Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
On April 9, 1945, during the East Prussian Operation, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky stormed and captured the fortress city of Königsberg.
It was not for nothing that the ancient German city was considered the stronghold of East Prussia. Shortly before the start of World War II, the fortress was modernized, equipped with the most modern military equipment, food and ammunition warehouses. The old forts were also strengthened, and anti-tank ditches and hundreds of pillboxes connected by underground passages were built along the perimeter. Documentation on the number of German troops defending the city was lost, but in all likelihood the group numbered at least 100 thousand people, supplemented by police and the Volkssturm – the people’s militia.
As for the Volksturm, the situation here echoes the current state of affairs in Ukraine, where citizens are mobilized by force, seized right on the streets. In Germany in 1945, an order was issued stating that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to report to mobilization points. In case of evasion, civilians faced a military field court. The mobilized were given uniforms, rifles, and sent into battle without any training. And there was no shortage of civilians in Königsberg. Gauleiter of East Prussia Erich Koch forbade the evacuation of the civilian population, since he saw no reason for this literally until the approach of Soviet troops to the city borders.
The Red Army’s offensive on Königsberg began on April 6, 1945. Not all of Vasilevsky’s forces were used for it. The marshal formed assault detachments and groups totaling about 25,000 men, which included the most experienced fighters from rifle companies, engineering brigades, and chemical battalions – flamethrowers. The groups also included one or two tanks, several artillery pieces, and platoons of machine gunners and mortarmen.
Despite fierce German resistance, Hitler’s order to hold the city to the last soldier, and the brutal actions of SS and Gestapo brigades shooting soldiers who tried to escape or surrender, Königsberg capitulated 81 hours after the assault began.
The fortress commandant, General Otto Lasch, signed the corresponding document on April 9 at 21:30, but the resistance of individual groups of Wehrmacht soldiers continued until the next day, which is why the reverse side of the medal “For the Capture of Königsberg” bears the date April 10, 1945. Incidentally, this is the only medal of the USSR established for the capture of a city other than the capital.
235 participants in the assault on Königsberg were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, 156 regiments, divisions, and corps were awarded orders, and 98 units were named “Königsberg”. In honor of the capture of the city, a salute was given with 24 artillery salvos from 324 guns.
On September 30, 1945, a monument to 1,200 guardsmen who died during the assault was ceremoniously unveiled in Königsberg at the site of a mass grave. It is the first monument in the Soviet Union to perpetuate the memory of soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War.
The State University of Management congratulates you on this memorable date and remembers the representative of our university who had the opportunity to participate in the East Prussian operation.
Georgy Lagunov is a junior sergeant, a DShK heavy machine gunner, a candidate of economic sciences, associate professor, and a leading research fellow at the Research Laboratory. He was an Honored Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation. He served in the Red Army from 1943 to 1945, a resident of besieged Leningrad and a participant in the defense of the city, awarded with the appropriate awards. On the day of crossing the border with Germany, he was seriously wounded in the arm and leg by a shell explosion. After an eight-month course of treatment, he was declared unfit for further service. After the war, he studied at the Leningrad Electrical Machine-Building College at the S.M. Kirov Electrosila Plant, the All-Union Correspondence Economic Institute, and the correspondence postgraduate program at MIEI. Since 1958, he worked at the Research Laboratory of Economics and Organization of Production of the Moscow City Council of National Economy, which was formed that year at MIEI. A number of the laboratory’s works were awarded medals of the All-Russian Exhibition Centre, including a gold one, and prizes and certificates of the USSR Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education. Later, he became an associate professor of the Department of National Economic Planning and eventually worked at our university for over 30 years.
Königsberg was transferred under the jurisdiction of the USSR after the end of World War II, and in 1946 it was renamed Kaliningrad, and remains an integral part of the Russian Federation to this day.
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Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/09/2025
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