Galtgarben Hill

Last updated
Galtgarben Hill
GaltgarbenWinter.JPG
Galtgarben Hill in the winter of 1928
Highest point
Elevation 110.4 m (362 ft)
Coordinates 54°48′15″N20°14′00″E / 54.80417°N 20.23333°E / 54.80417; 20.23333 .
Geography
Galtgarben Hill
LocationSambia Peninsula, Kaliningrad oblast, Russia

Galtgarben Hill (in World War II documents known as Bismarck's Peak, its height is 111.4, [1] German: Galtgarben) is a mountain located on the territory of the Sambia Peninsula of the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia. Its height of 110.4 meters above sea level is the highest point of the peninsula. Until March 1, 1945, the top of the mountain was crowned by the Bismarck Tower, built through the efforts of the Pan-German League and opened on September 23, 1906, which in February 1945 was used as an observation post by General Beloborodov, commander of the 43rd Army of the Red Army.

Contents

Description

Galtgarben Hill is located in the central part of the Sambia Peninsula, 20 km from Kaliningrad, not far from the highway to the western part of the peninsula and the Baltic Sea coast. Surrounded on three sides by forested hills, it is invisible to the surrounding area, and only the western woodless part makes it visible. [2]

Before the military operations began in February 1945, there were many small settlements here. But during the fighting in February, March and April 1945, most of them were completely or partially destroyed and became the landmarks of numerous war graves. All of this gradually disappeared from the face of the earth, then -during the prolonged fighting and in peacetime- as a result of economic activity and reburial work.

On the plaques of the memorial complexes on the mass graves of Soviet soldiers in the settlements of Cherepanovo, [3] Russkoe, [4] Romanovo [5] and Pereslavskoe [6] are inscribed the surnames of the victims of the victorious side. There are more than 10 thousand people, according to the archival data.

History

Prussian and German background

Galtgarben Hill has long attracted the attention of locals and aliens alike. Various buildings have been erected on it. Legends have been told about it, but it has always been a vantage point. According to some sources, the Galtgarben Hill was "one of the largest Prussian fortresses with an area of 170x50 meters. The ancient fortification is surrounded by two or three 4-6 meter high ramparts, overgrown with moss and trees, and deep ditches. To the west, at the foot of the Galtgarben, there was a fortified settlement". [7] There is also a theory that the wooden Prussian fortress on Galtgarben may have been one of the main pagan sanctuaries of the Prussians in the 16th-18th centuries. [7] [8] During the Soviet times and up until 1945, the mountain was used as a mini ski resort during the winter months.

The Second World War

On the night of 1 March 1945, a large German unit secretly entered the top of the mountain. Fearing that the tower and the mountain would be occupied by the enemy, the tower was blown up and the top of the mountain was shelled with Katyusha rockets.

"My VP was at an altitude of 111.4. Actually, it's not an altitude, it's a height. But here, in the flat lowlands of Zemland, it really seemed like a mountain. The locals called it Bismarck's Peak. A stone pyramid was built on its top. Climbing up the steep steps to the platform of the pyramid, I involuntarily remembered how Bismarck in his time warned his countrymen about the futility and danger of a military conflict with Russia". [1] Beloborodov A. P., "Always in the fight"

At the end of January 1945, the Soviet troops broke through the line Königsberg-Kranz. The enemy resistance was broken. Galtgarben Hill (or Bismarck's Peak, altitude 111.4) and the village of Kumachyovo were taken in passing. [9] Sweeping away the scattered Volkssturm detachments, the Soviet troops marched southwest, cutting off Königsberg from the Zemland grouping of German troops, to Fischhausen Bay and the sea, to the naval fortress of Pillau. On January 31, 1945, the 87th Guards Division reached the bay in Gross Heidekrug. And on February 3, 1945, soldiers of the 91st Guards Rifle Division of the 39th Army took Germau. But enemy resistance was growing. The Germans transferred combat units from other parts of the front to the peninsula by sea. Heavy and bloody battles were fought in the area of Germau. On February 9, the enemy captured Germau. The front line approached Galtgarben and the village of Kumenen.

"Height 111.4 was now 3-4 kilometers from the front line. The entire woodless plain was dominated by the stone pyramid. On the right it was cut by the gray ribbon of the Königsberg highway. There, above the cluster of red brick houses of Kumenen, stood the Gothic spire of the Kirkha. And directly to the west the snow fields were smoking with the bursts of hundreds of shells and mines". [1] Beloborodov A.P., "Always in the fight"

The weather was frosty. Heavy tanks moved freely on the frozen ground. The Germans persistently tried to break through to the besieged Königsberg via Kumenin, bypassing the forest near Pobetino and directly through the Galtgarben Hill. The approaches to Galtgarben were defended by the 87th Guards Rifle Division, and to Kumenin by the 263rd Rifle Division.

