Pretentiously pompously executed for the money of patrons, the grave of a Soviet soldier near the ruins of the Balga castle (Bagrationovsky district of the Kaliningrad region). At the same time, during the construction of this inappropriate memorial, a memorial plaque was barbarously destroyed, installed here in the fall of 2014 by the Kaliningrad public in memory of the feat of the Red Army soldier Mikhail Markov. The pictures were taken on May 16, 2017 by a military journalist of the FSB of Russia, Grigory ZUEVIEM.
Let me remind you who the Red Army soldier Mikhail Markov is:
Born in 1925 in the village of Potemkino of the Shelomyansky village council (now do not exist) of the Krasnoborsky district of the Arkhangelsk region. Russian. Peasant worker. Relatives as of the beginning of 1945: mother - Markova Klavdiya Pavlovna; lived in the place where her son was born.
Education: in 1941 - incomplete secondary school at home; in October 1943 - courses for junior lieutenants of the Arkhangelsk military district.
During the rally to December 1941, on the Komsomol mobilization, he worked on the construction of defensive structures on the territory of the former Karelian-Finnish SSR for the needs of the active Red Army. He was sent home due to severe physical exhaustion.
He was mobilized for military service on February 18, 1943 by the Krasnoborsky RVC. The first position here is a Red Army soldier of the 33rd reserve rifle regiment of the 29th reserve rifle division of the Arkhangelsk military district (Arkhangelsk military garrison).
In the active army since about the spring or summer of 1943. In a combat situation, he was wounded. Upon recovery, he was seconded to study at the Junior Lieutenant Courses of the Arkhangelsk Military District, which he successfully completed in October 1943, specializing in the Signal Corps.
In October 1943, junior lieutenant M.A. Markov, while still in Arkhangelsk, committed an offense discrediting the honor of a Soviet officer, for which in the same month he was demoted to the rank and file by the Military Tribunal of the Arkhangelsk Military District with a direction to atone for guilt with blood in the ranks of the active Red Army.
According to the materials of the Krasnoborsky RVC of the Arkhangelsk region for 1946 (TsAMO: f. 58, op. 977520, d. 45; results of a door-to-door survey), as of October 1943 - a soldier of the 404th separate linear communications battalion, a Red Army soldier.
Approximately from the spring of 1944, the Red Army soldier M.A. Markov is a submachine gunner of the 55th Rifle Regiment of the 176th Rifle (later the Masurian Order of Suvorov) Division (II f) of the 32nd Army of the Karelian Front. In this capacity, he distinguished himself during the August battles of the forty-fourth, for which, on the basis of the order of the commander of the 55th Infantry Regiment No. 067 of August 21, 1944, he was awarded the medal "For Courage" (No. 1202809; certificate No. B249375).
On February 19, 1945, during the battle that the 55th Infantry Regiment fought that day near the East Prussian settlement of Langendorf (2 km north of the modern village of Kornevo, Bagrationovsky District), he was wounded and evacuated for treatment to the 128th separate medical and sanitary battalion 176 th Rifle Masurian Order of Kutuzov Division (II f), but did not arrive there. Due to this circumstance, he was officially registered as missing in February 1945.
The remains of the Red Army soldier M.A. Markov were discovered on April 13, 2004 by officers of the anti-terrorism department of the Operational Investigative Unit under the Western Department of Internal Affairs during the conduct of operational-search activities against representatives of the black arms market in the region in the Bagrationovsky district (northern suburbs of the village of Pyatidorozhnoye).
Based on indirect signs(location of skeletons, weapons, etc.), the Soviet soldier died heroically in an unequal hand-to-hand fight, having single-handedly destroyed six Nazis, including an officer with the rank of Lieutenant of the Luftwaffe.
The identity of the deceased hero was identified in August 2004 by the medal "For Courage" No. 1202809 found on him - through an inquiry to the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The next day, after receiving an official response from TsAMO, employees of the counter-terrorism department of the ORC at the Western Department of Internal Affairs, through colleagues from the Krasnoborsky RVC of the Arkhangelsk Region, found relatives of the Red Army soldier M.A. living there. Markov and contacted them by phone.
On September 9, 2004, representatives of the leadership of the Western Department of Internal Affairs and the command of the twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet, during a military mourning ceremony, handed over to the representatives of the official delegation of the Arkhangelsk region (headed by I.I. Ivlev), which included the nephew of the deceased soldier, V.A. Bazhukov, the remains of the Red Army soldier M.A. Markov for reburial at home.
On September 15, 2004, he was buried with military honors in the cemetery of the village of Krasnoborsk, the regional center of the Arkhangelsk region.
At the request of the head of the Western Department of Internal Affairs, Major General of Police A.I. Chaplygin by the command of the twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet at the end of April 2005 was posthumously presented for awarding the Order of Courage by the President of the Russian Federation, however, unfortunately, this presentation was not implemented at the level of the Main Command of the Navy in the summer of that year.
Immortalized in the Kaliningrad region. So, in the area of the death of a soldier - near the ruins of the Balga castle - on May 8, 2004, at the initiative of the journalist of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, holder of the Order of A.I. Ryabushev and the leadership of the Kaliningrad regional military commissariat during a rally organized by the leadership of the Pyatidorozhnaya rural administration of the Bagrationovsky district, a commemorative marble slab was installed for the first time: “To an unknown soldier, holder of the medal “For Courage” No. 1202809, who died in an unequal battle with six Nazis near the Balga castle in the spring of 1945."
On September 8, 2004, at the initiative of the Military Memorial Group at the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet, also during the rally, this plate was replaced with another one: “In memory of the feat of the Red Army soldier Mikhail Alekseevich MARKOV, born in 1925. 02/19/1945 died a heroic death in an unequal hand-to-hand fight, destroying 6 Nazis. The former one was handed over to representatives of the official delegation of the Arkhangelsk region for eternal storage in a museum in the hero's homeland.
In addition, the name of the Red Army soldier M.A. Markov is immortalized in the 18th volume of the Kaliningrad Regional Book of Memory "Let's call by name" - ss. 400-401 and pp. 445.
One of the most significant operations carried out by the Red Army in 1945 was the assault on Königsberg and the liberation of East Prussia.
Fortifications of the Grolman upper front, the Oberteich bastion after the surrender /
Fortifications of the Grolman upper front, Oberteich bastion. Courtyard.
Troops of the 10th Tank Corps of the 5th Guards Tank Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front occupy the city of Mühlhausen (now the Polish city of Mlynary) during the Mlavsko-Elbing operation.
German soldiers and officers taken prisoner during the assault on Koenigsberg.
A column of German prisoners is walking along the Hindenburg-Strasse in the city of Insterburg (East Prussia), towards the Lutheran Church (now the city of Chernyakhovsk, Lenin Street).
Soviet soldiers carry the weapons of their dead comrades after the battle in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are learning to overcome the barbed wire.
Soviet officers visiting one of the forts in the occupied Koenigsberg.
Machine-gun crew MG-42 firing near the railway station of the city of Goldap in battles with Soviet troops. 
Ships in the frozen harbor of Pillau (now Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region of Russia), late January 1945.
Koenigsberg, Tragheim district after the assault, damaged building.
German grenadiers are moving towards the last Soviet positions near the railway station of the city of Goldap.
Koenigsberg. Barracks Kronprinz, tower.
Koenigsberg, one of the fortifications.
The air support ship "Hans Albrecht Wedel" receives refugees in the harbor of Pillau.
Advanced German detachments enter the city of Goldap in East Prussia, which was previously occupied by Soviet troops.
Koenigsberg, panorama of the ruins of the city.
The corpse of a German woman killed by an explosion in Metgethen in East Prussia.
The Pz.Kpfw. belonging to the 5th Panzer Division. V Ausf. G "Panther" on the street of the town of Goldap.
A German soldier hanged on the outskirts of Königsberg for looting. The inscription in German "Plündern wird mit-dem Tode bestraft!" translates as "Whoever robs will be executed!"
A Soviet soldier in a German Sdkfz 250 armored personnel carrier on a street in Koenigsberg.
Units of the German 5th Panzer Division are moving forward for a counterattack against the Soviet troops. District Kattenau, East Prussia. Tank Pz.Kpfw ahead. V Panther.
Koenigsberg, barricade on the street.
A battery of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns is preparing to repel a Soviet tank attack. East Prussia, mid-February 1945.
