Heiligenbeil Pocket

The battle of encirclement Heiligenbeil was one of the last great battles of encirclement on the Eastern Front during the last weeks of the Second World War. The boiler was located south of Königsberg in East Prussia near Heiligenbeil. The battle was part of a larger Soviet offensive in the region of East Prussia and lasted from 26 January to 29 March 1945.

In the boiler approximately 150,000 German soldiers were trapped. Of these, about 80,000 were killed and 50,000 went into Soviet captivity. The German troops were trapped by the Soviet Army during the Soviet spring offensive with his back to the frozen Vistula Lagoon.

Participating units

Red Army

The following Soviet units were involved in the encirclement:

  • 2nd Belorussian Front ( Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky ) 5th Guards Tank Army
  • 48th Army
  • 3rd Army
  • 50th Army
  • 31 Army
  • 28 Army
  • First Air Fleet

Wehrmacht

The following units of the German Wehrmacht were in the boiler:

  • VI. Corps (General Horst Grossmann ) 102nd Infantry Division
  • 24th Panzer Division
  • 349 people Grenadier Division
Mamonovo 102nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) Rudolf Freiherr von Roman 61st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 292nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 56th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 170th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 50th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
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