing from the south completely liberated the urban area of Ponart (Baltic Region) and reached the banks of the Pregel River, which cuts Koenigsberg into two parts. Drawbridges were blown up, the water surface of the river was shot at at any point, but nevertheless, our troops had to overcome this water barrier.
And behind the back of the advancing troops, a hot battle was still in full swing. The Nazis turned the massive building of the main station and a large railway junction into a powerful stronghold. All stone buildings here were prepared for defense. The enemy launched frequent counterattacks from the area of the main railway station. The 95th and 97th regiments went to storm the hub, our tanks and self-propelled guns crawled right along the railway tracks. Guns and rocket-propelled mortars had to be additionally brought into this battle area. Literally every building had to be stormed. Even passenger trains that did not have time to move away from the platform were turned into firing points. Freight wagons were used in a similar way. Nevertheless, by eighteen o'clock the troops of the 31st division actually took possession of the station and approached the enemy's third line of defense, covering the central part of the city.
But our troops also suffered heavy losses. The 11th division, the last reserve of the corps, came to the aid of the 31st division. Fighting continued around the still surviving forts. During the assault on the powerful Juditgen fort, Senior Lieutenant A. A. Kosmodemyansky, the brother of the legendary Zoya, distinguished himself. His self-propelled gun smashed the gates of the main entrance and, together with the assault groups of majors Zenov and Nikolenko, broke into the courtyard of the fort, after which the garrison capitulated. More than three hundred enemy soldiers and officers surrendered here, twenty-one guns were captured. This time, the losses of the attackers are reduced to a minimum. The ultimatums that our troops presented to the garrisons of the forts before the assault began became more and more effective.
But stubborn resistance continued to be provided by Fort No. 5 "Charlottenburg", which was already in the rear of our troops. Even a 280-millimeter gun, which hit him with direct fire, could not break the stubbornness of the besieged. Then guns of smaller calibers spoke, which opened aimed fire at the embrasures of the fort. So it was possible to drive the garrison into the underground floors. Covered by heavy fire, the sapper platoon of Lieutenant I.P. Sidorov crossed the water moat with great difficulty and losses, which laid several hundred kilograms of explosives under the walls of the fort. Its explosion formed large gaps, into which the assault detachment of Senior Lieutenant Babushkin broke into. But it was still not possible to complete the capture of the fort on the move. It was a deadly fight where no one asked for mercy. Only in hand-to-hand combat, our paratroopers exterminated more than two hundred Nazis, and took about a hundred soldiers and officers prisoner. The battle lasted all night and ended only on the morning of April 8. Fifteen Soviet soldiers for heroism during the capture of Fort No. 5 were awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The heroism of the Soviet soldiers was massive and unparalleled. The fame of the young Komsomol organizer of the battalion, junior lieutenant Andrey Yanalov, passed even before his death. Not by lectures and conversations, but by personal example, he convinced his comrades in arms. In one of the battles, Yanalov personally destroyed more than twenty Nazis, including two officers. In his last battle, Andrei suppressed the fire of two machine guns with grenades. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the street where the young officer died bears his name today. There are thousands of such examples of heroism.
The second day of the assault was decisive. In a number of places, the third and last line of enemy defense was broken through. 140 quarters and several urban settlements were taken with battle for this day. The surrender of enemy soldiers and officers became massive.
The futility of further resistance was understood not only by those in trenches and pillboxes. At night, at the end of the day, the commander of the Koenigsberg garrison, General of Infantry Otto Lyash, contacted Hitler's headquarters and asked for permission to surrender the city to Soviet troops. A categorical order followed - to fight to the last soldier.
And victory was close. The soldiers of the 16th Guards Rifle Division, who had broken through from the south to Pregel, had already seen outbreaks on the opposite bank of the river. Warriors of the 43rd Army, advancing from the north side, were fighting there. Only the central part of the city remained between the steel tongs. The hours of the city and the fortress of Koenigsberg were numbered.
