Zemland offensive operation

Samland Offensive

Date	April 13, 1945 – April 25, 1945
Location	Sambia, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad Oblast)
Result	Soviet Victory

Belligerents

Nazi Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Hans Gollnick
(Army Detachment Samland)
Dietrich von Saucken
(Armee Ostpreußen)

Hovhannes Bagramyan
(Zemland Army Group)

Casualties and losses

Soviet claim: 80,000 KIA or POW

Unknown

The Samland Offensive was a Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front in the final stages of World War II. It took place in Sambia (German: Samland); (Russian: земланд, Zemland).

The East Prussian Offensive, which commenced on January 13, 1945, had seen the Red Army clear German forces from much of East Prussia. The defenders had been driven into a series of pockets on the Baltic coast and in the city of Königsberg, in which they were besieged.

Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, who had taken over command of the 3rd Belorussian Front in February, incorporated General Hovhannes Bagramyan's 1st Baltic Front into his command from February 22, redesignating it as the Zemland Army Group (or Samland Front). Bagramyan's forces initially laid siege to Königsberg; the city was eventually stormed on April 9. They were then given the task of overcoming the substantial German force still remaining in Sambia.

German defence efforts had largely focused on the port of Pillau at the tip of the peninsula, which was the main evacuation point for casualties and East Prussian civilians. Throughout the siege of Königsberg, Sambia had been defended by Army Detachment Samland under the command of General Hans Gollnick, who had tried to maintain a corridor between Königsberg and Pillau.

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Wikipedia