Heiligenbeil Pocket: Difference between revisions

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Attempts by the Red Army to break through the German perimeter early in February were fought back, with the Fourth Army receiving heavy artillery support from the German ships ''[[German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer|Admiral Scheer]]'' and ''[[German pocket battleship Deutschland|Lützow]]'' firing across the Haff from the Baltic sea into the [[Frombork|Frauenburg]] end of the pocket.<ref name=duffyp204>Duffy, p.204</ref> Frauenburg itself was taken on February 9, in fierce fighting involving elements of the [[170th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|170th Infantry Division]].<ref name=frauenberg>See [http://eng.9may.ru/24.02.1945/eng_inform/m9004166 RIA Novosti archives]</ref> During one Soviet attack the [[3rd Belorussian Front]]'s commander, General [[Ivan Chernyakhovsky]], was killed by a shell splinter near [[Pieniężno|Mehlsack]]. His successor, Marshal [[Aleksandr Vasilevsky]], having effectively contained the remains of the Army Group, concentrated on assembling reinforcements over the next month. Under the supervision of Major-General [[Karl Henke]], the Germans continued to attempt resupply and evacuations of wounded along the Frische Nehrung, often at night to avoid air attack. A long, narrow corridor through to the besieged garrison of Königsberg was also maintained against the attacks of the [[11th Guards Army]] through a joint effort by the garrison, and by the [[Großdeutschland Division|Großdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division]].<ref name=duffyp162>Duffy, pp.161–2</ref>

Though the German forces in East Prussia had no realistic hope of victory, and were severely short of manpower, ammunition, and fuel, they continued to offer strong resistance, inflicting an extremely high casualties (584,788+) on the Red Army during the East Prussian Operation.<ref name=casualties>Official Soviet figures gave a total of 584,788 casualties for the entire area of the offensive during the period from 13 March – 25 April.</ref> ''Ad hoc'' battle groups were often bolstered by civilians press-ganged into the ''[[Volkssturm]]'', and many East Prussian villages and towns had been turned into fortified strongpoints, in addition to the substantial fortifications centred on [[Lidzbark Warmiński|Heilsberg]].<ref name=hastingsp307>Hastings, p.307</ref> The fighting was prolonged in order to keep open civilian escape routes, and because requests to evacuate the main body of the Fourth Army were refused by the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|German High Command]].

The Soviet attack, however, came tragically late for the remaining inmates of the [[Heiligenbeil concentration camp]], along with other camps in the area. Even as Hossbach's forces were attempting to break out of East Prussia, the prisoners were [[Palmnicken#Massacre of Palmnicken|driven to the coast]] and massacred.