Operation Solstice

The operation took place in response to the Soviet advance on Berlin in early 1945. Launched January 12, 1945, the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive had ripped open a gap hundreds of kilometers long in German defensive lines, and the Soviets had subsequently pushed from the Vistula River to the Oder River. As the Soviet advance to the west reached its farthest point, its apex narrowed, leaving long northern and southern flanks into which retreating German formations had moved and along which the Germans were attempting to reestablish a cohesive defensive line.

General Heinz Guderian had originally planned to execute a major offensive against the 1st Belorussian Front, cutting off the leading elements of Georgy Zhukov's forces east of the Oder. The Soviet forces were to be attacked from Stargard (Pomerania) in the north as well as from Glogau (Silesia) and Guben (Brandenburg) in the south.[3] In order to carry out these plans, he requested that the Courland Pocket be evacuated to make available the divisions trapped there, removed troops from Italy and Norway, and involved Sepp Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army which had been intended for counter-attacks in Hungary. In a meeting with Guderian, Hitler insisted that Courland be held and that the army continue with its planned attacks in Hungary; the meeting rapidly degenerated into a heated and farcical argument.[4]

After agreeing on a more limited counter-offensive, Hitler and Guderian then proceeded to have an even more heated argument when Guderian insisted that Walther Wenck direct the offensive rather than Heinrich Himmler (the commander of Army Group Vistula). Hitler, despite "almost screaming", according to Guderian's account, gave in on this point.[3][5]

Soviet intelligence

View along the shore of Lake Madüsee (Miedwie)

Zhukov had been made aware of a buildup of German forces opposing his 61st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies, but did not have information as to the exact timing and nature of the attack.[6] The Stavka of the Supreme Main Command had noted with concern that while the Germans had moved thirteen divisions between the main Soviet forces and Berlin, thirty-three divisions had concentrated in Pomerania, lending credence to the possibility of a German strike from Pomerania into the exposed northern flank of the 1st Belorussian Front.[7]

Not all of the German units, which had to be reinforced across the bridges at Stettin were ready on the planned start date of February 15. Nevertheless, a part of the central corps, the SS Division Nordland, attacked towards Arnswalde that day. Initially the offensive was successful; the opposing forces of 61st Army were taken by surprise and the German spearhead reached the besieged outpost of Arnswalde and relieved its garrison.[3]

A general attack opened the following day.[3] The central corridor to Arnswalde was widened by the III SS Panzer Corps, pushing part of the Soviet front eight to twelve kilometers back.[18] However, the attack by the XXXIX Panzer Corps was unable to reach the Plöne Lake due to resistance by the Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Army,[11] stalling some 70 kilometers from Küstrin after pushing the Soviets out of Sallenthin and Muscherin, reoccupying some land on the eastern shore of Lake Madü,[19] and recapturing Pyritz.[20] Gruppe Munzel pushed some four kilometers to Liebenow, while the III SS Panzer Corps advanced about a kilometer to Reetz. Numbers of Soviet tanks and antitank guns were destroyed by German Tiger II heavy tanks, but the German heavy tanks also took losses. In general, German progress was hindered because of strong Soviet resistance.[3] On February 17, General Wenck, commander of the offensive, was seriously injured in a car accident. While being driven back from a briefing in Berlin, he took over driving from his driver (who had been on duty and awake for 48 hours) and then himself fell asleep at the wheel.[3] He was replaced by Hans Krebs, but command initiative had already been lost.[3][21] Later that day, Zhukov threw the 3rd Shock Army, which had redeployed from the area of Jastrow, into a counter-attack and the German offensive stalled.

Dead Soviet soldiers and destroyed tanks in southern Pomerania, 20 February 1945

Army Group Vistula halted Sonnenwende on February 18.[3] On February 19, Zhukov initiated a counter-offensive aimed at the capture of Stettin using the 61st and the 2nd Guards Tank Armies as well as the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps. However, it stalled in the heavy street fighting during the re-capture of Arnswalde.[22] There was no immediate German withdrawal, but the German command decided on February 21 to withdraw the headquarters of the XXXIX Panzer Corps as well as the Führer-Grenadier, Führer-Begleit, Holstein, and 10th SS Panzer Divisions westward behind Army Group Center, practically ensuring that eastern Pomerania would fall to the Soviets.[11] Zhukov's commitment of the 70th Army into an attack on February 23 spurred a retreat with the German forces losing or abandoning many tanks. On February 24, Marshal Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front renewed the offensive into Pomerania, opening a 60-kilometer (37 mi) wide gap in German lines west of Grudziądz and moving almost fifty kilometers (31 miles) forward, further reducing the cohesion of German defenses.[23]

Despite the initial gains, the operation was a complete failure. However, the operation convinced the Soviets to postpone their attack on Berlin while Pomerania was cleared in the East Pomeranian Offensive.[24]

• History of Pomerania (1933–1945)

Citations

• Beevor, Anthony (2002). Berlin: The Downfall 1945. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-88695-5.
• Duffy, Christopher (1991). Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22829-8.
• Erickson, John. The Road to Berlin, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-300-07813-7
• Jentz, Thomas. Panzertruppen, Vol. 2, Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996, ISBN 0-7643-0080-6
• Krivosheev, Grigoriy. Soviet casualties and combat losses, London: Greenhill Books, 1997, ISBN 1-85367-280-7
• Lakowski, Richard. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Vol. 10/1, Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2008, ISBN 978-3-421-06237-6
• Liedtke, Gregory (2008). "Furor Teutonicus: German Offensives and Counter- Attacks on the Eastern Front, August 1943 to March 1945". Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 21 (3): 563–587. doi:10.1080/13518040802313852. S2CID 144339802.
• Overmans, Rüdiger. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg, München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-486-20028-3
• Schramm, Percy. Kriegstagesbuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht 1944-1945, Vol. II, München: Bernard and Graefe Verlag, 1982 ISBN 3-88199-073-9
• Stoves, Rolf. Die Gepanzerten und motorisierten deutschen Grossverbände 1935-1945, Wölfersheim: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3-7909-0279-9
• Le Tissier, Tony. Zhukov at the Oder: the decisive battle for Berlin, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, p. 101, ISBN 0-275-95230-4
• Ustinov, Dmitriy. Geschichte des zweiten Weltkrieges 1939-1945, (German translation of the official Soviet history of World War II), Vol. 10, Berlin: Militärverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1982

• Satellite imagery view of the battle area
• Aerial photo of the region around Pyritz
• Lage Ost map for 15 February 1945 showing the German offensive