"The main combat load in the February battles fell on the personnel of the 87th Guards Division of General Kirill Yakovlevich Tymchik and the 263rd Sivash Division of Colonel Cornelius Georgievich Cherepanov. Both of them firmly led units and subdivisions, quickly and decisively eliminated individual breakthroughs of enemy tanks and infantry". [1] Beloborodov A.P., "Always in the fight"

The battle situation in this direction stabilized after the unsuccessful German attempt to take Galtgarben on the night of March 1, 1945. Under the cover of Galtgarben Hill and the surrounding forests, the Soviet troops prepared for the attack on Kyiv from the northwest. On April 6, 1945 the positions of the units of the 43rd and 39th Armies in the area of the hill were handed over to the units of the 5th Army. After the capture of Königsberg on April 9, 1945, the fighting on the western approaches to Galtgarben Hill resumed with renewed vigor. The liquidation of the German Zemland grouping was underway.

Post War Period

In the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, the summit and slopes of Galtgarben were a wasteland torn apart by grenade explosions. All buildings on and near the mountain were razed to the ground. A prison camp was located northwest of the mountain in the former settlements of Nastrenen and Dallvenen. A dirt road ran along the northern slope of the mountain from the camp to the highway to Kaliningrad. From the northeastern slope of the mountain, through the forest, on the abandoned road it was possible to pass to Voroshilovo settlement (now a part of Pereslavskoe settlement). In 1946 settlers from Yaroslavl region came here. They called the Galtgarben — "hill".

In 1985, a memorial complex and a mass grave of Soviet soldiers were opened in the village of Pereslavskoye. In addition to the soldiers buried here in 1945, the remains of soldiers from the military cemeteries of the Kumachevo settlement and other areas of the Galtgarben Hill were transferred here. The greatest losses here were suffered by the 87th Guards, 263rd, 182nd, 144th Rifle Divisions, penal military units of the 43rd and 5th Armies and the 10th Infantry Division. The memorial plaques of the complex bear 5165 names of fallen soldiers. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Guards Army</span> WW2 Soviet Red Army formation

The 2nd Guards Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army that fought in World War II, most notably at Stalingrad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Königsberg</span> 1945 battle of World War II, during the Great Patriotic War.

The Battle of Königsberg, also known as the Königsberg offensive, was one of the last operations of the East Prussian offensive during World War II. In four days of urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg, present day Kaliningrad, Russia. The siege started in late January 1945 when the Soviets initially surrounded the city. Heavy fighting took place for control of overland connection between Königsberg and the port of Pillau, however by March 1945 Königsberg was hundreds of kilometres behind the main front line in the eastern front. The battle ended when the German garrison surrendered to the Soviets on 9 April after a three-day assault made their position untenable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">51st Army (Russia)</span> Military unit

The 51st Army was a field army of the Red Army that saw action against the Germans in World War II on both the southern and northern sectors of the front. The army participated in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula between December 1941 and January 1942; it was destroyed in May 1942 with other Soviet forces when the Wehrmacht launched an operation to dislodge them from the peninsula. The army fought in the Battle of Stalingrad during the winter of 1942–43, helping to defeat German relief attempts. From late 1944 to the end of the war, the army fought in the final cutting-off of German forces in the Courland area next to the Baltic. Inactivated in 1945, the army was activated again in 1977 to secure Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the army continued in existence as a component of the Russian Ground Forces. The army was active during two periods from 1941 until 1997.

The Samland offensive was a Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front in the final stages of World War II. It took place in Sambia ;.

The 26th Rifle Division was a rifle division in the Soviet Red Army during the Russian Civil War, World War II and the Cold War. The division was formed on 3 November 1918 on the Eastern Front, sent to the Soviet-German Front in August 1941. Ended the war in Poland, where it was assigned to the Northern Group of Forces. It was disbanded in 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaliningrad</span> Russian city between Poland and Lithuania

Kaliningrad, known as Königsberg until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland. The city sits about 663 kilometres (412 mi) west of the bulk of Russia. The city is situated on the Pregolya River, at the head of the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea, and is the only ice-free Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Its population in 2020 was 489,359. Kaliningrad is the second-largest city in the Northwestern Federal District, after Saint Petersburg, the third-largest city in the Baltic region, and the seventh-largest city on the Baltic Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afanasy Beloborodov</span>

