World War II: East Prussia (1939-45)

East Prussia World War II
Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in the East Prussian village of Eichen (May 1944). We see Oskar Von Frantzius with his wife Marie-Erika and their children Wolf-Dietrich, Gisela, Ruediger and Eckhard. Wolf-Dietrich wearsc Lederhosen and is barefoot. The von in the name suggests aristocratic connections. The children's clothings suggests that by 1944 the War was impinging on the lives of even well-to-do Germans. As a result of Goebbels Endsieg (Final Victory) propaganda, East Prussians like this had no idea how badly the War had gone and hiw close they were to disaster.

East Prussia was used by the NAZIs as a stagieng area for the invasion of Poland which launched World War II (September 1039). The lack of war damage changed dramtically after the tide of battle changed and Soviet armies approached East Prussia. Many Germans in East Prussia were killed in the war. There were heavy casualties in the Wehrmact soldiers fighting fighting on the Eastern Front. Soviet Operation Bragation destoyed German Army Group Center (June-August 1944). This was NAZI Germany's most powerful military formation. Goeebels Endseig (Final victory) propaganda misled Germans in East Prussia. They had no idea how badly the War had gone on the Eastern Front. Operaion Bragation opened up the movement of the Red Army into Easy Prussia and Poland. Two Allied bombing raids largely destroyed Königsberg (August 1944). As the Red Army moved into East Prussia, the shocked German population fled west. The NAZIs evacuated the population. Teenagers and middle-aged men were formed into the Volkstrum to face the advansing Red Army. Perhaps 0.3 million people may have died in the horific battle of Königsberg (April 1945). The Soviets after the War divided East Prussia. The western half was turned over to Poland. The Sovirts annexed the eastern half. It is tday Russian Kaliningrad.

NAZI Blitzkrieg of Poland (September 1939)

East Prussia was used by the NAZIs as a stagieng area for the invasion of Poland which launched World War II (September 1039).

Barbarossa (June 1941)

East Prussia served as a staging area for Army Group North which was part of a three-prong invasion of the Soviet Union--Operation Barbarossa (June 1941). Unlike World War I, the Germans moved so rapidly into the Soviet Union that there was virtually no war damage in East Prussia.

Soviet Invasion (1944-45)

The lack of war damage changed dramtically after the tide of battle changed and Soviet armies approached East Prussia. Many Germans in East Prussia were killed in the war. There were heavy casualties in the Wehrmact soldiers fighting fighting on the Eastern Front. Soviet Operation Bragation destoyed German Army Group Center (June-August 1944). This was NAZI Germany's most powerful military formation. It opened up the movement of the Red Army into Easy Prussia and Poland. Königsberg was a beautiful medieval city. It was targeted as part of the Allied strategic bombing campaign. East Prussia was beyond the effective range of Allied bombers until late in the War. The Allies struck Königsberg (August 26-27 and August 29-30, 1944), almost totally destroying the city. NAZI Gauleiter (Govenor) Erich Koch delayed the evacuation of the German civilian population until the Red Army actually approached the East Prussian border (late 1944). Civilians were shocked. They had no idea that the War had gone so badly. Propaganda Minister Gobbels Endsieg (Final Victory) propaganda muislead the German people about the course of the War. The Germans in East Prussians suffered the consequences as East Prussia was the first part of the Reuich that the Red Army reached. The result was tht the civilians fleeing west often overtaken by not only retreating Wehrmacht units, but the rapidly advancing Red Army given tremendous mobility by American Stubeker trucks delivered in huge numbers as part of Lend Lease. Goebbels began horific reports of Red army attrocities such as the Nemmersdorf massacre (October 1944) and widespread rape. The result was desperation among the German civilian populace. The NAZIs did not llow all civilians to flee. The NAZIs conscrioted teen agers and middke-age men into the Volksstrum to defend the province, especially Koninsberg which was designated a fortress city. Most of the women, children and old men, did manage to escape. There were last-minute sea evcacuations using ferries and other vessels. Thousands of civilians and wounded soldiers were killed when Soviet submarines sunk the Wilhelm Gustloff, the Goya, and the General von Steuben. The NAZIs in Königsberg finally surrendered (April 9, 1945). As many as 0.3 million people may nave been killed in the fight for Königsberg. The German flight from East Prussia was one of the largest mass exodus in history. The 2.2 million population at the beginning of the War was reduced to less than 0.2 million by the end of the War.

Disposition

After the defeat of World War II, the Soviets made East Prussia part of the new Polish state, except for Kaliningrad which is now part of Russia. The Soviets and Poles expelled the Germans from what had been East Prussia and other former German areas. This made room for the Poles which the Soviets expelled from Belarus and the Ukraine. This was one of the major forced populations movements in history and has not been well described in the historical record. A Polish reader writes, "This makes it sound as if the decision to expell Germans was made by Poles and the decission to expell Poles was made by the Soviets. Actually it was the decison of treaties from peace conferecies, signed by all countries (the United States, Germany, France as well as Poland, USSR)." [HBC note: I know America and the other Western Allies agreed to the Polish borders demanded by the Soviets, but I do not know to what extent the Western Allies approved of forced expullsions. Of course Germany did not sign a peace traty until several years after these forced expullsions. The Polish Government at the time was a tool of the Soviet Union. The subject, however, needs some looking into. I do know that Poland and Czechoslovakia passed laws expelling Germans and there were attacks by locals on Germans after the War which encouraged emmigration. These attacks may not have been sanction by authorities, but little was done to prevent them. Many first hand accounts describe the violence directed at those of German ancestry. We have begun to collect information on the HBC Volksdeutsche page. We know even less about how the Soviets handled the deportation of Poles, but it is a topic we hope to pursue.]







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Created: 12:01 AM 9/5/2008
Last updated: 12:01 AM 9/5/2008