East Prussian offensive
The East Prussian offensive was a strategic offensive by the Soviet Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front (World War II). It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May. The Battle of Königsberg was a major part of the offensive, which ended in victory for the Red Army.
| East Prussian offensive | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||||
Soviet offensive in East Prussia | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Soviet Union |
Germany Italian Social Republic | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Konstantin Rokossovsky Aleksandr Vasilevsky Ivan Bagramyan |
Georg-Hans Reinhardt Lothar Rendulic Friedrich Hossbach Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Erhard Raus Walter Weiß Dietrich von Saucken | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Red Army Soviet Navy |
Wehrmacht
Volkssturm IX Settembre | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 1,669,100 men, 3,000 tanks, 25,000 guns, 3,000 aircraft | 580,000 men, 200,000 Volkssturm troopers, 700 tanks, 8200 guns and 700 aircraft | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
126,464 dead or missing 458,314 wounded and sick |
Unknown killed or wounded 220,000 captured | ||||||||
The East Prussian offensive is known to German historians as the second East Prussian offensive. The first East Prussian offensive (also known as the Gumbinnen Operation), took place from 16 to 27 October 1944, and was carried out by the 3rd Belorussian Front under General I.D. Chernyakhovsky as part of the Memel offensive of the 1st Baltic Front. The Soviet forces took heavy casualties while penetrating 30–60 km (19–37 mi) into east-northern part of Poland, and the offensive was postponed until greater reserves could be gathered.