The third and penultimate day of the assault can best be described in one word - agony.
Even at night, the Nazi elite made a desperate attempt to break out of the destroyed, burning city and make their way to Pillau, from where individual ships left for Hamburg. In the courtyard of one of the city forts, several heavy Tiger tanks and Ferdinand assault guns, armored personnel carriers were concentrated. In addition to the crews, they housed officials of the fascist leadership of East Prussia, who took the most important documents. In the darkness of the night, the gates swung open and, with a roar of engines, a steel column burst out of the fort. But she was also doomed. The further the tanks moved along the streets lit by the fire of burning buildings, the fewer of them remained. In an hour it was all over.
At night, the guards of the corps of General P.K. Koshevoy crossed Pregel under enemy fire. The assault detachments of the 46th Guards Regiment and the mortars of Captain Kireev from the division of General Pronin were the first to cross to the northern coast. By morning, the entire 16th Guards Rifle Division had already overcome the water barrier. With a swift attack, she took possession of the car-building plant. And at 2:30 pm, in the area of the current Pobeda cinema, the division joined up with units of the 43rd Army, which was advancing from the north. The ring is closed.
In an effort to avoid senseless casualties, Marshal Vasilevsky turned to the encircled enemy troops with a proposal to lay down their arms. But in response to this, another attempt was made to break the encirclement and escape to Pillau. To support this operation, the Zemland group of Germans carried out a counter attack. But, apart from new thousands of dead, she brought nothing to the enemy.
During these hours, when the spring air was literally saturated with the smell of an imminent victory, our heroes continued to die. In the center of Koenigsberg, the Pregel River was to be crossed by formations of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps. But this required a foothold on the opposite northern bank of the river. A handful of guards managed to cross. Here are their names: Veshkin, Gorobets, Lazarev, Tkachenko, Shayderevsky and Shindrat. Here are their nationalities: Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Jewish. A battalion of fascists was thrown against them, but the heroes did not retreat, they accepted their last battle. When our units broke through to the place of the bloody battle, the heroes had already died. And nearby were dozens of Nazis. One of the paratroopers held a piece of paper in his fist, on which he managed to write: “Guards fought here and died for the Motherland, for brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. They fought, but did not surrender to the enemy. Farewell!" So six paratroopers, children of four Soviet peoples, died. They all had one great Motherland.
On April 8, Soviet air strikes reached their maximum strength. The combat work of the pilots began before dawn and did not stop after dark. In the morning, attack aircraft and day bombers took off. Some of them smashed the enemy in Koenigsberg itself, the other - the infantry and tanks of the groups located to the west of the city. And three six "silts", led by Major Korovin, covered the crossing of units of the 16th division to the northern bank of the Pregel.
The command of the garrison of the fortress had one hope - help from outside to withdraw the remnants of the troops from Koenigsberg. The commander of the 4th German Army, General F. Müller, again began to pull up forces west of Koenigsberg to deliver a deblocking strike. To frustrate this plan of the enemy and was instructed to aviation. For operations against the German troops concentrated west of the city, the main forces of the 3rd and 18th air armies were involved. The strikes of the bombers alternated with the strikes of the "silts" and fighters, performing the functions of attack aircraft. All day west of Koenigsberg there was an unceasing roar from bomb explosions. On April 8, almost 3,000 sorties were made against the enemy's deblocking grouping and more than 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped. Unable to withstand such a blow, the group began to retreat to Pillau. On April 8, Soviet pilots destroyed 51 aircraft, essentially completely depriving the garrison of aviation.
By the end of the third day of the assault, our troops occupied over three hundred city blocks. The enemy had more than an illusory hope of holding out for some time in the center of the city, where the ruins of the Royal Castle, destroyed in the autumn by Anglo-American air raids, towered. Lyash's underground command post was located two hundred meters from the castle.
