Prussian Apocalypse : the Fall of Danzig 1945

245 Pages·2012·2.52 MB·English

by  le Tissier

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

German text 1978 by Bechtle at F.A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung GmbH,
München (Original title: Danziger Bucht 1945. Dokumentation einer
Katastrophe) www.herbig.net

English text © Tony Le Tissier, 2011
9781783461202

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
Preface
Chapter 1 - The Eastern Front
Chapter 2 - Precipitate Flight
Chapter 3 - The Last Trains
Chapter 4 - The Fall of Elbing
Chapter 5 - The German 4th Army’s Breakout
Chapter 6 - Over the Ice of the Frisches Haff
Chapter 7 - The Road along the Spit
Chapter 8 - The Pillau Exit
Chapter 9 - Flight from Königsberg
Chapter 10 - The Soviet Invasion of the Samland
Chapter 11 - The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
Chapter 12 - The Sinking of the General von Steuben
Chapter 13 - Westwards over the Vistula
Chapter 14 - From Pillau to Gotenhafen
Chapter 15 - Danzig cut off
Chapter 16 - Chaos at the Mouth of the Vistula
Chapter 17 - From Hela to the West
Chapter 18 - The Fall of Königsberg
Chapter 19 - The Soviets occupy the Samland
Chapter 20 - The End of Pillau
Chapter 21 - The End at the Vistula and Hela
Sources
Introduction
by Tony Le Tissier

Egbert Kieser’s book tells the horrific tale of how the eastern provinces of
Germany, once the central core of national unity, came to an abrupt end with the
Soviet invasion of 1945. The population fled and those that contrived to remain
behind were soon rounded up and deported. Part of East Prussia was annexed to
the Soviet Union, the remainder being incorporated into today’s Poland.
Grand Admiral Alfred Dönitz, who was to succeed Hitler as the leader of Nazi
Germany, ordered a massive evacuation by sea which, despite the intervention of
Soviet submarines, succeeded in transporting an estimated 1,950,000 refugees
and wounded soldiers westwards across the Baltic to Germany and Denmark. A
further 1,900,000 managed to make their way overland from Prussia and
Pomerania to the other side of the Oder River, the eastern boundary of post-war
Germany.
Preface
by Egbert Kieser

The initiative for this documentation is a thank-you from the refugees to the
Navy, who made me aware of my predecessors in the Danzig Bight during the
last months of the war in 1945. After further research I became convinced that
the flight of the East Prussians, West Prussians and Danzigers across the Danzig
Bight to the west had no parallel in European history. The drama of these
predecessors began to fascinate me, but soon the first long interviews with those
involved opened up other dimensions and uncovered the tragedy of events and
the extent of human victims. The whole cruelty and senselessness of the Second
World War provoked by Hitler exploded within a few weeks on a shrewd
population completely unprepared by the Nazi Party in its false security.
Surprised by the fighting, they had to take to flight in utterly chaotic conditions
and the deepest winter to the sea, from where the majority of the refugees could
be brought to safety to the west in an unparalleled rescue operation – a safety
that nevertheless for many involved a year of deprivation in Danish internment
camps.
An extremely extensive collection of factual information enables an objective
presentation of these events. Help and support has come to me from many sides.
I must therefore express my gratitude to all those who took part. Above all my
thanks go to every East Prussian, West Prussian and Danziger who provided me
with such detailed, living – and also patient – accounts. Many names are not to
be found in this book, but nearly all accounts can be traced in one form or other,
thus contributing to the presentation as a whole.
Individual thanks go to the selfless assistance of the Federal Executive of
Landmannschaft Westpreussen, Hans-Jürgen Schuch, Münster, and Professor Dr
Werner Schienemann, Tuttlingen, who honoured me with their support. For
much valuable advice I thank Professor Dr Jürgen Rohwer, Stuttgart, Dr
Hümmelchen, Stuttgart, retired General of Tank Troops Gerhard Graf von
Schwerin and retired General of Tank Troops Walther Nehring.
Schwerin and retired General of Tank Troops Walther Nehring.
Especial thanks go to Dr Joseph Henke, Dr Hofmann and Frau Ina von Theim
of the Koblenz Federal Archives, who enabled my wife and I to evaluate the
extensive documentation on the East for so many months. This also applies to Dr
Maierhöfer of the Federal Archives – Military Archives in Freiburg, who made
the naval records available to me.
Here I must also express my thanks to my wife, who bore the largest part of
the archival work and prepared the final copy of the manuscript. During the
whole time of this work, Dr Hans Josef Mundt has provided me with his
valuable advice.