The first assault on East Prussia by the Red Army: the Gumbinnen-Goldap operation
Quite a lot has already been written and said about the strategic importance for the Soviet command of the occupation of East Prussia, as well as about the capture of Königsberg on April 9, 1945. Meanwhile, the aforementioned successful assault was preceded by the Gumbinnen-Goldap operation, which was not so well known to the general public.
In the autumn of 1944, after the completion of Operation Bagration, Soviet troops came close to the borders of the Third Reich - East Prussia. The latter was rightfully considered "the stronghold of German militarism."
Based on the fact that the Wehrmacht troops during the Belarusian offensive operation suffered the largest in their entire history losses - the Army Group "Center" was simply destroyed, the command of the Red Army had an opinion about the inability of the German troops to build a reliable defense of East Prussia in a short period of time. In this regard, the commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, was instructed to develop an offensive operation and take Koenigsberg.
The Gumbinnen-Goldap operation began on October 16 with the most powerful artillery preparation and air strikes. According to some reports, the first line of defense of the Wehrmacht on the border of East Prussia was processed by 80 Pe-2 bombers and 500 Il-2 attack aircraft. Meanwhile, despite the well-coordinated work of artillery, aviation and mechanized units, it was not possible to break through the enemy defenses that day.
Only by October 18 did the troops of the 11th Guards Army reach the border of East Prussia. By October 20, units of the Red Army managed to advance 30 km deep into enemy territory. On the same day, the 2nd Guards tank corps of General Burdeyny - 210 T-34-85 tanks and 42 self-propelled guns.
On October 22, the Germans began to pull up their reserves in the form of the 5th Panzer Division, the motorized division "Hermann Goering" and the grenadier brigade "Fuhrer". According to Soviet officers, the enemy threw up to 180 tanks into battle.
As a result of the counterattack of the Wehrmacht, in the 2nd Guards Tank Corps of General Burdeiny, out of 210 tanks, about 100 remained. The Soviet troops had to leave the previously occupied city of Goldap.
On October 30, the 3rd Belorussian Front completely stopped the offensive, going on the defensive. The Gumbinnen-Goldap operation cost the Red Army 79 people, of which 527 people were killed. The Wehrmacht, according to Soviet data, lost more than 16 thousand people in killed alone.
One of the reasons for the failure of the aforementioned operation, historians call the huge involvement of the inhabitants of East Prussia in the confrontation. From the local people's grenadier divisions were formed and well armed, the total number of which reached 12,5 thousand people. In addition, the 103rd Tank Brigade (33 Panthers) and the 505th Tank Battalion (40 King Tigers) were sent to reinforce the grenadiers.
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