German positions on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. The inscription reads: "We will defend Koenigsberg." Propaganda photo.
Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-122S is fighting in Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front, April 1945.
German sentry on the bridge in the center of Koenigsberg.
A Soviet motorcyclist passes German self-propelled guns StuG IV and 105-mm howitzers abandoned on the road.
A German landing craft evacuating troops from the Heiligenbeil pocket enters the harbor of Pillau.
Koenigsberg, blown up pillbox.
Destroyed German self-propelled gun StuG III Ausf. G against the background of the Kronprinz tower, Königsberg.
Koenigsberg, panorama from the Don tower.
Kenisberg, April 1945. View of the Royal Castle
German StuG III assault gun shot down in Koenigsberg. In the foreground is a dead German soldier.
German vehicles on Mitteltragheim street in Koenigsberg after the assault. To the right and left are StuG III assault guns, in the background is a JgdPz IV tank destroyer.
Grolman upper front, Grolman bastion. Before the surrender of the fortress, it housed the headquarters of the 367th Wehrmacht Infantry Division.
On the street of the port of Pillau. German soldiers being evacuated leave their weapons and equipment before being loaded onto ships.
A German 88 mm FlaK 36/37 anti-aircraft gun abandoned on the outskirts of Koenigsberg.
Koenigsberg, panorama. Don Tower, Rossgarten Gate.
Königsberg, German bunker in the Horst Wessel Park area.
Unfinished barricade on Duke Albrecht Alley in Königsberg (now Telman Street).
Koenigsberg, destroyed German artillery battery.
German prisoners at the Sackheim Gate of Koenigsberg.
Koenigsberg, German trenches.
German machine-gun crew in position in Koenigsberg near the Don tower.
German refugees on Pillau Street pass by a column of Soviet self-propelled guns SU-76M.
Konigsberg, Friedrichsburg Gate after the assault.
Koenigsberg, Wrangel tower, moat.
View from the Don Tower to the Oberteich (Upper Pond), Koenigsberg.
On the street of Koenigsberg after the assault.
Koenigsberg, Wrangel tower after the surrender.
Corporal I.A. Gureev at the post at the border marker in East Prussia.
Soviet unit in a street fight in Koenigsberg.
Traffic controller sergeant Anya Karavaeva on the way to Koenigsberg.
Soviet soldiers in the city of Allenstein (now the city of Olsztyn in Poland) in East Prussia.
Artillerymen of Lieutenant Sofronov's Guards are fighting on Avaider Alley in Koenigsberg (now - Alley of the Brave).
The result of an air strike on German positions in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are fighting on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front.
Soviet armored boat No. 214 in the Konigsberg Canal after the battle with a German tank.
German collection point for defective captured armored vehicles in the Königsberg area.
Evacuation of the remnants of the division "Grossdeutschland" in the area of Pillau.
Abandoned in Koenigsberg German technology. In the foreground is a 150 mm sFH 18 howitzer.
Koenigsberg. Bridge across the moat to Rossgarten Gate. Don tower in the background
Abandoned German 105-mm howitzer le.F.H.18/40 in position in Königsberg.
A German soldier lights a cigarette at a StuG IV self-propelled gun.
A destroyed German tank Pz.Kpfw is on fire. V Ausf. G "Panther". 3rd Belorussian Front.
Soldiers of the "Grossdeutschland" division are loaded on homemade rafts for crossing the Frisches-Huff Bay (now the Kaliningrad Bay). Balga Peninsula, Cape Kalholz.
Soldiers of the division "Grossdeutschland" in positions on the Balga Peninsula.
Meeting of Soviet soldiers on the border with East Prussia. 3rd Belorussian Front.
The bow of a German transport sinking as a result of an attack by Baltic Fleet aircraft off the coast of East Prussia.
The pilot-observer of the reconnaissance aircraft Henschel Hs.126 takes pictures of the area during a training flight.
Destroyed German assault gun StuG IV. East Prussia, February 1945.
Seeing Soviet soldiers from Koenigsberg.
The Germans inspect a wrecked Soviet T-34-85 tank in the village of Nemmersdorf.
Tank "Panther" from the 5th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht in Goldap.
German soldiers armed with Panzerfaust grenade launchers next to the MG 151/20 aircraft gun in the infantry version.
A column of German Panther tanks is moving towards the front in East Prussia.
Broken cars on the street taken by storm Koenigsberg. Soviet soldiers are in the background.
Troops of the Soviet 10th Panzer Corps and the bodies of German soldiers on Mühlhausen Street.
Soviet sappers walk down the street of the burning Insterburg in East Prussia.
A column of Soviet IS-2 tanks on a road in East Prussia. 1st Belorussian Front.
A Soviet officer inspects a German self-propelled gun "Jagdpanther" shot down in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are sleeping, resting after the battles, right on the street of Koenigsberg, taken by storm.
Koenigsberg, anti-tank barriers.
German refugees with a baby in Königsberg.
A short rally in the 8th company after reaching the state border of the USSR.
A group of pilots of the Normandy-Neman air regiment near the Yak-3 fighter in East Prussia.
A sixteen-year-old Volkssturm soldier armed with an MP 40 submachine gun. East Prussia.
Construction of fortifications, East Prussia, mid-July 1944.
Refugees from Königsberg moving towards Pillau, mid-February 1945.
German soldiers at a halt near Pillau.
German quad anti-aircraft gun FlaK 38, mounted on a tractor. Fischhausen (now Primorsk), East Prussia.
Civilians and a captured German soldier on Pillau Street during garbage collection after the end of the fighting for the city.
Boats of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under repair in Pillau (now the city of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region of Russia).
German auxiliary ship "Franken" after the attack of Il-2 attack aircraft of the KBF Air Force.
Explosion of bombs on the German ship "Franken" as a result of the attack of Il-2 attack aircraft of the KBF Air Force
A breach from a heavy shell in the wall of the Oberteich bastion of the fortifications of the Grolman Upper Front of Koenigsberg.
The bodies of two German women and three children allegedly killed by Soviet soldiers in the town of Metgeten in East Prussia in January-February 1945. Propaganda German photo.
Transportation of the Soviet 280-mm mortar Br-5 in East Prussia.
Distribution of food to Soviet soldiers in Pillau after the end of the fighting for the city.
Soviet soldiers pass through a German settlement on the outskirts of Koenigsberg.
Broken German assault gun StuG IV on the streets of the city of Allenstein (now Olsztyn, Poland.)
Soviet infantry, supported by self-propelled guns SU-76, attacked German positions in the area of Koenigsberg.
A column of self-propelled guns SU-85 on the march in East Prussia.
Sign "Autoroute to Berlin" on one of the roads of East Prussia.
Explosion on the tanker "Sassnitz". The tanker with a cargo of fuel was sunk on March 26, 1945, 30 miles from Liepaja by aircraft of the 51st Mine-Torpedo Aviation Regiment and the 11th Assault Air Division of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet.
Air Force KBF aircraft bombardment of German transports and port facilities of Pillau.
The German ship-floating base hydroaviation "Boelcke" ("Boelcke"), attacked by the Il-2 squadron of the 7th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet, 7.5 km southeast of Cape Hel.
September 1944 - February 1945
On January 19, 1945, he received an order by radio to remove posts, relocate a platoon to the village of T. and wait for further instructions.
Three months ago we already crossed the border of East Prussia.
One of the divisions of our army made a breach in the defensive barriers on the border.
The sappers filled up the ditch, destroyed five lines of barbed wire barriers and eliminated another ditch or rampart. Thus, a hole fifteen meters wide was formed in the barriers, inside which a country road from Poland to East Prussia passed ...
A hundred meters later the highway began, on the right and on the left there was a forest, a few kilometers - and the road to the Hollubien manor. It was a two-story, red-tiled house surrounded by all sorts of services.
Inside, the walls were decorated with carpets and tapestries from the 17th century.
In one of the offices, a picture of Rokotov hung on the wall, and next to and throughout the house there were many family photographs, daguerreotypes of the beginning of the century, generals, officers surrounded by smart ladies and children, then officers in helmets with shakos who returned from the war of 1914, and very recent photographs: boys with armbands with swastikas and their sisters, apparently students, and, finally, photographs of young SS lieutenants lost on the fronts of Russia, the last generation of this traditionally military aristocratic family.
