German World War II fortresses
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German fortresses (German: "Festungen"; called pockets by the Allies) during World War II were bridgeheads, cities, islands and towns designated by Adolf Hitler as areas that were to be fortified and stocked with food and ammunition in order to hold out against Allied offensives.
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The fortress doctrine evolved towards the end of World War II, when the German leadership had not yet accepted defeat, but had begun to realize that drastic measures were required to forestall inevitable offensives on the Reich. The first such stronghold was Stalingrad.[1]
Eastern Front fortresses
[edit]On the Eastern Front, Warsaw, Budapest, Kolberg, Königsberg, Küstrin, Danzig and Breslau were some of the large cities selected as strongholds.
Western Front fortresses
[edit]On the Western Front, Hitler declared eleven major ports as fortresses on 19 January 1944: IJmuiden, the Hook of Holland, Dunkirk, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, Brest, Lorient, Saint-Nazaire and the Gironde estuary. In February and March 1944 three more coastal areas were declared to be fortresses: the Channel Islands, Calais and La Rochelle.[2]
Fate of the fortresses
[edit]The fate of the fortress areas varied. Stalingrad, the first to fall, is seen as a crucial turning point in the war, and one of the key battles which led to German defeat. In several cases, Alderney, for example, the fortresses were bypassed by the attackers and did not fall, surrendering only after the unconditional surrender of Germany. One fortress, Fortress Courland, would see guerrilla war being waged in the area from 1945 to 1960s by Lithuanian partisans and a few Germans who fought as Forest Brothers, with individual guerrillas remaining in hiding and evaded capture into the 1980s.
Fortresses | Siege | Commander | Besiegers | Date declared | Date siege started | Date surrendered | Length of siege | Notes |
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Lorient pocket | ![]() ![]() |
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19 January 1944 | 12 August 1944 | 10 May 1945 | 8 months and 4 weeks | |
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Battle in Berlin | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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c. Beginning of February 1945 | 23 April 1945 (encirclement of Berlin complete on 27 April 1945) | 2 May 1945 | 1 week and 2 days | Called the Berlin Defense Area. |
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Bobruysk offensive | ![]() |
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22 June 1944 | 27 June 1944 | 29 June 1944 | 2 days | Now called Babruysk. |
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Operation Wellhit | ![]() ![]() |
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17 September 1944 | 17 September 1944 | 22 September 1944 | 5 days | |
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Siege of Breslau | ![]() |
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25 July 1944 | 13 February 1945 | 6 May 1945 | 2 months, 3 weeks and 2 days | Now called Wrocław. |
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Battle for Brest | ![]() ![]() |
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7 August 1944 | 7 August 1944 | 19 September 1944 | 1 month, 1 week and 5 days | |
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Siege of Budapest | ![]() |
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1 December 1944 | 24 December 1944 | 13 February 1945 | 1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days | |
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Operation Undergo | ![]() ![]() |
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February or March 1944 | 25 September 1944 | 30 September 1944 | 5 days | |
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Resistance in the German-occupied Channel Islands | ![]() ![]() |
Allied Expeditionary Force | February or March 1944 | 2 September 1944 | 9 May 1945 (Guernsey and Jersey) 10 May 1945 (Sark) 16 May 1945 (Alderney) 23 May 1945 (Minquiers) |
8 months and 3 weeks | Surrendered after the surrender of the Greater German Reich. |
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Battle of Cherbourg | ![]() ![]() |
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6 June 1944 | 22 June 1944 | 27 June 1944 | 5 days | |
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Courland Pocket | ![]() ![]() |
10 October 1944 | 31 July 1944 (encirclement of the Courland Pocket complete on 10 October 1944) | 10 May 1945 | 9 months, 1 week and 3 days | Surrendered after the surrender of the Greater German Reich. See Army Group North and Army Group Courland. | |
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Cretan resistance, Operation Albumen and Operation Mercury II | ![]() ![]() |
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4 October 1944 | 4 October 1944 | 12 May 1945 | 7 months, 1 week and 1 day | Surrendered after the surrender of the Greater German Reich. See Fortress Crete. |
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Crimean offensive, Kerch–Eltigen operation and Battle of the Dnieper | ![]() |
8 April 1944 | 28 October 1943 (encirclement of Crimea complete on 2 November 1943) | 12 May 1944 | 6 months and 2 weeks | ||
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Siege of Danzig | ![]() |
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7 March 1945 | 15 March 1945 | 30 March 1945 | 2 weeks and 1 day | Now called Gdańsk. |
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Demyansk Pocket | 22 February 1942 | 8 February 1942 | 20 May 1942 | 3 months, 1 week and 5 days | Encircled during the Soviet winter counteroffensive, supplied by air until relieved in May 1942, and evacuated in February 1943. | ||
