Battle of Königsberg
The Battle of Königsberg, also known as the Königsberg offensive, was one of the last operations of the East Prussian offensive during World War II. In four days of urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg, present day Kaliningrad, Russia. The siege started in late January 1945 when the Soviets initially surrounded the city. Heavy fighting took place for control of overland connection between Königsberg and the port of Pillau, however by March 1945 Königsberg was hundreds of kilometres behind the main front line in the eastern front. The battle ended when the German garrison surrendered to the Soviets on 9 April after a three-day assault made their position untenable.
| Battle of Königsberg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Eastern Front, East Prussian offensive of World War II | |||||||||
Königsberg defenses and Soviet attack from 6 to 9 April 1945. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Germany |
Soviet Union Air support: France | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Otto Lasch (POW) |
Ivan Chernyakhovsky † Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy Ivan Bagramyan Konstantin Rokossovskiy | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 60,000–130,000, 4,000 artillery guns and mortars, 108 tanks and assault guns, 170 aircraft | 137,000 (24,500 participated in active phase with rest supporting), 5,200 artillery guns and mortars, 528 tanks and SPG, 2174 aircraft | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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50,000 killed and wounded 80,000 taken prisoner According to Soviet information, the Germans lost 42,000 soldiers killed and wounded and 92,000 people were captured, about 25–30,000 of those captured were civilians. | Total Unknown. Russian sources state at least 3,700 killed for the final assault | ||||||||