Tenkitten-Riegel ETO (id:#62460)

(Panzer Aces #2 ID: PA#11)   [next]   [previous]

Samland Peninsula, East Prussia 1945-04-21 (16 others)

Overview:

By the end of January, the Soviet 3rd Byelorussian Front and the 1st Baltic Front, now designated Samland Front had reached the shores of the Vistula Lagoon, cutting off the city of Königsberg. Two months later, after heavy aerial and artillery bombardment and days of bitter fighting, sometimes in close quarters, the German positions at the rail station in city center were lost. General Otto Lasch, commander of the German Königsberg garrison was forced to surrender the city. The attack had scattered many of the remaining German units that were quickly reformed into ad-hoc units, falling back towards the port of Pillau. When the Soviet 115th Rifle Division broke through and cleared the 551st Volksgrenadier Division from Rauschen on the northwestem tip of Samland; the German forces in the north of the peninsula, including the 95th lnfantry Division and Schwere Panzer Abteilung 502 (reduced to just 9 tanks and redesignated 511) were driven soutfrwards. Behind them, tens of thousands German civilians and military personnel were streaming to Pillau - where the German Navy was undertaking the momentous task of their evacuation. One of the ad-hoc units; Kompanie 2, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 511, commanded by Oberfeldwebel Kerscher, was deployed near Norgau, where over the next few day, Kampfgruppe Kerscher engaged the Soviet spearheads, destroying more than 50 tanks and tank destroyers. By 16 April, Soviet Forces had broken through near Fischhausen, cutting off and surrounding the German XXVI Corps on the Peyse peninsula. A defensive line, the Tenkitten-Riegel, had been improvised across the narrow strip of land leading to Pillau. To break the German resistance, the 11th Guards Army was committed on 20 April.

Defender: German (Kampfgruppe Kerscher, 2/sPz.Abt 511 and sPz.Abt 506 with sPz.Abt 502)  

Errata (source)