Between the photographs hung family portraits of the Prussian barons, and suddenly again two paintings - one by Rokotov, and the other by Borovikovsky, trophy portraits of Russian generals, their children and wives.
Our infantrymen and tankers, who visited this "museum" before us, did not remain indifferent to hunting lodge Prussian kings: all the mirrors enclosed in gilded frames were broken by them, all the featherbeds and pillows were ripped open, all the furniture, all the floors were covered with a layer of fluff and feathers. In the corridor hung a tapestry reproducing the famous painting by Rubens "The Birth of Aphrodite from the Foam of the Sea." Someone, carrying out his revenge on the conquerors, wrote a popular word of three letters across with black oil paint.
Tapestry one and a half meters, with three letters, reminded me of my Moscow, pre-war passion for art. I rolled it up and put it in my captured German suitcase, which had served me as a pillow for three months.
Looked out the window.
The farmstead, which consisted of a traveling palace and brick service buildings, was surrounded by a cast-iron grate, and behind the grate, in the green meadows, as far as the eye could see, an incredible number of huge black-and-white thoroughbred cows wandered, groaned and mooed. A week has passed since the Germans - both the troops and the population - left without fighting. Nobody milked the cows.
Swollen udder, pain, moaning. Two of my telephone operators, formerly village girls, milked several buckets of milk, but it was bitter, and we did not drink it. Then I noticed the infernal fuss in the yard. One of the signalers found a chicken coop among the brick buildings, opened the iron gates, and hundreds of hungry thoroughbred chickens ran out into the yard. My soldiers seemed to go crazy. They ran and jumped like crazy, catching chickens and tearing off their heads. Then they found the boiler. Gutted and plucked.
There were already more than a hundred chickens in the cauldron, and there were forty-five people in my platoon. And so they cooked the broth and ate until, from fatigue, they fell down somewhere and fell asleep. It was the evening of our first day in East Prussia.
Two hours later, my entire platoon fell ill. They woke up, quickly jumped up and ran behind the chicken coop.
In the morning, a messenger from the company headquarters arrived in a truck and unfolded a topographic map.
A few kilometers from the border, and therefore, from us, was the rich East Prussian city of Goldap.
The day before, our divisions surrounded it, but there were no residents or German soldiers in the city, and when the regiments and divisions entered the city, the generals and officers completely lost control over them. Infantrymen and tankers fled to apartments and shops.
Through broken shop windows, all the contents of stores were dumped onto the sidewalks of the streets.
Thousands of pairs of shoes, dishes, radios, dinner sets, all kinds of household and pharmacy goods and products - all mixed up.
And from the windows of the apartments they threw clothes, linen, pillows, feather beds, blankets, paintings, gramophones and musical instruments. Barricades were set up in the streets. And it was at this time that the German artillery and mortars began to work. Several German reserve divisions almost instantly threw our demoralized units out of the city. But at the request of the front headquarters, it was already reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief about the capture of the first German city. I had to take the city again. However, the Germans again knocked out ours, but did not enter it themselves. And the city became neutral.
We run behind the barn.
In the yard, two soldiers from a separate anti-aircraft artillery brigade say that the city has changed hands three times already, and this morning it has become neutral again, but the road is under fire. My God!
See the old German city with your own eyes! I get into the car with the former civilian driver Corporal Starikov. Hurry, hurry! We rush along the highway, mines are falling to the right and left of us. Just in case, I duck, but the firing zone is behind me. And in front, as on captured German postcards, covered with red tiles, between some marble fountains and monuments at crossroads, pointed houses with weather vanes.
We stop in the center of an almost empty city.
Europe! Everything is interesting!
But this is AWOL, we must immediately return to the unit.
All the doors of the apartments are open, and on the beds there are real pillows in pillowcases, blankets in duvet covers, and in the kitchen, in multi-colored tubes, aromatic spices. In the pantries - jars with homemade canned food, soups and a variety of main courses, and something that you never dreamed of in a dream - in corked half-liter jars (what kind of technology without heating?) the freshest butter. Own production wines, and liqueurs, and tinctures, and Italian vermouths, and cognacs.
And in the wardrobes on hangers there are new, different sizes, civilian suits, troikas. Another ten minutes. We can't help but change our clothes and, like girls, we circle in front of the mirrors. God we are beautiful!
But time!
We quickly change clothes, throw pillows, blankets, feather beds, watches, lighters out of the windows. I'm tormented by thoughts. I remembered at that moment how a few months ago I came to Moscow for five days.
The shelves in the stores are empty, everything is on the cards. How happy my mother was about my additional officer rations - a can of combined fat and two cans of American pork stew, and even every meal that I received on a ten-day travel certificate, somewhere in the officer's canteen in Syromyatniki and brought it home.
And the housemates are half-starved.
Why am I? And here. We, half-starved and tortured, are winning, and the Germans lost the war, but they do not need anything, they are full.
I thought about this when, with Starikov, I filled the back of the truck with pillows, feather beds, blankets in order to distribute them to all my soldiers so that they could sleep like a human for at least three nights. They haven't seen pillows for three, and some for all six years.
We are not alone in the city. Like us, several dozen soldiers and officers from other military units of our army, and trucks collect trophies different systems from one and a half to "Studebakers" and "Willis" - either thirty, or already forty. And suddenly a German Focke-Wulf appears over the city - such a fidgety and terribly maneuverable German intelligence officer - and after about ten minutes the German batteries begin shelling the city. We move quickly. Shells explode ahead and behind us, and we are entangled in unfamiliar lanes and streets. But I have a compass, we keep heading east and, in the end, rushing past our burning abandoned trucks, we get onto the highway we came along, again we get under fire, but we are lucky, and in the evening we drive up to the headquarters of our company.
The commander of our separate company, instead of Captain Rozhitsky, who was promoted in rank and rank and sent to the east as part of several units of the 31st Army, was my friend, Senior Lieutenant Alexei Tarasov. For a whole year, one orderly for two, one dugout for two, a candidate of technical sciences, an artist. I remember how he mocked the cretin bosses.
He speaks with a colonel or general, stands at attention.
Yes, Comrade General!
And suddenly imperceptibly somehow bends. It happens in an instant, and it's like a different person. The figure, the face change, he is like two drops of water similar to the one he is talking to, but a complete idiot: the tongue falls out of his mouth and hangs out, a freak, but absolutely in character. It is he who parodies army arrogance, and sometimes stupid, stubborn straightforwardness. And I see everything, inside the hamstrings are shaking with laughter, with fear for him, because the whole performance is arranged for me. A second - and he again stands at attention, eats with his eyes, reports, and the authorities have no idea about anything.
However, he remembered almost all of Blok, Baratynsky, Tyutchev, I read my poems to him, and how much and what we didn’t talk about: everything about ourselves, everything about the country, everything about art, we couldn’t live without each other.
Our quartermaster, senior lieutenant Shcherbakov, stole food, uniforms, exchanged from the population for moonshine and wine, and supplied companies of higher commanders at the expense of soldiers. Tarasov and I terribly hated him. When Tarasov became a company commander, he called Shcherbakov and told him everything. And he stopped stealing, but decided to take revenge on us on occasion and restore everything as it was. By the way, it wasn't just us.
Suspecting nothing, we swung at the system. Tarasov was the commander, at his request I was already the commander of a control platoon for two weeks ...
But I'm going back.
We come under fire, but we are lucky, in the evening we drive up to the headquarters of our company. This is a large one-story house.
Officers, telephone operators and telephone operators run out. I distribute pillows and blankets. Delight! Blankets in duvet covers! Pillows! They slept for three years - a backpack under their heads, covered themselves with overcoats, in winter they wrapped them around themselves. The evening will catch on the way - they kindled a fire, lay down on the snow around the fire, very close to each other. Winter. One side freezes, and the side facing the fire lights up. The attendant will wake up. You turn over to the other side, and everything starts all over again.
I invite Tarasov, Shcherbakov, put five bottles of wine with foreign labels on the table. We drink to victory. Let's go to sleep.
At three o'clock in the morning my orderly wakes me up.
Urgently to Tarasov. I go to Tarasov, and he has Shcherbakov, the driver Lebedev, the driver Petrov, two female signalmen. It turns out that after we parted ways in the evening, Shcherbakov, in agreement with Tarasov, sent my Starikov to neutral Goldap for trophies, and with him three soldiers and two telephone operators. And as soon as they reached the city center, a random German mine exploded next to our lorry.
