Russia at war 1941-1945

[IVOVSS, vol. V, p. 57. This great superiority was, of course, far from being maintained throughout the subsequent fighting; with the Germans throwing in reserves, there was to be some extremely bitter fighting in many areas for the next four months, e.g. on the Oder, at Königsberg, etc.]

Further north, the troops of Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front also struck out.

By the 18th the whole picture was clear: Konev was overrunning southern Poland on his way to Silesia; Zhukov, central Poland towards the heart of Germany; Rokossovsky,

northern Poland on the way to Danzig. Meantime in the south, General Petrov (4th

Ukrainian Front) was advancing in the Carpathians and, in the north, Cherniakhovsky

(3rd Belorussian Front) was breaking deep into East Prussia.

A few dates and place names should suffice to illustrate the success of this offensive: January 18 Rokossovsky captured the fortress of Modlin. Konev captured Piotrkow.

January 19 Konev captured Cracow, almost intact.

January 20 Cherniakhovsky captured Tilsitt in East Prussia.

January 21 Cherniakhovsky captured Gumbinnen, and Rokossovsky Tannenberg, also in

East Prussia.

January 23 Zhukov captured Bygdoszcz (Bromberg) and Konev broke into Silesia and

reached the Oder along a forty-mile front.

January 24-26 Zhukov captured Kalisz, "on the way to Breslau". Rokossovsky broke through to the Bay of Danzig, thus almost isolating the German forces in East Prussia; Konev broke into the Polish Dombrowski coal basin.

January 29 Zhukov crossed the 1938 frontier into Germany, south-west of Poznan.

Poznan, and its large German garrison, was encircled and, two days later, Zhukov

penetrated into the province of Brandenburg, on his way to Frankfurt-on-the-Oder.

That was the setting in which Hitler was "celebrating" the 12th anniversary of his accession to power—with the Russians inside the province of Brandenburg! One last

obstacle, the Oder, and then— finis.

There was panic in Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were fleeing along all

roads to Berlin and beyond, in twenty-five or thirty degrees of frost. Many died by the roadside, and thousands were suffering from frostbite when they reached Berlin. If they were not, as a rule, strafed from the air, it was because among this torrent of refugees, with their lorries, horse-carts, hand-carts, babies and animals, there were also many non-Germans—war prisoners and slaves of all nationalities, who were being forcibly

evacuated—away from the front, away from the Russians. Hospitals in Berlin were

packed, the military barracks were almost empty, and the life of the capital was made an endless misery by massive air-raids from the West, the most devastating of which

precisely coincided with this influx of refugees from the East. The most fearful were the thousand-bomber night raids at the beginning of February, which set miles and miles of the city ablaze.

Before abandoning Tannenberg, the Germans blew up the immense Tannenberg war

memorial and took to Berlin the remains of Hindenburg and his wife. "We shall put it up again when East Prussia is liberated", the radio announcer said dismally. But Ditt-mar, the "radio general", was saying: "The position on the Eastern Front is incredibly grave", and they were interrupting the programmes with announcements of Terrorbomber, here, there and everywhere.

On January 30 Hitler himself spoke, lugubriously, like a voice from the grave. It was the last time his people were going to hear him speak. "By sparing my life on July 20, the Almighty has shown that He wishes me to continue as your Führer." No word of comfort, still less of apology came from him. Only: "German workers, work! German soldiers, fight! German women, be as fanatical as ever! No nation can do more." He then started prophesying how Europe, with Germany as her spearhead {an der Spitze), would yet defeat the hordes that England had called up from the steppes of central Asia.

Meanwhile, thousands of refugees were chasing along the Autobahnen and other roads to Berlin, where nobody wanted them. Berliners, aided by the police and the SS, were

driving them farther away—where to? 150,000 of those who had not fled to Berlin, fled to "impregnable" Königsberg, only to be trapped there, until the German garrison hacked a path through the Russian lines and they could flee to Danzig along the icy wastes of the lagoon and the strip of snow-covered dunes. But, before very long, Danzig itself was going to be cut off by the Russians.

The Russian offensive across Poland and deep into Germany was spectacular. The

Germans retreated to the Oder, but leaving behind various garrisons for delaying actions.