The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Königsberg, 1945

by Isabel Denny

In 1945, two and a half million people were forced out of Germanys most easterly province, East Prussia, and in particular its capital, Königsberg. Their flight was a direct result of Hitlers ill-fated decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941. The horrors of Leningrad and Stalingrad were to be avenged by an army determined not only to invade Germany but to take over its eastern-frontier territories. The Russians launched Operation Bagration in June 1944, to coincide with the D-Day landings. As US and British forces pushed west the Russians liberated Eastern Europe and made their first attacks in the autumn of 1944. Königsberg itself was badly damaged by two British air raids at the end of August 1944, and the main offensive against the city by the Red Army began in January 1945. The depleted and poorly armed German army could do little to hold it back, and by the end of January East Prussia was cut off. The Russians exacted a terrible revenge on the civilian population, who were forced to flee across the freezing Baltic coast in an attempt to escape. On April 9, the city surrendered to the Russians after a four-day onslaught. Through first-hand accounts as well as archival material, Königsberg 1945: The Annihilation of Hitler's Fortress City tells the dramatic story of a place and its people that bore the brunt of Russia's vengeance against the Nazi regime. It is Isabel Denny's first book.

Genres: History, Germany, World War II, Nonfiction, Military History, Military Fiction, European History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Singleton Mosby · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first got hold of this book I was really happy with it as books on the subject (44-45 Fortress-cities) are very hard to find.
This book, however, turned out to be a bit of a dissapointment. Not only does it take an awful lot of time for the author to arrive at 1945, it never really describes the fall of the city either. The first 1/3's of the book is taken up by a description of East-Prussia (interesting) and the comming of the war. Then we have a whole lot of 40-44 to go through which shouldn't actually be a part of this book for more then a chapter. Only after having read 2/3's of the book the focus changes to the 44-45 campaigns for Eastern Prussia, the British bombardment for the city, German preparations, suffering of the civillian population on the border (which was terrible).
There's hardly any description of the battles being fought for the city or those preseding it and those after the fall of Koningsberg. Which is weird as that's what the title would suggest.

The book, however, is nicely written apart from a lot of repetition of the same facts. If only.....
Another thing the book seriously lacks is maps. There's one of the city center but that's not very usefull unfortunately.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning and end are quite good (pre-war history and the Russian invasion of Konigsberg at the end of the war). The middle, explaining Barbarossa and the Soviet's eventual turn-around to going on the advance is better handled elsewhere, and probably more accurately. Some of the numbers of victims seem off. As well, in the otherwise excellent latter part, the author jumps around in the timeline, which can be confusing. Still, worth reading for its detail on this important, often overlooked, human tragedy brought on by revenge for the murderous actions of the Germans in the Soviet areas it occupied.

[The Bohemian Conservative · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read on a very neglected topic. When the book was focused on the actual topic of the title of the book, it contained some very interesting and powerful primary-source anecdotal material, quite unique stuff that, for the enthusiast, is worth the admission price. However, this is true for maybe only 30% of the book. The rest is background material which might be useful for someone with no knowledge of the war as a whole ... but others will probably find unnecessary. You get the feeling sometimes that the author was struggling to fill the pages. Maybe there was less research material than was expected? Anyway, it comes across as 'filler'.

Also, there's quite a bit of repetition, particularly in the back-grounding. I think it could have used a through structural edit.

The author is also very fond of the standard 'they got what they deserved' when it comes to the atrocities committed on the German soldiers and civilians, implying that if they had have not committed atrocities themselves (as a group) then the Soviet forces would have behaved correctly toward them like professional soldiers and gentlemen. The treatment of enemy soldiers and civilians by soviet forces in pre-WW2 theatres of conflict make this assertion very unlikely.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't happy with this one. The history was high-level and very quick. Almost like this were quickly put together. I was expecting this book to be detailed but didn't get what I wanted.

[Wayne Solberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book on the history of this German city that ended up in the Soviet Union after the war ended. If you are interested in what happened during the second world war and how it turned out this book is one that you need to read. That way you can understand the feelings of the people who lived though the war and the consequences after the end of the war.

[Steve Shallenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was on a less talked about topic. It had eye witness accounts and references from other books that have touched on this topic area. I really enjoyed it.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book

Very Good read! I was kept involved. I thought it had just the right amount of battle scenes.
Good history also

[JoAnne Styger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a student of history, but I do enjoy history. I found this book to be easy to read (ignorant though I am on the subject matter), and very interesting and informative. I felt the author struck the right balance between describing the reasons for Naziism, the war in east Germany with Russia, and personal accounts from eye witnesses. The truth of war is there is no winner; war is the bassist human depravity. But it is also necessary to meet that depravity at the door and fight.