The operational summary of the Supreme High Command for April 8 states that during the day of fierce fighting, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, advancing on Koenigsberg from the north-west, broke through the outer perimeter of the fortress positions and occupied the urban areas: Juditten, Lavsken, Ratshof, Amalienau , Palfe. The troops of the front, advancing on the city from the south, occupied the urban areas: Schoenflis, Speichersdorf, Ponart, Nasser Garten, Kontinen, the main station, the Port of Koenigsberg, having crossed the Pregel River, occupied the urban area of Kosee, where they joined up with the troops advancing on Koenigsberg from the north west.
Thus, the troops of the front completed the encirclement of a significant group of enemy troops defending the city and the fortress of Konigsberg.
During the day of the battle, the troops of the front captured over 15,000 German soldiers and officers.
The last night of the besieged fortress was coming. Not tactical plans, but rather the despair of the Nazis were dictated by attempts to regroup their troops, to create new firing positions.
Later, in his memoirs, General Lyash will tell that the staff officers often could not find the necessary units in order to convey the orders of the commandant, because the city became unrecognizable.
Darkness did not come that evening. The streets were lit by the fire of burning buildings. The sky shone from the glow of the burning city. General Lyash admitted that the penultimate day of the assault was the most difficult and tragic for the encircled group. Soldiers and officers became more and more aware of the complete futility of further resistance. But the more desperate was the resistance of the Nazis, fanatically devoted to Hitler. They doomed to senseless death not only themselves, not only their soldiers, but also civilians who had taken refuge in the basements of houses.
And now it has come - the last day of the assault on Koenigsberg. The enemy did not capitulate, and every minute continued to take the lives of our soldiers. It was impossible to delay the completion of the operation. In the morning, as in the first hours of the assault, all five thousand guns began to fire. At the same time, 1,500 aircraft began bombing the fortress. After such a powerful blow, the infantry again moved forward.
Actually, a single, harmonious defense of the Nazis no longer existed. There were numerous pockets of resistance, only in the city center they had over forty thousand soldiers and officers, a lot of military equipment. Nevertheless, the Germans began to surrender whole units. From the basements, from the destroyed houses, soldiers came out with white rags in their hands. On many faces lay the seal of some kind of detachment, indifference to what was happening around, to one's own fate. They were morally broken people, not yet able to fully comprehend what had happened. But there were also many fanatics. History has preserved such an episode. A large column of surrendered German soldiers slowly moved along the street. She was accompanied by only two of our submachine gunners. Suddenly, a German machine gun hit the prisoners from the window of the house. And then, giving the command to lie down, two Soviet soldiers entered the battle, defending their recent enemies who had laid down their arms. The machine gunner was destroyed, but our already middle-aged soldier, who had walked the roads of war for four years, did not rise from the ground. German soldiers carried his body in their arms.
The ring of encirclement was shrinking towards the center and shot through with gun and mortar fire. Morale among the troops, especially in the Volkssturm battalions, fell more and more. However, the SS and police regiments continued their desperate resistance, hoping for help from the 4th German Army.
At 2 pm, the commandant of the fortress, General of Infantry Otto Lyash, held a meeting. One question was discussed - what to do next? Some formation commanders, including Lyash himself, considered further resistance useless. At the same time, senior officials of the Nazi party leadership, as well as representatives of the SS and police units, insisted on continuing the resistance to the last soldier, as Hitler demanded. Due to disagreements, no definite decision was made, and the fighting continued. As it became known from the memoirs of Lyash in his book “So Koenigsberg fell”, the head of the East Prussian security service. Boehme, having learned about the position of Lyash, removed him from command with his power. But this decision was not carried out, because there were no generals in the fortress who wished to take over the leadership of the doomed troops. And then Boehme himself died while crossing the Pregel. Thus, Lyash continued to command the troops.