Shrapnel pierced three tires, and Starikov was wounded by one of the fragments.
Dark starless night.
A neutral city, where both our and German scouts move with caution.
By the light of a flashlight, the girls, as best they could, bandaged the raving Starikov, carried the wounded man to an empty two-story house opposite our damaged car.
Two remained with him, and the rest - a soldier and two telephone operators - on foot, after an hour of wandering, they reached one of our advanced units, from there they contacted the company headquarters by phone. The duty officer woke up Captain Tarasov, Senior Lieutenant Shcherbakov, who decided to immediately send two cars to Goldap for rescue, transportation to the Starikov hospital and repair and removal of our damaged lorry.
Tarasov summoned me because only I knew the only road to the cleared passage or passage through the border, where sappers of our army filled up a ditch for ten meters and cleared a passage in six lines of barbed wire, next to the border sign indicating the entrance to East Prussia.
I sit in the car next to the driver Lebedev. Everyone has two machine guns and several grenades. I do remember the road. In front of the city, a kilometer of the highway being shot through, we rush at full speed. The city is dark and scary, and now and then come across broken cars and the corpses of our trophy workers, who were less fortunate than me. With difficulty, by the number, we find our car. We scream. A soldier and a telephone operator come out of the house.
While Lebedev and Petrov rearrange the wheels on the damaged car, just in case, we take up defense in the house. Starikov groans. Apart from the wheels, Starikov's car is in perfect order. You can leave in an hour.
I go out into the street, ten meters away the silhouettes of several cars. I approach: people are killed, cabins and engines are damaged, and bodies are loaded to the top with trophies. I order to fit our empty cars to the broken ones and reload the trophies from the bodies.
Time moves fast, it starts to brighten. Hurry, Hurry! And here we are, in three cars, moving off and along the already familiar streets we leave for the highway. Shells and mines burst to the right and left of us, but we safely enter the forest at full speed, then follow the signs to find a field hospital, and at about six in the morning we drive into the courtyard of our headquarters platoon. All sleep. I lie down on the pillow, I wake up at ten o'clock.
There are two sentries near the cars. I want to see what we brought, but they won't let me near the cars. I find Tarasov, I ask, what's the matter? And he turns away, then suddenly with an evil face, an icy voice:
- Lieutenant Rabichev! March all around!
- Are you out of your mind? I tell my to the best friend. But the friend is no more. There are trophies and Shcherbakov. Shocked, I can not find a place for myself. This has never happened before in the entire war.
I am writing a report - a statement with a request to transfer me to work, instead of the commander of a control platoon, as a commander of a linear platoon, in order to go with divisions and regiments, away from the company and army headquarters.
There is no friendship - there are trophies. Back to Poland.
And here I am again with my telephone operators and telephone operators, with the orderly Korolev, on horseback, on foot, in passing cars. Three months. Relations with Tarasov are purely official, I look at him with contempt, he looks away. My former chaste friend, now a bosom drinking companion of the disgusting thief Shcherbakov. Meanwhile, our troops are leaving East Prussia, retreating to the territory of the former Polish Corridor and going on the defensive for three months. The Poles are friendly, but the existence is semi-beggarly. I go into the kitchen. For some reason the walls are black. I want to lean against the wall, and a swarm of flies rises into the air. And there are fleas in the house. But I have a huge double bed and a separate room. And the old owner kept the memory of pre-revolutionary Russia and the pre-revolutionary Russian ruble. Korolev buys a pig from him for one ruble.
“What are you doing,” I tell him, “this is a blatant deception. He thinks that this is a pre-revolutionary gold ruble.
I explain to the owner, but he does not believe me, and remains convinced that I am joking. Oh, pan lieutenant, oh, ruble! The whole army is taking advantage of the situation, and the Poles will understand that the Russians deceived them, after a few months, they will remember this and will not forgive.
Meanwhile, somewhere at the end of the third month of the defense, Tarasov calls me and, as if nothing had happened between us, persuades me to return to the company headquarters. The fact is that as a specialist he appreciates me extremely, my original proposals for improving the entire system of intra-army communications were highly appreciated, and personally I was thanked in the order along the front, and the order to start the offensive had already been received. East Prussia is ahead again. I saw the former Tarasov, he turned to me for help, the matter was important, and the duty demanded it. And I agreed to return to the headquarters, again became the commander of the control platoon.
For two days, having deprived ourselves of sleep and rest, Tarasov and I developed eighteen routes for each group of our signalmen for the week ahead. In order not to get into trouble, they coordinated redeployment plans with the generals, chiefs of staff of corps and divisions, as well as with the army artillery commander, with a separate anti-aircraft artillery brigade, consistently brought the platoon commanders, the foreman of the company up to date. It was a new thing for us, at the level of even a separate army company, never practiced by anyone, and it was so beautiful on topographic maps and on the schedules that we thought up, lovingly executed, and on the orders formulated in advance, printed and sent out in advance, that we felt like either Benigsons or Bagrations.
On the eve of the offensive, Shcherbakov was invited and for several hours they acquainted him with their plans. He had six covered trucks at his disposal, and according to the schedule, he had to quickly transfer people, equipment, cable, radio stations, weapons, and food to the designated points on time.
We could not even imagine that in order to compromise us in the eyes of the army command that believed in us, and to the detriment of the whole cause of the offensive, he would change everything.
He will send vehicles with weapons and equipment to completely different places than people.
I do not remember all the details, but our company was put out of action for two days, with difficulty brought into working condition and lagged behind the advancing divisions and regiments by a hundred kilometers.
It was, after all, fixable.
Along the magnificent, completely cleared roads, in cars stuffed with signalmen, property, ammunition and food, in one column, without stopping, we swept through the burning cities and farms, through the city of Insterburg blazing to the right and left of us. Swallowing hot air mixed with smoke, with scorched eyelashes, and in the middle of the second day, completely exhausted and starting to lose my bearings, I decided to stop in a surviving German cottage located fifty meters from the highway.
All six vehicles and the radio station of the RSB for communication with the headquarters of the army and the front were at my disposal. Tarasov and Shcherbakov on the company "Willis" lagged behind, and not by chance.
Shcherbakov, with an orderly and with his girlfriend Anya, captured another twenty-year-old telephone operator from the headquarters of the division, Rita, and a ten-liter bottle of vodka, and he and Tarasov stopped in some surviving cottage a day ago. In the evening they drank for the offensive, and at night Shcherbakov slipped the half-drunk Tarasov the luxurious and highly experienced girl Rita, with whom only she had already slept. Chaste, proud and talented, Tarasov could not live without her on the second day, and on the fifth day he found Rita in the attic with the soldier Sitsukov lying on her.
But this is a different story. By a whim of nature, the member of the frail degenerate Sitsukov was up to the knees. None of the signalers, snipers and nurses read Freud, but they all felt something. Curiosity, unbridledness, or something really was surreal, some kind of feeling incomparable to anything in life, but as soon as this long-nosed, lop-eared, with a small chin and pendulous lip gave a sign to any woman within my line of sight, she immediately walked behind him and forever remained the smitten dream of Sitsukov.
My former friend, my current boss, Captain Tarasov, having found Sitsukov on Rita in December 1944, climbs into the attic of the German cottage in which our headquarters is located, and cuts the veins in both his arms. His orderly saved him when he was already on the border of life and death. He bandaged his hands and took him to the hospital. And in the evening, Rita was pulled out of the noose, on which she was already hanging, and barely pumped out.
These are Romeo and Juliet who showed up in our unit. Returning from the hospital, Tarasov called me and ordered to enroll Rita in my platoon. I knew that I deliberately did not get close to my telephone operators.
We had many conversations on this topic.
I explained my position to him a long time ago. Yes, I liked many of them and dreamed at night. I secretly fell in love first with Katya, then with Nadia, then with Anya, who rushed to meet me, snuggled up, kissed me, and even invited me, pretending that this was a joke. But I knew that this was serious, and I knew myself that if I went forward, I would no longer be able to stop, all statutory relations would go to hell. I will wear it in my arms and I will no longer be able to be a self-respecting commander. If she is indulged, then already, in fairness, to everyone, but then how to work and fight?
I must say that the former Tarasov thought and acted the same way as I did. But there was another reason.
