Battle of Memel
Battle of Memel | |
---|---|
Part of the Klaipeda, Lithuania) 55°40′N 21°30′E / 55.667°N 21.500°E | |
Result | Soviet victory |
Territorial changes |
The Soviet Union annexes Memel and awards it to the Lithuanian SSR |
(Third Panzer Army)
Hans Gollnick
(XXVIII Corps)
(1st Baltic Front
The Battle of Memel or the siege of Memel (German: Erste Kurlandschlacht) was a battle which took place on the Eastern Front during World War II. The battle began when the Red Army launched its Memel offensive operation (Russian: Мемельская наступательная операция) in late 1944. The offensive drove remaining German forces in the area that is now Lithuania and Latvia into a small bridgehead in Klaipėda (Memel) and its port, leading to a three-month siege of that position.
The bridgehead was finally crushed as part of the subsequent Soviet East Prussian offensive in early 1945.
Prelude
The Soviet
Soviet General Bagramyan planned to make his main attack in a 19 km sector to the west of Šiauliai. He concentrated up to half of his entire force in this area, using concealment techniques to avoid a corresponding build-up of German forces, and attempting to convince the German command that the main axis of attack would be towards Riga.[1]
Deployments
Wehrmacht
- Various units of the Kriegsmarine.
- Northern wing of the 3rd Panzer Army (General Erhard Raus)
- Remnants of the 551st Volksgrenadier Division
- XXVIII Corps (General Hans Gollnick) The corps was encircled in Memel bridgehead.
- Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland (2 regiments)
- 7th Panzer Division (part)
- 58th Infantry Division
- XL Panzer Corps (General Sigfrid Henrici)
- 5th Panzer Division
- 548th Volksgrenadier Division
- Remnants of the
At the end of November Panzer-Grenadier-Division "GrossDeutschland" and 7th Panzer Division were withdrawn and replaced by the 95th Infantry Division.
Red Army
- Hovhannes Bagramyan)
- 5th Guards Tank Army (General Vasily Volsky)
- 43rd Army (Lieutenant-General Afanasy Beloborodov)
- 51st Army (Lieutenant-General Yakov Kreizer)
- 4th Shock Army (Lieutenant-General Pyotr Malyshev)
- 6th Guards Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Chistyakov)
- 3rd Belorussian Front
- 39th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Lyudnikov)
Offensive
On 5 October, Bagramyan opened the offensive against Raus's
The neighbouring Army Group commander,
The success of the offensive in the northern sector encouraged the Soviet command to authorise the 3rd Belorussian Front to attempt to break through into the main area of East Prussia. This offensive, the Gumbinnen Operation, ran into extremely strong German resistance and was halted within a few days.
Siege
The stalling of the
The blockade, and defence, was maintained through November, December and much of January, during which period the remaining civilians who had fled into the town, and military wounded, were evacuated by sea. During this time, the Großdeutschland and 7th Panzer Divisions were withdrawn, having suffered heavy losses, and were replaced by the 95th Infantry Division, which arrived by sea.
The town was finally abandoned on 27 January 1945. The success of the Soviet East Prussian offensive to the south made the position of the bridgehead untenable, and it was decided to withdraw the XXVIII Corps from the town into Samland to assist in the defence there; the remaining troops of the 95th and 58th Infantry Divisions were evacuated to the Curonian Spit, where the 58th Division acted as a rearguard for the withdrawal.[6] The last organized German units left at 4am on 28 January, Soviet units taking possession of the harbour a few hours later.
Aftermath
Memel, which had been part of
See also
- 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
- Operation Hannibal, the evacuation effort by the Kriegsmarine beginning January 1945
- East Prussian Operation, Soviet offensive that finally eliminated the Memel pocket
- Courland Pocket
Footnotes
- ^ Glantz, pp..434-5
- ^ Mitcham, p.151
- ^ Glantz, p.440
- ^ Mitcham, p.152
- ^ Prager, pp. 318-331
- Palmnickenin mid-April.
- ^ Wellmann, Christian. "Recognising Borders: Coping with Historically Contested Territory" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-06. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
References
- ISBN 0-7146-3347-X, accessed January 4, 2024
- Mitcham, Samuel W (2007). The German Defeat in the East, 1944–45. Mechanicsburg, PA: ISBN 978-0-8117-3371-7. Retrieved January 4, 2023 – via Google Books.
- Prager, Hans Georg (2002). Panzerschiff Deutschland, Schwerer Kreuzer Lützow: ein Schiffs-Schicksal vor den Hintergründen seiner Zeit [Armored Ship Deutschland, Heavy Cruiser Lützow: A Ship's Fate in the Circumstances of its Time] (in German). Hamburg: Koehler. ISBN 978-3-7822-0798-0.
Further reading
- Map of the Soviet Advance into East Prussia & Siege of Königsberg January 13 - May 9, 1945 This shows clearly how Memel was already surrounded and besieged.
- ISBN 0-306-81409-9