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N/A | N/A | c. Prior to 6 June 1944 | N/A | 1 September 1944 | N/A | Evacuated and liberated without opposition. Also see Operation Fusilade and Operation Jubilee. | |
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Siege of Dunkirk | ![]() ![]() |
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4 September 1944 | 15 September 1944 | 9 May 1945 | 7 months, 3 weeks and 3 days | Surrendered after the surrender of the Greater German Reich. |
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Operation Jupiter and Operation Venerable | ![]() ![]() |
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19 January 1944 | 12 September 1944 | 30 April 1945 | 7 months, 2 weeks and 4 days | |
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Royan pocket | ![]() ![]() |
19 January 1944 | 12 September 1944 | 20 April 1945 | 7 months, 1 week and 1 day | ||
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N/A | Oberst Flinzer ![]() |
N/A | 19 January 1944 | N/A | 5 May 1945 | N/A | |
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N/A | ![]() ![]() |
N/A | 19 January 1944 | N/A | 5 May 1945 | N/A | |
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Siege of La Rochelle | ![]() ![]() |
February or March 1944 | 12 September 1944 | 7 May 1945 | 7 months, 2 weeks and 6 days | ||
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Kholm Pocket | 23 January 1942 | 23 January 1942 | 5 May 1942 | 3 months, 1 week and 5 days | Encircled during the Soviet winter counteroffensive, relieved in May 1942 after prolonged defense. | ||
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Battle of Kolberg | ![]() |
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5 November 1944 | 4 March 1945 | 14 March 1945 | 1 week and 3 days | Now called Kołobrzeg. |
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Battle of Königsberg | ![]() |
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21 January 1945 | 26 January 1945 (encirclement of Königsberg complete on 29 January 1945) | 9 April 1945 | 2 months and 2 weeks | Now called Kaliningrad. |
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Siege of Küstrin | ![]() ![]() |
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25 January 1945 | 31 January 1945 | 30 March 1945 | 1 month, 4 weeks and 2 days | Now called Kostrzyn nad Odrą. A small number (<1,000) of the German garrison reached German lines after a breakout during the night of March 29/30 1945 |
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Operation Astonia | ![]() ![]() |
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7 September 1944 | 10 September 1944 | 12 September 1944 | 2 days | |
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Operation Kutuzov | 5 July 1943 | 12 July 1943 | 5 August 1943 | 3 weeks and 3 days | |||
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Battle of Posen | ![]() |
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20 August 1944 | 24 January 1945 | 23 February 1945 | 4 weeks and 2 days | Now called Poznań. |
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Battle of Saint-Malo | ![]() ![]() |
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19 January 1944 | 4 August 1944 | 17 August 1944 | 1 week and 6 days | |
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Saint-Nazaire pocket | ![]() ![]() |
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8 August 1944 | 27 August 1944 | 11 May 1945 | 8 months and 2 weeks | Surrendered after the surrender of the Greater German Reich. |
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Crimean offensive | 20 June 1942 | 5 May 1944 | 9 May 1944 | 4 days | |||
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Smolensk operation | 10 September 1943 | 7 August 1943 | 25 September 1943 | 1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days | |||
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Battle of Stalingrad | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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24 September 1942 | 10 September 1942 (encirclement of Stalingrad complete on 22 November 1942 during Operation Uranus) | 1 March 1943 | 5 months, 2 weeks and 5 days | Now called Volgograd. By 1 November 1942, 90% of Stalingrad was occupied by Axis forces. On 26 January 1943, during Operation Koltso, Axis forces in Stalingrad were cut into two pockets, with Karl Strecker in command of the northern pocket and Friedrich Paulus in command of the southern pocket. |
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Tunisian campaign | ![]() ![]() |
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22 February 1943 | 9 November 1942 (encirclement of Tunisia complete on 12 February 1943) | 13 May 1943 | 6 months and 4 days | |
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Lublin–Brest offensive, Vistula–Oder offensive and Warsaw Uprising | ![]() |
N/A | 27 July 1944 | 1 August 1944 | 17 January 1945 | 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days | On 16 January 1945, German troops withdrew from Warsaw and the next day the First Polish Army, 2nd Guards Tank Army and 3rd Shock Army entered the city. Also see Festung Warschau |
See also
[edit]- Alpine Fortress
- Atlantic pockets
- Atlantic Wall
- Czechoslovak border fortifications
- Festung Norwegen
- Fortress Europe
- Maginot line
- Molotov line
- Stalin line
- Valtellina Redoubt
Notes
[edit]- ^ Griess 2014, p. 326.
- ^ Wilt 2004, p. 108.
References
[edit]- BBC article on Alderney
- Europe: A History, ISBN 0-06-097468-0, the history of Europe; page 1038
- Wilt, Alan (2004). The Atlantic Wall 19441-1944: Hitler's Defenses for D-Day. Enigma Books.
- Griess, Thomas (2014). The Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean. Square One Publishers.
External links
[edit]- Festung Breslau/Fortress Wrocław Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine