The Battle of Kolberg or Battle of Kołobrzeg (also, battle for Festung Kolberg) was the taking of the city of ''Kolberg'', now the city of

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast ...

, in

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and its Polish allies from

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

forces during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

East Pomeranian Offensive. Between 4 and 18 March 1945 there was major

urban fighting Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and ...

of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Polish forces against the German army for the control over the city. The Germans succeeded in evacuating much of their military personnel and refugees from the city via sea before it was taken by the Poles on 18 March.

Background

In 4 March 1944 Kolberg, a large

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

seaport in the Province of Pomerania, was designated a stronghold as ''Festung Kolberg''. It was one of the key German positions in the Pomeranian Wall, a vital link between Pomerania and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

. The German High Command planned to use the seaport to supply nearby German forces, and hoped that the stronghold would draw off Soviet forces from the main thrust towards Berlin. The Soviet East Pomeranian Offensive, commencing on 24 February 1945 managed to cut off and surround the city and its defenders (mostly from the German

Army Group Vistula Army Group Vistula () was an Army Group of the '' Wehrmacht'', formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put together from elements of Army Group A (shattered in the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive), Army Group Centre (similarl ...

). The first commander of ''Festung Kolberg'' was an elderly officer, General Paul Hermann, but due to illness he was transferred in February to a less demanding post. The command was taken by Colonel Gerhard Troschel. After 1 March the city was under the command of a former ''

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

'' officer, Colonel Fritz Fullriede.

Opposing forces

The German defence forces represented various formations from the Army Group 'Vistula,' some tasked with defending the fortress, others simply cut off in the Kolberg pocket. The most notable units included elements of the Third Panzer Army; the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) and the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian). Estimates of the German defenders — including local militia and volunteers (

Volkssturm The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...

) — range from 8,000 to 15,000, supported by some artillery (about 60 pieces), an

armored train An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facili ...

and about 18 tanks and a dozen support vehicles of various types. The German units also received some air and sea support (including artillery fire from

pocket battleship The ''Deutschland'' class was a series of three ''Panzerschiffe'' (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the ''Reichsmarine'' officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the cl ...

s '' Lützow'' and ''

Admiral Scheer Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandi ...

''). The Soviet and Soviet-allied Polish forces attacking the city can be divided into two waves: one of units of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

, from 4 to 7 March, and one of units of the First Polish Army (from the

1st Belorussian Front The 1st Belorussian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Белорусский фронт, ''Perviy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian") was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army ...

), from 8 to 14 March, although some Soviet units took part in the combat after 8 March. The Soviet main units were the 45th Tank Brigade (engaged from 4 to 7 March) and the 272nd Rifle Division (6 to 9 March). The Polish units included: Polish 6th Infantry Division (from 7 March), Polish 3rd Infantry Division (from 9 March), Polish 4th Infantry Division (from 12 March), and various support units. The personnel of the Polish units numbered over 28,000.

Battle

The first attack was led on 4 March by the Soviet units of the

and

2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front ( Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...

; with first Soviet units entering the city around 0800, but was repulsed. On the same day, the nearby city of Köslin (now Koszalin) fell and Soviets started to gather reinforcements to take Kolberg. On 6 March the Soviet High Command decided to turn the siege of the city from the Soviet forces to its Polish allies. By 8 March the Soviets received reinforcements in the form of the units from the

Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...

, the Polish First Army under the command of Polish-born general Stanislaw Poplawski: the

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

, the 3rd Polish Infantry Division and support units. The Polish First Army was now tasked with taking the city; however their first attack was also repulsed. The German forces held stubbornly to the city, protecting the ongoing evacuation. Due to a lack of anti-tank weapons, German

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

s used their guns to support the defenders of Kolberg. On 12 March a new assault was launched, with

heavy tank Heavy tank is a term used to define a class of tanks produced from World War I through the end of the Cold War. These tanks generally sacrificed mobility and maneuverability for better armour protection and equal or greater firepower than tanks ...

s, additional artillery units and the 4th Polish Infantry Division. The attack advanced but at the cost of very heavy casualties, and was broken off on 14 March. The Germans refused a proposal to surrender. On 15 March the fighting resumed and the Germans received reinforcements from Swinemünde (now Świnoujście) — the ''Kell'' battalions. However, they failed to stop the Polish forces, which took the barracks, part of the railway station and the Salt Island. By 16 March the Germans pulled back most of their forces and concentrated on the defense of the port. The destruction of the collegiate church in Kolberg after heavy artillery shelling by katyushas allowed the Polish troops to breach the inner city. Polish forces assaulted the railway station (defended by a German

Panzerzug 72A, which was destroyed on 16 March), pharmaceutics factory and the horse riding arena. On 17 March the Germans abandoned most of the defensive lines, leaving only a small number of troops to cover their retreat, and started to evacuate their main body of forces from the city. Polish forces took the railway station and reached the port, but most of the German troops managed to evacuate to Swinemünde (now

Świnoujście Świnoujście (; german: Swinemünde ; nds, Swienemünn; all three meaning "Świna ivermouth"; csb, Swina) is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. Situated mainly on the islands ...

). The last German stronghold was in the fort built near today's lighthouse on the coastline.

Aftermath

Over 80% of the city was destroyed in the heavy fighting. The battle was among the most intense

urban warfare Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians a ...

the Polish army took part in. Polish casualties were estimated at 1,206 dead and missing, and 3,000 wounded. On 18 March, the day the city fell, the

re-enacted '' Poland's Wedding to the Sea'' ceremony, which had been celebrated for the first time in 1920 by General Józef Haller (there was also a lesser-known ceremony on 17 March

Evacuation

With the Soviet forces approaching in 1945, valuable equipment, most of the inhabitants, and tens of thousands of refugees from surrounding areas (about 70,000), as well as 40,000 German soldiers were evacuated from the besieged city by Kriegsmarine, German naval forces in '' Operation Hannibal''. Only about 2,000 soldiers were left on 17 March to cover the last sea transports.

In media

In 1945,

Polish Film Chronicle Polish Film Chronicle ( pl, Polska Kronika Filmowa) (1944–95) was a 10-minute-long newsreel shown in Polish cinemas prior to the main film. It continued the traditions of the pre-war Polish Telegraphic Agency, and in Communist Poland was often u ...

made a short film about the battl

In 1969, a movie was made in Poland, '' Jarzębina Czerwona'', with the battle for the city as its backgroun

In 2005, a 25-minute Polish documentary film about the battle for the city was mad

Less than two months before the battle, a German propaganda movie, filmed in the city in 1944 and covering the Siege of Kolberg (1807), siege of Kolberg of 1807, was released.

References

Festung Kolberg

External links

Kołobrzeg marzec 1945
— jak dziś wygląda pole bitwy…
Speech by Polish president
on the 60th anniversary of the 45' Wedding to the Sea