Defense of Schwedt Bridgehead

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Defense of Schwedt Bridgehead
Part of World War II
Date February 1 - March 3, 1945 Location Schwedt, Germany Result Soviet victory
Combatants
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders
Heinrich Himmler Otto Skorzeny	Georgiy Zhukov
Strength
Originally four battalions, later a full division	Three armies

The defence of the Schwedt bridgehead was a German operation on the eastern front during the final months of World War II. German forces, commanded by Otto Skorzeny, held the bridgehead against a numerically superior Soviet enemy for 31 days while inflicting heavy losses.

Contents 1 Background 2 Preparations 3 Fighting 4 German withdrawal 5 Aftermath 6 Notes

[edit] Background

The Germans feared that the advancing Soviets would cross the frozen Oder at Schwedt, about 60 miles from Berlin. Commander-in-chief of Army Group Vistula Heinrich Himmler was planning a counter-offensive from Schwedt and on January 30 1945 he ordered SS-Standartenführer Otto Skorzeny to organize the defense.

[edit] Preparations

Skorzeny set up command post on the right bank of the Oder in Niederkrönig and spent the first days fortifying positions. The lines were reinforced with machine gun nests and trenches were dug.

The Germans were short of supplies and weapons, lacking heavy machine guns and artillery. Makeshift artillery batteries were made by mounting anti-aircraft guns on trucks. This mobile artillery proved useful in harassing the Soviet forces and giving them the impression that the Germans had large artillery batteries. After the ice on the Oder was blown up by pioneers to make crossing more difficult for the advancing Soviet tanks a similar strategy was employed using guns mounted on barges floating in the river. Skorzeny later credited this use of mobile artillery with gaining enough time to sufficiently fortify the bridgehead.

[edit] Fighting

The first battles were encounters between German patrols and Soviet forces on February 1. As of February 5 the number of Soviet forces had grown so that German probes behind enemy lines were no longer possible. Once the Soviets had captured the railway in Bad Schönfliess they received a steady flow of reinforcements by train.

After heavy fighting the Germans had to fall back from the outer defences and on February 7 evacuation of all villages outside the bridgehead began. Russian battalions supported by T-34 tanks attacked daily, but suffered heavy losses.

[edit] German withdrawal

The German forces abandonded the Schwedt bridgehead on March 3, having defended it for over a month.

[edit] Aftermath

The Soviets captured Schwedt on 26 April 1945, by then the city was largely destroyed^[1]. The commander of the Schwedt Division later stated that there was no strategic purpose for the defense of the bridgehead, but that it served a defensive tactical role and misled the advancing Soviet armies to believe that the Germans were preparing a counteroffensive^[2].

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Märkische Oderzeitung, "Schwedt war menschenleer", 27. April 2005
2. ^ Otto Skorzeny: Meine Kommandounternehmen, Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden und München 1977, 3. Aufl., ISBN 3-8090-2100-8