Gumbinnen Operation

German troops on the outskirts of Gołdap, retaken on 3 November 1944

Date	October 16, 1944 – October 27, 1944
Location	East Prussia
Result	German tactical victory

Belligerents

Nazi Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Georg-Hans Reinhardt
(Army Group Centre)

Ivan Chernyakhovsky
(3rd Belorussian Front)

Strength

404,500

Casualties and losses

16,819 irrecoverable; 62,708 wounded

The Gumbinnen Operation, also known as the Goldap Operation (or Goldap-Gumbinnen Operation, Russian: Гумбиннен-Гольдапская наступательная операция), was a Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front late in 1944, in which forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front attempted to penetrate the borders of East Prussia.

The offensive failed, due to strong resistance by the Wehrmacht. As a result, it is largely known through German accounts of the defence and because of the atrocities that were committed by troops of the 11th Guards Army, the so-called Nemmersdorf massacre.

The operation was planned as a result of the success of the Memel Offensive Operation to the north. The troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts had succeeded in pushing the Third Panzer Army back to the East Prussian border, surrounding the city of Memel and reaching the shore of the Curonian Lagoon. Stavka permitted Chernyakhovsky to further exploit this success by attacking along the Gumbinnen - Insterburg - Königsberg axis deep into East Prussia.

Chernyakhovsky's plan involved using the 5th and 11th Guards Armies to break open the German defensive lines, before pushing through exploitation forces from the 2nd Guards Tank Corps and 28th Army. The 31st and 39th Armies would advance on the flanks of the main force.

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