The massive Soviet East Pomeranian Offensive took place in the eastern Pommern and Danzig-Westpreußen region from February 10 to April 4 1945 before the Berlin offensive could proceed. The Soviets had an extremely impressive array of forces confronting the Germans. The 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts in the north, with 12 armies, faced Heeresgruppe Mitte's three armies. On the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts the Soviets had 2,200,000 troops, 6,400 tanks and self-propelled assault guns, and 46,000 indirect-fire weapons. Against these two fronts Heeresgruppe A could muster 400,000 troops, 1,150 tanks, and 4,100 indirect-fire weapons. However, the Soviet forces took heavy casualties while penetrating westward, their greatest obstacle became the renewed fury of the German soldiers who were now fighting to defend their own homeland. Tens of thousands of German troops were sacrificed in trying to hold places that had little tactical or strategic significance.
The Wehrmacht was driven westward in the relentless tide of the Soviet offensive and along with the German Army was a mass of refugees fleeing in terror from the Red Army, fully aware that the Soviets were raping and crucifying women and young girls on their advance westward. East European women were not spared either. Nazi propaganda - originally meant to stiffen civil resistance by describing in gory and embellished detail Russian atrocities such as the
Nemmersdorf and
Metgethen massacres - often backfired and created panic. Large numbers of the inhabitants of the German provinces of East Prussia, Silesia, and Pomerania died during the evacuations. A significant percentage of this death toll occurred when evacuation columns encountered units of the Red Army. Civilians were run over by tanks, shot, or otherwise murdered. In addition, fighter bombers of the Red Air Force, whose presence was now unchallenged in the sky, flew bombing and strafing missions that targeted columns of refugees. Credit: Military historian Ian Baxter and Wikipedia inter alia. Top image: a Soviet T-34-85 tank crossing a chilly river in Silesia during the Pomeranian and Silesian offensives in 1945. USSR propaganda photo. PD. Middle images: German refugees from the East Prussian capital Königsberg fleeing massacres in their homeland in February 1945. The West German search service reported that 31,940 civilians from East Prussia alone, were confirmed as killed during the evacuation. Photos by Vinzenz Engel. Credit: Preußischer Kulturbesitz. FU. Bottom image: German soldiers surrendering to the Soviets in eastern Prussia in early 1945. Credit: Jääskeläinen. USSR photo. PD.
The Red Army was spreading communism in the heaviest-Stalinist form. Characteristic feature was the absolut contempt for human life, not only in the ranks of the enemy, but also in their civilian population. Red Army was responsible for thousands of Germans, Ukrainian, Latvian, Estonian, Polish and Romanian prisoners were slaughtered and bestial violence against their own population during their advance on Berlin.
ReplyDeleteThe Russians had never faced up to the atrocities committed by the Red Army. As everybody knows, at the time of the Great Patriotic War the Communists were engaged in an alcohol-induced frenzy of sadism and humiliation.
ReplyDeleteWe must not forget that the SS were actually nothing but murdering zelots and that Europe owes its freedom to the USSR. Furthermore, don't forget that most Germans were Nazi sympathizers who had condemned all non-Germans to a life of slavery. Thanks Moscow for saving humanity!
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DeleteZa Rodina . Za Stalina!
DeleteThe drama of the internet is that it has made the village fool a witness to the truth and social media has given the right of speach to armies of clowns like Colin Powis.
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DeleteThe Red (Soviet) Army is alleged to have raped two million women during the war, from ages thirteen to seventy. The women were mainly from countries they overran (incl. Germany) while fighting the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteColin Powis comment show that he is totally detached from reality.
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