I understood how difficult it was for these eighteen-year-old girls at the front to exist in conditions of complete lack of hygiene, in clothes not adapted for military operations, in stockings that either torn or slipped, in tarpaulin boots that either got wet or rubbed their legs, skirts that made it difficult to run and some were too long, while others were too short, when no one considered the fact that menstruation existed, when none of the soldiers and officers gave passage, and among them were not only boys in love, but also sophisticated sadists.
How stubbornly they defended their womanhood in the first months, and then fell in love first with a soldier, then with a lieutenant, and the senior scoundrel officer began to harass this soldier, and in the end this girl had to lie under this scoundrel, who, at best, threw, and at worst publicly mocked, and it happened, and beat. How then she walked from hand to hand, and could no longer stop, and learned to drink her forced, crippled youth with her hundred grams of vodka ...
This is how a person is arranged, that everything bad is first forgotten, and subsequently romanticized, and who will remember that already six months later they left for the rear after pregnancy, some gave birth to children and remained in civilian life, while others, and there were much more of them, had abortions and returned to their units until the next abortion.
There were exceptions. There were exits.
The best thing is to become a PPJ, a general's field wife, worse - a colonel (the general will take it away) ...
In February 1944, the generals of the army headquarters heard a rumor about a signal lieutenant who modern language, don't give a fuck.
And several PJs stubbornly cheated on their lovers, generals with green soldiers. And now, by order of the commander of the army, my platoon is given a new telephone center - six telephone operators who have made a mistake in the field of love, six PZH who have betrayed their generals: the chief of the political department of the army, the chief of staff, the commander of two corps, the chief quartermaster and I still do not remember which military leaders.
All of them are depraved, spoiled by fate and at first helpless in the conditions of nomadic dugout life.
I appoint an absolutely positive man of heroic build, a master of all trades, senior sergeant Polyansky, as their head. I know how much he misses his wife and four daughters. His assistant is an elderly family man Dobritsyn. Together they dig a dugout. They cut down trees. Bunks in two tiers, three rolls, iron barrel- an oven, a table for telephones, a rack for machine guns, shell casings, cartridges, grenades. All the villages around are burned, everything has to be done by hand.
The girls are swearing, but Polyansky's multi-stage hoarse obscenity conquers and pacifies them. A week passes, they seem to be fulfilling their mission, but under what conditions? How did the relationship develop? And I'm going and get to know each other, and check their professional suitability, and it's interesting to see, they say that they are beauties.
I ride about twelve kilometers along a fascinated road laid by army sappers through an impenetrable and continuous network of marshes. To the right and to the left is a stunted birch forest, water.
Every hundred meters there is a junction - a small log platform, somewhat reminiscent of a raft. Each log, two and a half meters long, is fastened with steel ropes to the adjacent front and adjacent rear ones, and on the sides there are vertical fixing logs that go deep into solid layers of earth lying under a layer of water and silt. Both the sidings and the road are laid through deep swamps, through a bog. You can’t drive off the road - you stumble and you won’t get out. And in the heated air, mosquitoes, midges, dragonflies. It is quite unpleasant to wait at the crossing until the next oncoming car passes. The horse is frightened, does not stand still.
If you pull on the bridle, it starts to back away, now and then you have to get off. However, the swamp chain ends. On a country road, higher, higher, I take out the compass, I look. According to the map, four hundred meters to the west of the former village.
Indeed, on the hill is a girl with a gun.
I announced my departure by phone, and they are waiting for me.
Polyansky comes out of the dugout, reports, five girls are getting out.
I get off the horse. Irka Mikheeva, who has been in my platoon twice already in two years, rushes to meet me, kisses me and hangs on my neck. This is both a bit of hooliganism and a desire to show our comrades-in-arms that we are friends. She has been indifferent to me for a long time, but I hide my pleasure from this public meeting with her. Even near Yartsevo, a year ago, she called me to the nearest forest:
Let's go, lieutenant! Why the fuck don't you want me?
“I can’t, Irina, and I don’t want to cheat on my bride,” I say, and I myself almost have a fever, and she shakes her head doubtfully:
- You're some kind of freak.
I go down the stairs to the dugout.
The girls dragged from somewhere feather beds, pillows, blankets. I check the machines, everything is lubricated, in order, they also understand telephone sets. Polyansky taught them how to pull the line, and how to eliminate breaks, and how to change batteries or accumulators.
They shot at empty cans. Well done Polyansky - and taught this.
In the evening I tell what is being done at the fronts and in the world, and they do not hesitate - who, how and with whom twisted novels, about whom - with regret and love, about whom with disgust.
Upstairs are empty bunks, pine logs covered with a layer of spruce branches, I spread my raincoat, I want to climb up, and on the lower bunk under me, Irka, threw off her tunic and skirt, and takes off her panties and stockings.
“Lieutenant,” he says, “you won’t fall asleep on the logs, come, b ..., to sleep with me!”
I am twenty-one years old, I am not made of iron or stone, and Polyansky adds fuel to the fire:
- What are you going to toil on the logs, go to Irka.
His eyes darkened with excitement. The thought flashes: “In front of everyone?”
And then Anya Gureeva, who studied as a ballerina as a civilian, cheated on the chief of staff of the army with my radio operator Bollot, crept up from behind, hugged her in the ear:
- Do not go to Irka, but to me!
- Girls, e ... your mother, stop, b ..., fool around! - And I break out of hot hands, pull myself up on my hands, and onto my cape, onto branches, onto my overcoat. And the heart beats, and in my thoughts a complete mess. And that I’m like a eunuch, let it all go to hell, I’ll count to twenty - if Irka calls again, then even if the whole world turns upside down - I’ll lie down and unite my life with her.
But the world is not upside down. I counted to twenty, and she was already sleeping, she got tired on duty and fell asleep instantly.
Until the morning I suffer on logs. What before my temptations of Saint Anthony?
At six in the morning it is already light. I'm leaving the dugout. Polyansky wakes up and helps me saddle the horse. Melancholy devours me, I drive along the fascinated road, after three hours I leave for the Minsk highway and fall under mortar shelling, but this shelling is not aimed, the mines fall forty meters from me, a couple of fragments rush past. Opposite Kornilov's post, there, in the dugout, there were only peasants and not a single coward. The Germans are eight hundred meters away. They have been working in this dugout for the third month.
Here both mines and shells burst, communication breaks every now and then, and you have to go to the line, but as long as everyone is alive, God has mercy. They greet me joyfully, but, as if knocked down, I fall on the bunk and fall asleep.
Sixty-five years have passed.
I am infinitely sorry that I did not sleep with either Irina, or Anna, or Nadia, or Polina, or Vera Peterson, or Masha Zakharova.
Polina bandaged my legs when, in December 1942, I arrived from the school with deep, suppurating dystrophic ulcers, I was in pain, but I smiled, and she bandaged and smiled, and I kissed her, and she locked the dugout door on a hook, and I was like paralyzed. And so we sat, clinging to each other, on her greatcoat for three hours.
I was walking with Masha Zakharova on some urgent matter, and we did not notice how the day was over, and went into the artillerymen's house, asked permission to spend the night, settled down on the floor, I laid out my overcoat, and covered ourselves with Machine's overcoat. The sweet, yearning girl Masha suddenly clung to me and began to kiss me. The duty sergeant was sitting at the table by the telephone, and I felt ashamed to surrender to the feeling that was devouring me in front of the sergeant.
What was it?
“A few days ago we entered Lithuania. In Poland, the population speaks Russian quite tolerably. Everything is blacker in Lithuania. And the floors are unwashed, and flies in droves, and packs of fleas. However, it seems to me that in a few days all this will be far behind ... True, now you have to sleep very little ... A new anniversary is approaching. Where will it have to be done? Allenstein ahead. Next door to me is a slightly early arrived unit. She was ordered to settle in Koenigsberg. Happy travels to her!
Today I received a salary in Polish money at the rate of one ruble - one zloty ... "
“Dear Lenechka! The fourth anniversary is coming, and the war is dragging on. We both dream of celebrating the New, forty-fifth year with you, but we will have to wait patiently. My dear! Be vigilant and circumspect.
The presumptuous beast is rabid, does not stop its villainy, and we will continue to hope that soon all disasters will end, that we will definitely meet. While we continue to write letters.
This is the only pleasure. We have nothing new, letters other than yours are also not received. You write that you have dirt, but we have a strong winter since November. In December it was 23 degrees of frost, but the weather is good, there is a lot of sun.
