Battle of Poznań (1945)
Battle of Poznań | |||||||
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Part of Eastern Front (WWII) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Soviet Union Poland |
Germany Hungary | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mikhail Katukov Vasily Chuikov |
Ernst Mattern Ernst Gonell † | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
8th Guards Army |
Garrison of Poznań Fortress 9th Army Volkssturm Hungarian battalion | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
100,000 Soviet soldiers 5,000 Polish soldiers | 15,000 – 20,000[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4,887[2] – 6,000[3] KIA 700 Polish killed Unknown wounded |
Unknown killed 17,150 captured[4] | ||||||
The Battle of Poznań (Battle of Posen) during
Background
The city of Poznań, then known as Posen, had been part of Prussia since 1815 and later Germany, before being given to Poland with the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, the city lay in the west part of Poland which was annexed by Nazi Germany, with the city being the local capital of Reichsgau Wartheland.
By 1945, the Red Army advances on the
Certain cities which lay on the path of the Soviet advance were declared by
The defenders made use of some of the surviving
. . . underground structures each with several storeys, the whole projecting above the surrounding terrain. Only a mound was visible above ground -- the layer of earth covering the rest. Each fort was ringed by a ditch ten metres wide and eight metres deep, with walls revetted with brickwork. Across the ditch was a bridge, leading to one of the upper storeys. Among the forts, to the rear, there were one-storey brick bunkers. These were clad in concrete almost a full metre thick, and were used as stores. The upper works of the forts were sufficiently strong to provide reliable protection against heavy artillery fire. . . . the enemy would be able to direct fire of all kinds against us both on the approaches to the forts and within them, on the rampart. The embrasures were such that flanking fire from rifles and machine-guns could be directed from them.[9]
The city encircled
Poznań lay on the main route between Warsaw and Berlin, and in German hands, it was a serious obstacle to any Soviet operation against the German capital. Thus, the Red Army had to clear the city of German troops before the final assaults designed to capture Berlin and end the war could begin.
On 21 January 1945 the Soviet
By 25 January, the Soviet
On 28 January, the German high command relieved
Ultimately, the reduction of Festung Posen consumed the efforts of four divisions from Chuikov's army and two divisions of Colonel-General
The capture of Poznań
In bitter combat that saw the outlying forts reduced and city blocks seized, the Soviets succeeded in pushing the German defenders towards the city center and the
Generalmajor Gonell had previously believed that other German forces would attack and relieve his besieged forces, but by 15 February came to the realization that this was not going to happen. Incensed, he ordered his troops that were east of the Warta River to attempt to break out, and some 2,000 German soldiers managed to infiltrate the Red Army lines and head west on the following night.
Arrayed against the citadel was the 29th Guards Rifle Corps, with the 27th Guards Rifle Division on the north, the 82nd Guards Rifle Division on the southwest, and the 74th Guards Rifle Division on the southeast. The final Soviet assault on the citadel started on 18 February. Before the Red Army troops lay a deep ditch matched by a steep rampart on the far side. In an odd echo of medieval warfare, the Soviet forces used ladders to cross this obstacle but found themselves swept by fire from the citadel's redoubts. These redoubts took the better part of three days to neutralize; one was silenced by flamethrowers and explosives, the other's line of fire was blocked by debris thrown in front of the firing ports by exasperated Soviet troops.
Having built an assault bridge, Red Army tanks and assault guns crossed into the main grounds of the citadel early on 22 February, commencing the final struggle for the old fortress. At this point, Generalmajor Gonell gave his troops permission to attempt to escape, but it was too late. Gonell refused to be captured and committed suicide by lying down on a flag and shooting himself in the head.
That evening, Generalmajor Mattern, once again in charge of the German forces, surrendered the remaining 12,000 German soldiers to General Chuikov.[12] On the evening of 22 February, Colonel-General Chuikov was informed by General Bakanov, commander of the 74th Guards Rifle Division, that the citadel's garrison had surrendered. Fifteen minutes later he met General Mattern who Chuikov described as "an incredibly stout man". Mattern squeezed his frame through the door puffing and snorting and "regaining his breath handed me a note from (the now deceased) General Konnel asking the Soviet commander General Bakanov to take care of the German wounded. 'Where is Konnel?' I asked. 'He shot himself.' When asked how he himself felt, General Mattern shrugged; 'It's all the same to me. I'm not a member of the Nazi Party and I would not have shed blood needlessly knowing that resistance was pointless. Hitler is finished'." .[13]
Aftermath
The Germans held out in Poznań for almost a month. Doubtlessly, their possession of the city complicated Soviet resupply efforts, but other influences had also convinced the
The battle left over half (90% in the city center) of Poznań severely damaged by artillery fire and the effects of infantry combat in the city blocks.[citation needed] The battle definitively reduced the old Prussian fortress system which today stands mostly as monuments to an earlier military era. Finally, the outcome of the battle simplified Soviet resupply efforts between Warsaw and the Oder River.
Over 5,000 German troopers who fell in the battle are buried at Milostowo cemetery. The Soviets are estimated to have lost over 12,000 men by the battle's midpoint around 3 February 1945.[citation needed]
Today, the
Footnotes
- ^ a b Isaev 2021, p. 95.
- ^ Isaev 2021, p. 120.
- ^ Vgl. dazu Schwendemann/Dietsche (2003), S. 158–161 und 166–169.
- ^ Isaev 2021, p. 119.
- ^ The storm operation recalled the breaking of a medieval siege, Erickson, p. 523
- ^ Duffy, p. 249, Erickson, p. 523
- ^ Erickson, p. 470, Baumann, p. 11
- ^ Duffy, p. 102. Some of the larger German units were the Fifth Infantry Officer Candidate School, Assault Gun Replacement Battalion 500, five Landesschützen battalions, one Volkssturm Battalion, Air Force Replacement Battalions I and IV, Fortress Antitank Battalion 102, Police Regiment Schallert, Kampfgruppe Lenzer, and six batteries of fortress artillery.
- ^ Chuikov, pp. 98-99
- ^ Duffy, p. 101.
- ^ Chuikov, pp. 97-98, and Baumann, p. 269.
- ^ Duffy, p. 250.
- ^ Fallen Eagle, Robin Cross, p. 185.
Article Sources
- Baumann, Günther. Posen '45, Düsseldorf: Hilfsgemeinschaft ehemaliger Posenkämpfer, 1995.
- Chuikov, Vasily. The Fall of Berlin, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1968.
- Duffy, Christopher. Red Storm on the Reich, New York: Athenum Press, 1991. ISBN 0-689-12092-3.
- Erickson, John. The Road to Berlin, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07813-7.
- Isaev, Alexey (2021). Hitler's Fortresses in the East: The Sieges of Ternopol', Kovel', Poznan and Breslau, 1944–1945. Pen and Sword Military. ISBN 978-1526783950.
- Szumowski, Zbigniew. Boje o Poznań 1945, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1985. ISBN 83-210-0578-0.