Afanasy Pavlantyevich Beloborodov was a general in the Red Army during the Second World War who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Between 1963 and 1968, he commanded the Moscow Military District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">87th Guards Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 87th Guards Rifle Division was created on 16 April 1943 from the veterans of the 300th Rifle Division, in recognition of that division's leading role in the penetration of the German/Romanian defenses south of Stalingrad in the opening stages of Operation Uranus, its subsequent defense against Army Group Don's attempt to relieve the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, and later for its pursuit of the defeated German forces along the Don River to Rostov-na-Donu as far as the Mius River. The 87th Guards continued a record of distinguished service through the rest of the Great Patriotic War, first in the southern sector of the front, where it participated in the liberation of the Donbas region and the Crimea, and then, after a major redeployment, in the north-central sector, advancing through the Baltic states and into East Germany. After the war it was restructured into a rifle brigade, before being reestablished as 87th Guards Rifle Division in October 1953. In June 1957, it was reorganized as a motor rifle division, but appears to have been disbanded in 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Lyudnikov</span> Soviet Army Colonel General

Ivan Ilyich Lyudnikov, was a Soviet Army Colonel General and Hero of the Soviet Union.

Mirza Agamurad oglu Jabiyev was a Red Army captain, and a Hero of the Soviet Union. Jabiyev was awarded the title on 19 April 1945, for his actions in the Battle of Königsberg during the storming of Fort Five. He led his platoon in the storming of the fort and reportedly raised the red flag on the main tower of the fort. Jabiyev left the army in 1946, and became chairman of the village council and a kolkhoz director.

The 263rd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II.

The 19th Guards Rifle Division was formed from the first formation of the 366th Rifle Division on March 17, 1942. At this time it was in the 52nd Army of Volkhov Front, taking part in the Lyuban Offensive Operation, which was planned to encircle and defeat the enemy forces laying siege to Leningrad. However, just at that time the German 18th Army was in the process of cutting off the Soviet Lyuban grouping in a pocket, and over the following months the division was nearly destroyed. Enough survivors emerged from the swamps in June and July to rebuild the unit, and it fought in the Second Sinyavino Offensive before it was shifted south into Kalinin Front to take part in the battle and siege of Velikiye Luki in December. In the summer of 1943 the 19th Guards fought in the battles for Smolensk, and won its first battle honor, "Rudnya". in September. During the offensive in the summer of 1944 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its successes in the fighting around Vitebsk. It was further honored in February, 1945, with the Order of Lenin for its role in the victories in East Prussia. In the summer the division was moved by rail with its 39th Army to the Far East and saw action in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August, winning its second battle honor, "Khingan", for its services. The division continued to see service well into the postwar era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th Guards Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 16th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in February 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 249th Rifle Division, and served in that role until well after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was in Kalinin Front when it was redesignated and remained in the northern half of the front throughout the war. In the summer it was assigned to Western Front's 30th Army to the north of the Rzhev salient and took part in the stubborn and costly struggle for the village of Polunino just east of that town in August. It returned to the fighting in March 1943 in the followup to the German evacuation of the salient, then was reassigned to the new 11th Guards Army, where it would remain for the duration of the war. During the summer offensive against the German-held salient around Oryol it assisted in the liberation of Karachev and received its name as an honorific. By December, after fighting through western Russia north of Smolensk the division was in 1st Baltic Front, attacking south towards Gorodok and winning the Order of the Red Banner in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to seize Vitebsk. By the start of the offensive against Army Group Center in the summer of 1944 the 16th Guards had been redeployed with its Army to the south of Vitebsk as part of 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain for the duration. Driving westward during Operation Bagration the division helped to liberate the key city of Orsha and then drove on towards Minsk. With its Army it advanced through Lithuania to the border with East Prussia, being further decorated with the Order of Suvorov for its crossing of the Neman River. As part of the East Prussian Offensive the 16th Guards entered that heavily-fortified region and helped gradually break the German resistance there, particularly at Insterburg and Königsberg, ending the fighting at Pillau. The 16th Guards remained in the Kaliningrad Oblast well after the war until finally disbanded in September 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zemland Group of Forces</span> Military unit

The Zemland Group of Forces was a front-sized operational group of the Red Army during the Second World War which saw service for two months in the Sambia Peninsula of East Prussia in 1945. It blockaded the city of Königsberg in March and then took it by storm in early April, after which it mopped up the various isolated German forces in the peninsula until it was disbanded on April 26.