In our apartment it is much better than in previous winters - 10-12 degrees Celsius, and this is already tolerable, and if you close the kitchen, it is quite warm. On December 31, I will drink to your health (I can’t drink, but I will drink to your health). Hugs and kisses tightly, your mother.
East Prussia was an important foothold for the Germans. Heavily fortified, it was considered equally suitable for defense and offensive. The borders of East Prussia were clad in iron and concrete, the border land was cut with trenches and military engineering structures. To protect East Prussia, the German command had three armies that were part of Army Group Center and numbered 41 divisions. There was also a significant number of various military units and institutions: police, serfs, training, reserve, technical and rear, which significantly increased the total number of troops.
In October 1944, after a short respite, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, in cooperation with the 1st Baltic Front, received the task of defeating the enemy's Tilsit-Gumbinnen grouping and capturing Koenigsberg. The 3rd Guards Artillery Division was supposed to support the offensive of the 65th Rifle Corps, which had the task of breaking through the enemy defenses that covered the borders of East Prussia, and, advancing along the Bolshie Shelva-Stallupenen railway, cross the border and capture the city of Stallupenen on the second day.
On the morning of October 16, the troops went on the offensive and, breaking through the heavily fortified enemy defenses in the Insterburg direction, began to slowly move forward, and by the end of the day they came close to the state border. On the second day of the operation, after a powerful artillery fire attack on objects located on Prussian soil, units of the 65th Rifle Corps attacked enemy positions, broke into the territory of East Prussia and occupied several settlements. The battles went on around the clock, every meter of the earth had to be beaten off. On October 18, after a short artillery preparation, the formations of the corps again attacked the enemy. The battle broke out for the city of Eidtkunen. By evening he was taken. It was the first German city taken by the Soviet troops.
Despite Hitler's stern demand not to leave positions without an order, the German troops, under the blows of the Red Army, were forced to retreat deep into East Prussia. On October 23, units of the 144th Rifle Division, supported by the 7th and 22nd Guards Brigades, entered the northeastern outskirts of the city of Stallupenen. Rifle units on the night of October 24 captured this city.
For ten days of intense fighting, from October 16 to 25, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, wedged into East Prussia, advanced 30 kilometers. The troops captured a number of settlements and, having cut the Pilkallen-Stallupenen railway, reached the line of Wiltauten, Schaaren, Myllunen. Here the enemy put up even more stubborn resistance. The Soviet troops suspended the offensive and, by order of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, went over to temporary defense. The 3rd Guards Artillery Breakthrough Division, after a slight regrouping, took up battle formations in the Ossinen, Lapiskenen, Gross Dagutelen, Drusken zone. Most of its batteries took up anti-tank defenses.
In November 1944, work began on the plan for the winter-spring campaign of 1945 at the General Staff and Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. The Red Army was given the decisive task of finally crushing fascist Germany and victoriously completing the Great Patriotic war. By the end of November, the development of the plan for the East Prussian offensive operation was basically completed. According to the plan, its overall goal was to cut off the troops of Army Group Center, defending in East Prussia (from November 26, 1944 - Army Group North), from the rest of the German armies, press them to the sea, dismember and destroy in parts.
2 Beginning of the East Prussian offensive
On the evening of January 12, it snowed, a blizzard began. Soviet troops, having taken their starting positions, prepared for the offensive. On the morning of January 13, shelling began. Artillery preparation lasted two hours. Due to the fog that hung over the troops, air combat operations were excluded, and the pilots were unable to provide assistance to the advancing infantry.
Artillery fire was fired simultaneously throughout the entire depth of the main line of defense. Small-caliber guns, firing direct fire, fired on the first line of trenches, destroying manpower and firepower. Medium-caliber artillery destroyed the second and third defensive lines. Larger guns smashed the second echelons, rear areas and areas of concentration of reserves, located 12-15 kilometers from the front line, destroyed solid wood-and-earth and reinforced concrete structures. The Germans stubbornly defended their positions. On the first day of the offensive, the 72nd Rifle Corps advanced only two kilometers, the 65th Rifle Corps advanced about four.
At dawn on January 14, after a powerful artillery preparation, the troops of the 5th Army resumed the offensive and, having knocked the enemy out of their positions, began to slowly move west. The Nazis dozens of times rushed to the counterattack. But all their attempts to stop the offensive of the Soviet troops were reflected by well-aimed artillery fire. The enemy retreated to previously prepared positions.
3 Insterburg operation
The troops of the Red Army, overcoming resistance, approached the intermediate line of enemy defense, based on Duden, Yentkutkampen, Kattenau, where they met such fierce resistance that the infantry had to lie low. Artillerymen promptly launched a ten-minute massive attack on the main nodes of resistance, and the advanced units of the army again went forward. By the end of January 14, the troops captured the heavily fortified settlements of Duden, Yentkutkampen, Kattenau and sent a blow to Kussen.
For four days of bloody fighting, army troops broke into more than ten trenches. Having gone to a depth of up to 15 kilometers, they approached the second intermediate line of enemy defense - the Gumbinnen fortified area. It took five days to gnaw through the positions of the Gumbinnen forefield, and only on January 17 the troops were able to start storming its main zone. With the capture of this line, a free path to Insterburg was opened before the troops of the front. The Germans understood this, and therefore provided truly fanatical resistance. All approaches to settlements were mined, pitted with trenches and surrounded by a dense network of wire fences, each village was turned into a strong stronghold. But the approaches to the highway connecting Kussen with Gumbinnen were especially strongly fortified, covered with a deep anti-tank ditch and various obstacles.
On the morning of January 19, after a powerful artillery preparation, the troops of the 5th Army again went on the offensive and, overcoming enemy resistance, began to slowly move forward. By the end of the day, advanced units, with the assistance of artillery, captured several strongholds. The most successful offensive that day was the 72nd Rifle Corps, which advanced more than 10 kilometers. Now his troops came close to the last line of the Gumbinnen fortified region, which ran along the line of Pazhleigen, Wittgirren, Mallvisken, Schmilgen and Gumbinnen. The 45th Rifle Corps started a battle for Abshrutten, Ederkemen, and its 184th Rifle Division reached the eastern bank of the Aimenis River in the Uzhbollen area. =
In seven days, the army, having broken through four heavily fortified defensive lines, advanced 30 kilometers and captured hundreds of settlements, including Kattenau, Kussen, Kraupishken. At the same time, the 28th Army (the neighbor on the left) also captured several strongholds and reached the approaches to the large administrative center of East Prussia - Gumbinnen.
On the morning of January 21, more than a thousand guns and mortars brought down tons of metal on the Insterburg fortifications. The artillery cannonade lasted an hour, after which the rifle divisions, breaking the enemy's resistance, rushed forward. Under the blows of the Soviet troops, throwing fortifications, the Germans quickly retreated to the city center. The solid front was broken, the balls took on a focal character, now subsiding, now flaring up. On January 22, army troops completely captured one of the largest cities in East Prussia - the fortress city of Insterburg.
On January 23, the enemy, having lost almost all of its external defensive lines after the surrender of Insterburg, began to retreat to the Baltic Sea. Hiding behind rearguards, reinforced tanks and self-propelled artillery, he still continued to snarl.
By order of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, the 5th Army, changing direction, went to Kreuzburg. On the night of January 23, the 65th Rifle Corps also received a new task: to reach the northern bank of the Pregel River, force it and develop an offensive on Ilmsdorf on the Plibishken, Simonen front.
By February 1, the advanced units of the 5th Army reached the line of Koenigsberg, Kreuzburg, Preussish-Eylau. Having met fierce resistance from the enemy, they were forced to temporarily go on the defensive in order to prepare forces and means for a new assault.
4 Mlavsko-Elbing operation
By the beginning of the East Prussian offensive, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front occupied the line of the Augustow Canal, the Beaver and Nareva rivers. Bridgeheads were at Augustow, Ruzhan and Serotsk. The main blow was to be delivered from the Ruzhany bridgehead by the 3rd, 48th, 2nd shock armies and the 5th Guards Tank Army on Marienburg. The 65th and 70th armies struck from the Serotsky bridgehead to the northwest. The 49th Army struck at Myshinets. There were well-modernized field installations and anti-tank barriers of German troops. Old fortresses (Mlava, Modlin, Elbing, Marienburg, Torun) strengthened the defense.
