Wehrmacht on the run

29th January 1945: Across Poland, surviving German soldiers flee 'like hunted animals' to escape the Red Army

IS-2 tank in the city of Mlava. A Russian van based on the ZiS-5 truck heads the transport column, followed by US-supplied Chevrolet G7107 trucks and Studebaker US6. In 1939, the Mlava was occupied and received the German name - Mielau, becoming part of East Prussia. Liberated during the Mlava-Elbing offensive operation of the Soviet troops on January 19, the city reverted to Polish.

The Red Army advances on Konigsberg, January 1945.

Millions of Red Army soldiers were moving west, behind their armoured spearhead.

The Eastern Front, much of the fighting had now descended into unbelievable savagery, with no quarter given. Many members of the Red Army had reason to seek vengeance on the Germans. The rape and murder of German civilians was to become commonplace. Nazi propaganda had exaggerated some incidents - instilling a fear of the Russians that was intended to stiffen the resolve of troops and civilians alike. Yet when the time came, there was little need to exaggerate.

We carefully removed our boots and shoes, what was left of our socks and foot-cloths had gone hard from dried blood and pus.

The tide of war had turned decisively against the Germans and they faced defeat after defeat, retreat after retreat. For the captured German soldier, especially if they belonged to the SS, the fate was in many cases even worse. Some accounts refer to them being "given a beating" but others are more explicit. One female Red Army soldier recalled¹ that any captured German soldiers:

… were not shot dead - that would have been too easy for them, we stabbed them like pigs with spears, chopped them to pieces. I saw it with my own eyes. I waited for the moment when their eyes bulged with pain.

She felt no mercy "They burned my mother and my young sister at the stake in the middle of the village".