Soon after the meeting, Lyash began to act independently. At about 18 o'clock in the area of the 27th Guards Rifle Regiment, Colonel G. Hefker crossed the front line with an interpreter, Sonderführer Yaskovsky. They were delivered to the command post of the 11th Guards Rifle Division. But here there was a hitch. It turned out that the powers given to Hefker were signed not by General Lyash, who sent him, but by Hefker himself. There was a fear - not a provocation. But Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky decided to take a chance. Parliamentarians were sent to Lyash's headquarters with the text of an ultimatum on unconditional surrender - the chief of staff of the 11th division, Lieutenant Colonel P. G. Yanovsky, captains A. E. Fedorko and V. M. Shpigalnik, who acted as an interpreter.
This is how retired Major General P. G. Yanovsky later recalled his trip to Lyash's bunker. Only 30 minutes were allocated to the parliamentarians for the entire preparation. This was due to the desire for a speedy cessation of hostilities and the approaching twilight. The parliamentarians put their clothes in order as best they could, left their personal documents and weapons. Yanovsky admitted that he was somewhat confused, because he had not been able to carry out such tasks, and there were no official instructions on the actions of parliamentarians. In addition, the task was set not only to give Lyash an ultimatum, but to capture him himself. But an order is an order, it had to be carried out.
At nineteen o'clock, our truce envoys, accompanied by the German interpreter Jaskovsky, set out on the road. Colonel Hefker was left at our headquarters.
The distance from the division headquarters to the location of the German command was small, no more than one and a half kilometers, but it took about two hours to overcome it. A terrible impression was made by the destroyed and burning city, the streets and alleys of which are blocked by powerful barricades and engineering barriers, broken equipment. Uncleaned corpses lay between the cars. The firing subsided somewhat. It was our artillery that stopped firing, the planes stopped flying.
The hitch occurred as soon as the parliamentarians were in the area where the German troops were located. It turned out that Yaskovsky did not know the way to Lyash's headquarters, he had to go in search of a guide. This turned out to be Lieutenant Colonel B. Kerwin. Thanks to his help, the parliamentarians managed to go all the way unharmed. They were stopped three times by the Nazis and even tried to use weapons. The German officers accompanying the group had to resolutely come to the defense of the truce. In the underground bunker where the command post of General Lyash was located, Lieutenant Colonel Yanovsky and his comrades were met by the chief of staff of the encircled group, Colonel von Suskind. He was given one copy of the ultimatum. A few minutes later Lyash entered the room. He carefully read the document and briefly replied that he agreed with its requirements. Then he added that he was taking this step in order to save the lives of one hundred thousand residents who remained in the city. It was clear to the parliamentarians that not only concern for the civilian population, but the real threat of destruction of the Nazi troops in the encirclement forced the decision to surrender.
Here it is appropriate to cite two statements made by General Lyache. On April 4, in his radio address to the troops and the population of Koenigsberg, he said: “In order to count on any success in the assault, the Russians will have to draw up a huge number of troops. Thank God, they are practically unable to do this. And on the night of April 9-10, already in captivity, the general admitted: “This is incredible! Supernatural! We have become deaf and blind from your fire. We almost went crazy. No one can stand this…”
This is how Lieutenant Colonel Yanovsky recalls the further development of events. “After Lyash agreed to surrender, we went to his office and at about 21:30 began negotiations on the practical implementation of the decision. Lyash and his entourage expected that we would capture them and deliver them safely to the headquarters of the Soviet troops. My comrades and I could not agree with this, since the troops left to their own devices were fraught with the danger of conducting, although scattered, but associated with losses, hostilities. There was no one to consult with, and we took the initiative into our own hands. They determined the procedure for the surrender of German troops, where to lay down light weapons, how to stop the resistance of all troops and everywhere, how to bring the decision of the commandant to the headquarters of units and formations, and even how to ensure the safety of himself and the officers of the defense headquarters.
I demanded that Lyash write a written order to the subordinate troops and deliver them to the units as soon as possible with the messenger liaison officers. At first, Lyash, under various pretexts, tried to refuse such a step. And when the order was nevertheless written, it was signed only by the chief of staff, Colonel Zuskind. We had to demand that the commandant himself put his signature. By the way, during the negotiations at the headquarters, telephone calls were heard, the commanders of the units asked what they should do. Headquarters officers gave them verbal orders to cease fire and surrender without waiting for a written order. The commanders did just that.