The terrain and the defense of the German troops did not allow breaking through in one continuous area. Therefore, between the sections of the breakthrough was from 5 to 21 km. In these areas, areas of high artillery density were created - 180-300 guns per 1 km of the front.
On January 14, 1945, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive. The Germans offered stubborn resistance, undertaking counterattacks. But the troops, with the help of two tank and mechanized corps, broke through the main line of defense on January 15, and by the end of January 16 they advanced 10–25 km and completed the breakthrough of the entire tactical defense of the Nazis. In connection with the improvement of the weather from January 16, Soviet aviation began to operate actively. During the day, she made more than 2,500 sorties.
On January 17, in the zone of the 48th Army, the 5th Guards Tank Army was introduced into the gap. During the day, the tank army increased the depth of the breakthrough to 60 km and reached the Mlavsky fortified area. In the early days, up to 85% of the front's aviation forces were involved in assisting the successful offensive of the tank army. Therefore, several concentrated air strikes were carried out on the railway junctions of Ortelsburg, Allenstein and Neidenburg. The concentration of the main efforts of aviation on the right wing of the front made it possible to disrupt the regrouping of the Germans and provide effective support to the tank army. The rapid offensive of Soviet tanks thwarted the counterattack of the Nazis, which was being prepared from the areas of Ciechanow and Pshasnysh.
Developing the offensive, Soviet troops bypassed the Mlava fortified area from the north and south and captured Mlava by the morning of January 19. The troops of the left wing of the front by this time had reached the approaches to Plonsk and captured Modlin. The main forces and reserves of the 2nd German Army were destroyed.
On the morning of January 19, the troops of the center and left wing of the front, with the active support of aviation, went over to the pursuit of German troops, deeply covering the right flank of the East Prussian grouping. Under the threat of encirclement, on January 22, the German command began the withdrawal of troops from the Masurian Lakes region to the northwest. However, already on January 25, the mobile formations of the Red Army, having bypassed Elbing from the east, reached the Frichess Haff Bay and cut off the main land communications of Army Group Center. The Germans could communicate with the troops operating beyond the Vistula only along the Frische-Nerung spit.
On January 26, formations of the 2nd shock army broke into Marienburg. By this time, the troops of the left wing of the front had reached the Vistula and, in the Bromberg area, captured a bridgehead on its western bank.
5 Hejlsberg operation
On February 10, 1945, the 3rd Belorussian Front began an operation to destroy the largest German grouping concentrated around the Heilsberg fortified area, southwest of Koenigsberg. The general idea of the operation was as follows. The 5th Guards Tank Army was to advance along the Frischess-Haff Bay in order to prevent the withdrawal of the Heilsber group to the Frische-Nerung Spit (Baltic / Vistula Spit), and also to exclude the evacuation of German troops by sea. The main forces of the front were to advance in the general direction of Heiligenbeil and the city of Deutsch-Thirau.
At the beginning of the operation, the offensive developed extremely slowly. The reason for this was immediately many factors: the stretching of the rear, the short time for preparing the offensive, the extremely dense defense of the enemy, besides, bad weather did not allow the use of aviation. About 20 German divisions resisted our troops here, gradually squeezing the encirclement. The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front were supported by the aviation of the 1st Air Army. The greatest success was achieved by the 28th Army, which was able to capture a large defensive stronghold and an important transport hub - the city of Preussisch-Eylau. But this did not change the overall picture. The pace of advance did not exceed 2 kilometers per day.
Particularly fierce battles unfolded for the transport hub and the powerful stronghold of the defense of the city of Melzak. The assault on the city lasted four days. It was only on February 17 that Melzac was captured.
On March 13, the 3rd Belorussian Front resumed offensive operations against enemy troops blockaded southwest of Koenigsberg. The operation resumed after a 40-minute artillery preparation, aviation initial stage It was not possible to connect, the weather did not allow. But, despite all the difficulties and the stubborn resistance of the German troops, the defense was broken through.
By mid-March, Soviet troops came close to the city of Deutsch-Thirau. The enemy desperately resisted, the battles were stubborn. On the approach to the city, the enemy organized a well-planned defense: to the right of the road at a dominant height there were four anti-tank defense batteries on direct fire, to the left in the forest three self-propelled guns and two anti-tank guns were camouflaged. It was impossible to get around the height because of the heavily swampy terrain around it. It remained only to knock the enemy out of the forest and from a height. At dawn on March 16, the tank company went on a breakthrough. In this battle, 70 enemy soldiers, one self-propelled and 15 anti-tank guns were destroyed. A few days later, another city was taken - Ludwigsort.
On March 18, after some improvement in weather conditions, aviation of the 1st and 3rd air armies joined the offensive. This circumstance significantly increased the pressure on the German defense. The bridgehead occupied by the Heilsber Group was steadily narrowing. By the sixth day of the offensive, it did not exceed 30 kilometers along the front and 10 kilometers in depth, which allowed our troops to completely shoot through it with artillery.
On March 20, 1945, the top military leadership of the Wehrmacht decided to evacuate the 4th Army by sea to the Pillau (Baltiysk) region. However, the troops of the Red Army, intensifying the onslaught, thwarted the plans of the German command.
On March 26, 1945, German troops began laying down their arms. On March 29, the Heilsber grouping of the Wehrmacht ceased to exist, and the entire southern shore of Frichess Huff came under the control of Soviet troops.
6 Königsberg operation
The German command accepted everything possible measures to prepare the fortified city of Königsberg for long-term resistance under siege. The city had underground factories, numerous military arsenals and warehouses. In Konigsberg, the Germans had three rings of defense. The first - 6-8 kilometers from the city center - consisted of trenches, an anti-tank ditch, barbed wire and minefields. On this ring there were 15 forts (built by 1882) with garrisons of 150-200 people, with 12-15 guns. The second ring of defense ran along the outskirts of the city and consisted of stone buildings, barricades, firing points at crossroads and minefields. The third ring, in the center of the city, consisted of 9 bastions, towers and ravelins (built in the 17th century and rebuilt in 1843-1873).
The garrison of the fortress city consisted of approximately 130 thousand people. It was armed with about 4,000 guns and mortars, as well as over 100 tanks and assault guns. To attack Koenigsberg, Soviet troops concentrated 137 thousand soldiers and officers, over 5000 guns and mortars, about 500 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2400 aircraft in the city area.
On April 2, 1945, the 3rd Belorussian Front, in preparation for the assault on Koenigsberg, began an operation to destroy defenses and long-term fortified firing points. The massive artillery bombardment lasted 4 days. The aviation of the front and the Baltic Fleet also participated in the operation.
On April 6 at 12 noon, after a powerful artillery attack on the advanced positions of the Germans, the Sotsk troops went on the offensive. The formations of the 11th Army of General Galitsky and the 43rd Army of General Beloborodov went on the offensive. At noon, after an artillery and air raid, the infantry went on the attack. By the end of the day, the forces of the 43rd, 50th and 11th Guards Army were able to break through the fortifications of the outer contour of Koenigsberg and reach the outskirts of the city. On April 7, fierce battles for the city continued. By evening, more than 100 city blocks were cleared of the enemy, 2 forts were captured.
On the morning of April 8, the weather improved, which made it possible to use aviation in full force. 500 heavy bombers of the 18th Air Army brought down a real hail of powerful bombs. Having received support from the air, the assault troops of the armies moved steadily towards the city center. During this day, another 130 city blocks were cleared of German troops, and 3 forts were taken. By the evening of April 8, the main station and the port of the city were cleared of the enemy.
During the entire offensive, a lot of work had to be done by sapper-engineer formations. In the city, not only roads were mined, but also large buildings, the undermining of which was supposed to create powerful blockages. As soon as a house or enterprise could be liberated from the enemy, sappers immediately set about clearing it.
On the night of April 9, the Soviet armies advancing from the north and south united, thereby the Königsberg group was cut in two.
On April 9, 1945, the commandant of the fortress, General O. Lash, ordered the surrender. During April 9-10, Soviet troops accepted the surrender of the German garrison. Nevertheless, for several more days our subunits had to resist enemy units that did not want to lay down their arms.
7 Zemland operation
After the assault on Koenigsberg, only the Zemland task force remained in East Prussia, which occupied the defenses on the peninsula of the same name. In total, the strength of the German group reached about 65 thousand soldiers and officers, supported by 12,000 guns and mortars, as well as approximately 160 tanks and self-propelled guns. The peninsula was well fortified, and abounded with strongholds of resistance.