The 26th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April, 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 93rd Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It would soon after provide the headquarters cadre for the 8th Guards Rifle Corps. It was soon assigned, with its Corps, to 20th Army of Western Front and saw extensive fighting, while also suffering extensive casualties, in two campaigns against the German 9th Army in the Rzhev salient through the rest of 1942. The division, again with 8th Guards Corps, joined the 11th Guards Army when it was formed in April, 1943 and, apart from a brief reassignment in early 1944, remained under those commands for the duration of the war. During that summer the division took part in the liberation of Bryansk. By December, after fighting through western Russia north of Smolensk it was in 1st Baltic Front, attacking south towards Gorodok and won the name of that city as a battle honor. By the start of the offensive against Army Group Center in the summer of 1944 the 26th Guards had been redeployed with its Army to the south of Vitebsk as part of 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain for the duration. Driving westward during Operation Bagration the division advanced north of Orsha and then helped to seize a crossing over the Berezina River for which it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. It continued to advance through Lithuania to the border with East Prussia later that year. As part of the East Prussian Offensive the 26th Guards entered that heavily fortified region in the winter of 1945 and helped gradually break the German resistance there, particularly at Insterburg and Königsberg, winning the Order of Suvorov for its part in the battle for the former place. The division ended the war at Pillau. The 26th Guards remained in the Kaliningrad Oblast well after the war, becoming the 26th Guards Motorized Rifle Division in 1957 and not finally disbanded until 1989.

The 46th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in October 1942, based on the 2nd formation of the 174th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was in the 6th Army of Voronezh Front when it won its Guards title, but was immediately moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding, where it was soon assigned to the 5th Guards Rifle Corps. In mid-November it moved with its Corps to join the 3rd Shock Army in Kalinin Front and played a leading role in the Battle of Velikiye Luki, both in the encirclement of the German garrison of that city and then in fighting off several relief attempts. It remained in the area through the spring and summer of 1943 before taking part in the breakthrough battle at Nevel and the subsequent operations to expand the salient and pinch off the German positions that 3rd Shock had partly surrounded. In June 1944 the 46th Guards was reassigned to the 6th Guards Army of 1st Baltic Front in preparation for Operation Bagration and made a spectacular advance into Luthuania through the "Baltic Gap" between Army Groups Center and North. The division would continue to serve in the Baltic states in 6th Guards for the duration of the war, winning the Order of the Red Banner in the process and ending on the Baltic coast in 22nd Guards Rifle Corps helping to contain the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket. Despite a creditable record of service the division was disbanded shortly after the end of hostilities.

The 83rd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 97th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Throughout its combat path it was considered a "sister" to the 84th Guards Rifle Division.

The 84th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 110th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Throughout its combat path it was considered a "sister" to the 83rd Guards Rifle Division.

The 231st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed out-of-sequence in the Ural Military District in February 1942. It continued training and forming until late May when it was assigned to 8th Reserve Army and began moving toward the Stalingrad area. By the end of August it had reached the fighting front as part of 66th Army in Stalingrad Front and was almost immediately committed to the first of the Kotluban offensives, attempting to cut off the XIV Panzer Corps that had penetrated to the Volga River north of Stalingrad about a week earlier. The division suffered heavy casualties from the outset of these efforts, attacking across flat and open terrain against well dug-in opposition. Devastated in these attacks the 231st was soon relegated to second-echelon duties until, with only about 600 infantry and sappers still on strength, it was officially disbanded on November 2.

Yevgeny Beletsky was a Soviet mountaineer, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1946), Honored Coach of the USSR (1961), bronze medalist of the USSR mountaineering championship (1955), highly skilled turner and sculptor, author of books and articles on mountaineering, geography and engineering, full member of the USSR Geographical Society.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Белобородов А.П. Всегда в бою. — Москва: Экономика, 1984.
  2. ↑ "Гора Гальтгарбен и «самбийские пирамиды»: уникальное, мистическое и загадочное место вблизи Калининграда" . Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Черепаново. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive: 24 April 2020.
  4. ↑ Русское. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive: 24 April 2020.
  5. ↑ Романово. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive 28 February 2018.
  6. ↑ Переславское. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive: 24 April 2020.
  7. 1 2 Широухов, Роман. "Гальтгарбен – волшебная гора" . Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Широухов, Роман. "Легенды о прусских холмах: От прусских святилищ к шведским окопам и феям" . Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  9. ↑ Кумачево. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive: 24 June 2021.
  10. ↑ Список захороненных (увековеченных) воинов. www.prussia39.ru. Дата обращения: 6 February 2020. Archive: 28 February 2018.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.