During the negotiations, such an event also occurred. A group of armed SS men approached Lyash's bunker, led by the head of one of the departments of the Nazi Party Chancellery in Konigsberg, Lieutenant Colonel Fndler. These fascist fanatics were burning with the desire to break off the negotiations, to shoot the truce deputies and Lyash himself. But the bunker guard pushed the Nazis back, and we continued to work. This episode excited the German command more than us, who knew what they were doing and what the consequences could be. The bitter fate of our parliamentarians in Budapest, who were killed by Hitlerite fanatics, was known. Moreover, I allowed the prisoners to carry personal weapons before crossing the front line. Isn't it a paradox - we, unarmed parliamentarians, were leading armed captives.
At the headquarters of the group, it was decided to leave the head of the operational department to monitor the implementation of the order of the commandant. Our parliamentarians and prisoners crossed the front line again in the sector of the 27th Infantry Regiment. The parliamentarians, together with the prisoners, reached the headquarters of the division at about one in the morning. There, joyful comrades informed them that an hour ago at 2400 on April 9, Moscow had saluted the valiant troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, which had captured the city and fortress of Koenigsberg, with twenty-four artillery volleys from three hundred and twenty-four guns. In his order, the Supreme Commander thanked the participants in the assault. Subsequently, all of them were awarded the medal "For the Capture of Koenigsberg".
The surrender of German troops took place all night and all the next day. People in civilian clothes approached our soldiers with words of gratitude. These are those who were driven from different countries into fascist captivity and are now freed by Soviet troops.
Conclusion
The assault on Koenigsberg is not just one of the brightest episodes of the Great Patriotic War. It is something more that makes us think seriously about the many problems of today.
Yes, of course, this is a wonderful, talentedly conceived and masterfully executed large-scale military operation. Everything, from the beginning of hostilities in the territory of East Prussia to the capture of the naval fortress of Pillau, to the victorious liberation of this region from the Nazi troops. No matter how we remember it today, when we all have witnessed the high price paid in war for the mediocrity of military leadership of individual high-ranking military officials.
Of course, in a short chronicle story about the assault on Koenigsberg, many important pages of the battle are missing, they are covered in more detail in other publications devoted to this battle. Separately, we can and should talk about the railway troops, which ensured the uninterrupted supply of ammunition, food, and other necessary materials going to the assault. It was they who, in the shortest possible time, laid, altered and put into operation 552 kilometers of railway tracks, built 64 bridges. A successful assault on Koenigsberg would not have been possible without the selfless military labor of engineering and sapper troops. The role of the Baltic Fleet in the assault on Koenigsberg and Pillau is invaluable. Ships and submarines cut the enemy's sea communications, and naval aviation directly participated in the assault, supporting ground troops.
We must not forget that the French pilots of the Normandie-Neman regiment, which completed their combat career on this land, carried out wing-to-wing strikes against Koenigsberg with our aviators. I would like to mention those who made their invisible contribution to the events that took place. This is a group of German anti-fascists - soldiers, officers and generals from the Free Germany Committee, who, through loud-speaking radio installations advanced to the front lines of the attackers, appealed to their compatriots with an appeal not to support the fascist regime. And some of the anti-fascists, knowing full well what this threatened, again put on military uniforms and walked across the front line to the besieged Koenigsberg in order to carry the word of truth about the war unleashed by the Nazis to the enemy trenches.
But, most importantly, the assault on Koenigsberg once again proved the great power of patriotism. Approach the mass graves, and by the names of the dead you will see that the victory was forged by the sons of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, who never called their homeland “this country”. Touching their feat teaches us to love our country, to be proud of its glorious history. And the attempts made by individual circles to reverse the results of the Second World War and downplay the role of the Soviet people in it, who won a great victory over the aggressor and saved the world from the fascist plague, are in vain.