By April 11, 1945, the Red Army troops concentrated to break through the German defenses on the Zemland Peninsula. Four armies were involved in the operation: the 5th, 39th, 43rd and 11th Guards, in which there were over 110 thousand soldiers and officers, 5200 guns and mortars, 451 rocket artillery installations, 324 tanks and self-propelled artillery installations.
On the night of April 12, Vasilevsky, the front commander, suggested that the German troops lay down their arms. There was no response from the German command.
At 8 am on April 13, after a powerful artillery raid, the troops of the front went on the offensive. Already on April 14, under the onslaught of Soviet troops, German troops began to retreat to the port city of Pillau. By April 15, the northwestern part of the peninsula was completely cleared of German troops.
On April 17, the port city of Fishhausen (Primorsk) was taken by a swift blow of the 39th and 43rd armies. By April 20, the remnants of German troops with a total strength of about 20 thousand people were entrenched in the Pillau area. Relying on a defensive line well prepared in engineering terms, the Germans put up stubborn resistance. The Germans fought with the bitterness of the doomed, they had nowhere to retreat. In addition, in its northern part, the peninsula was very narrow, which completely leveled the advantage of the advancing forces. For 6 days there were fierce battles for Pillau. On April 25, Soviet troops still managed to break into the outskirts of the city. By the evening of the same day, the red flag of victory was raised over the last bastion of East Prussia.
With the end of the Zemland operation, the East Prussian operation also ended. The campaign lasted 103 days and became the longest operation of the last year of the War.
During the German counterattack on Kragau (East Prussia), artillery officer Yuri Uspensky was killed. The deceased had a handwritten diary."January 24, 1945. Gumbinnen - We passed through the entire city, which was relatively undamaged during the battle. Some buildings are completely destroyed, others are still on fire. They say that our soldiers set them on fire.
In this rather large town, furniture and other household utensils are scattered on the streets. On the walls of houses, inscriptions are visible everywhere: "Death to Bolshevism." Thus, the Fritz tried to campaign among their soldiers.
In the evening we talked in Gumbinnen with the prisoners. It turned out to be four Fritz and two Poles. Apparently, the mood in the German troops is not very good, they themselves surrendered and now they say: "We don't care where we work - in Germany or in Russia."
We quickly reached Insterburg. From the car window you can see the landscape typical of East Prussia: roads lined with trees, villages in which all the houses are covered with tiles, fields that are surrounded by barbed wire fences to protect against livestock.
Insterburg turned out to be bigger than Gumbinnen. The whole city is still in smoke. Houses are burning down. Endless columns of soldiers and trucks pass through the city: such a joyful picture for us, but so formidable for the enemy. This is retribution for everything the Germans have done to us. Now German cities are being destroyed, and their population will finally know what it is: war!
We drive further along the highway in the passenger car of the headquarters of the 11th army towards Königsberg to find the 5th artillery corps there. The highway is full of heavy trucks.
The villages we meet on our way are partly badly destroyed. It is striking that we come across very few wrecked Soviet tanks, not at all like it was in the first days of the offensive.
Along the way, we meet columns of the civilian population, which, under the protection of our submachine gunners, are sent to the rear, away from the front. Some Germans ride in large covered wagons. Teenagers, men, women and girls go on foot. For everyone good clothes. It would be interesting to talk with them about the future.
Soon we stop for the night. Finally we got to a rich country! Everywhere you can see herds of livestock roaming the fields. Yesterday and today we boiled and fried two chickens a day.
Everything in the house is very well equipped. The Germans left almost all their household belongings. I am compelled to think again about what a great grief this war brings with it.
It passes like a fiery whirlwind through cities and villages, leaving behind smoking ruins, trucks and tanks mangled by explosions, and mountains of corpses of soldiers and civilians.
Now let the Germans see and feel what war is! How much grief is still in this world! I hope that Adolf Hitler does not have long to wait for the noose prepared for him.
January 26, 1945. Petersdorf near Velau. - Here, on this sector of the front, our troops were four kilometers from Koenigsberg. The 2nd Belorussian Front went to the sea near Danzig.
Thus, East Prussia is completely cut off. In fact, it is already almost in our hands. We are driving along Velau. The city is still burning, it is completely destroyed. Everywhere smoke and corpses of the Germans. On the streets you can see many guns abandoned by the Germans and the corpses of German soldiers in the sewers.
These are signs of the brutal defeat of the German troops. Everyone is celebrating the victory. Soldiers cook food on a fire. Fritz abandoned everything. Entire herds of livestock roam the fields. The surviving houses are full of excellent furniture and utensils. On the walls you can see paintings, mirrors, photographs.
Many houses were set on fire by our infantry. Everything happens as the Russian proverb says: "As it comes around, it will respond!" The Germans did this in Russia in 1941 and 1942, and now in 1945 it echoed here in East Prussia.
I see a weapon covered with a knitted blanket being carried past. Nice disguise! On another gun lies a mattress, and on the mattress, wrapped in a blanket, a Red Army soldier sleeps.
To the left of the highway, you can see an interesting picture: two camels are being led there. A captive Fritz with a bandaged head is led past us. Angry soldiers shout in his face: "Well, did you conquer Russia?" With their fists and the butts of their machine guns, they urge him on, pushing him in the back.
January 27, 1945. The village of Starkenberg. - The village looks very peaceful. The room of the house where we stayed is light and cozy. From afar comes the sound of cannonade. This is a battle in Koenigsberg. The position of the Germans is hopeless.
And now the time comes when we can pay for everything. Ours treated East Prussia no worse than the Germans did with the Smolensk region. We hate the Germans and Germany with all our heart.
For example, in one of the houses of the village, our guys saw a murdered woman with two children. And on the street you can often see dead civilians. The Germans themselves deserved this on our part, because they were the first to behave in this way in relation to the civilian population of the occupied regions.
One only needs to remember Majdanek and the theory of the superman to understand why our soldiers bring East Prussia to such a state with such satisfaction. But German composure in Majdanek was a hundred times worse. In addition, the Germans glorified the war!
January 28, 1945. We played cards until two o'clock in the morning. The houses were abandoned by the Germans in a chaotic state. The Germans had a lot of all sorts of property. But now everything is in complete disarray. The furniture in the houses is just great. Each house is full of a variety of utensils. Most Germans lived quite well.
War, war - when will you end? For three years and seven months this destruction of human lives, the results of human labor and monuments of cultural heritage has been going on.
Towns and villages are burning, the treasures of thousands of years of labor are disappearing. And the nonentities in Berlin are doing their best to continue this one-of-a-kind battle in the history of mankind as long as possible. Therefore, hatred is born, which is poured out on Germany.
February 1, 1945. - In the village we saw a long column of modern slaves, whom the Germans drove to Germany from all over Europe. Our troops invaded Germany on a broad front. The allies are coming too. Yes, Hitler wanted to crush the whole world. Instead, he crushed Germany.
February 2, 1945. - We have arrived in Fuchsberg. Finally, we reached our destination - the headquarters of the 33rd Tank Brigade. I learned from a Red Army soldier from the 24th Tank Brigade that thirteen people from our brigade, including several officers, had been poisoned. They drank denatured alcohol. That's where the love of alcohol can lead!
On the way we met several columns of German civilians. Mostly women and children. Many carried their children in their arms. They looked pale and scared. When asked if they were Germans, they hastened to answer "Yes."
There was a clear stamp of fear on their faces. They had no reason to be glad that they were Germans. At the same time, quite nice faces could be seen among them.
Last night, the soldiers of the division told me about some things that can not be approved. In the house where the headquarters of the division was located, the evacuated women and children were placed at night.
Drunken soldiers began to come there one after another. They chose women for themselves, took them aside and raped them. There were several men for every woman.
Such behavior is unacceptable. Revenge, of course, is necessary, but not in this way, but with weapons. You can somehow understand those whose loved ones were killed by the Germans. But the rape of young girls - no, this is unacceptable!
In my opinion, the command must soon put an end to such crimes, as well as to the unnecessary destruction of property. For example, soldiers spend the night in some house, in the morning they leave and set fire to the house or recklessly break mirrors and break furniture.
After all, it is clear that all these things will one day be transported to the Soviet Union. But while we live here and, carrying out soldier's service, we will continue to live. Such crimes only undermine the morale of the soldiers and weaken discipline, which leads to a decrease in combat capability."
