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Nevertheless, after quickly overcoming the initial difficulties, the Soviet advance gathered steam, and on [[24 January]] Soviet advance forces reached the shores of the [[Vistula Lagoon]] (part of the [[Baltic Sea]]), cutting off the German forces in East Prussia from a direct connection with Germany, forcing the Germans to supply the surrounded forces by sea. Those forces, now redesignated as [[Army Group North]], were compressed by further Soviet attacks into a pocket around Königsberg and on the adjacent [[Sambia|Samland]] [[peninsula]].
By late January 1945 the [[3rd Belorussian Front]] had surrounded KonigsbergKönigsberg on the landward side, severing road down the Samland peninsular to the port of [[Pillau]], and trapping the [[German Third Panzer Army]] and around 200,000 civilians in the city. The civilian provisions were so meagre that civilians were faced with three bleak alternatives. Stay in the city and starve, rations were cut during the siege to 180 grams of bread a day, cross the front lines and throw themselves on the mercies of the Soviets, or cross the ice of the [[Frisches Haff]] to [[Pillau]] and hope that they could find a place on an evacuation ship. Hundreds chose to cross the font line, but about 2,000 women and children a day chose to cross the ice on foot to Pillau. [[Erich Koch]] the Gauleiter of Königsberg on his return from a visit to Berlin chose to stay in the relative safety of Pillau to organise the evacuation rather than return to Königsberg. The first evacuation steamer from Pillau carrying 1,800 civilians and 1,200 wounded reached safety on the [[29 January]].<ref name="Beevor88-92">{{cite book | last = Beevor | first = Antony | authorlink = Antony Beevor | title =Berlin: The Downfall 1945 | url = http://www.antonybeevor.com/Berlin/berlinmenu.htm | year = 2002 | publisher = Penguin Books | id = ISBN 0670886955 | Page = pp 88-92}}</ref>
Throughout February there was desperate fighting as the Germans tried to maintain the narrow connection between Königsberg and Samland. For a time Soviet troops were successful in severing that connection and cutting the city off completely. But on the [[19 February]] the Third Panzer Army, and the [[German Fourth Army|Fourth Army]] attacking from the direction of Pillau, managed to force open a corridor from Königsberg to Pillau.<ref name="Beevor88-92"/>
Led by a captured Soviet [[T-34|T-34 tank]], this attack was spearheaded by the [[German 1st Infantry Division|1st Infantry Division]], from Königsberg intended to link with General [[Hans Gollnick|Hans Gollnick's]] [[German XXVIII Corps|XXVIII Corps]], which held parts of the Samland peninsula, including the vital port of Pillau. Capturing the town of [[Metgethen]], the unit opened the way for the [[German 5th Panzer Division|5th Panzer Division]] to join with Gollnick's forces near the town of [[Heydekrug|Gross Heydekrug]] the next day. This action solidifying the German defense of the area until April, re-opening the land route from Königsberg to Pillau, through which supplies could be delivered by ship and the wounded and refugees could be evacuated.This month-long battle is sometimes called the First Siege of Königsberg.<!-- some text from German 1st Infantry Division article--><ref>[[Christopher Duffy]] ''[http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0306805057&id=UQYa09g0dNMC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=konigsberg+1945&sig=XVCtgzdlLe-JfWnADwVOCL7GAvs Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945]''</ref><!-- some text copied from German 1st Infantry Division article-->
In March the situation stabilized, as by now the main front line had moved hundreds of kilometers to the west, and capturing the city became a much lower priority for the Soviets. Regardless, the garrison was intact and showed no signs of surrender. Eventually the Soviet command decided to capture the city.
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