Panzer General Dietrich von Saucken, one of the most important generals of the German army before the end of World War II and the last recipient of the Diamond Knight's Medal, was the only Diamond Knight awarded by Hitler's successor, Dönitz. On May 8, 1945, just before the complete surrender of the German army, the remnants of the "East Prussian Army Group" led by Sauken, after a month of bitter fighting, remained in the Bay of Fisherhauser and Frischsch Spit on the Baltic Sea coast, covering the last of the 300,000 refugees to flee to the Allied occupation zone in the West. Inspired by the bravery shown by Sauken in his final moments, and the discipline and tenacity shown by his troops, Dönitz awarded Sauken the 27th Diamond Knight Medal and sent planes to pick him up from the encirclement. However, Schauken gave up the opportunity, and after putting a few wounded on a plane, he drove to the fishing village of Hela, a fishing village on the Hela Peninsula (now the Hele Hell Peninsula in Poland). Sauken has been removed from this projectile land for as many as 6 years50,000 people, but at least 60,000 more are trapped here, waiting for fate to decide. The last boat had left the dock, and the officers and men who had not been able to board the ship to escape were restless, so Sauken drove the car among them, and then stood in the back seat and said to the chirping officers and soldiers: "We must remain calm. No more ships came, and don't expect any more miracles. Now, when we have to step into a ** prisoner of war camp, we must maintain our dignity and we must recognize that we are still doing our duty until the last moment. The desperated officers and soldiers, seeing that their old general was always with them, dispersed quietly, and each returned to his humble bunkers to await the final moment. Putting aside his own life and death and future, Schauken stepped into the Soviet prisoner of war camp with great courage and ordinary officers and soldiers, proving with practical actions that the rhetoric of "the soldiers are here, I am here" is not just an abstract slogan to boost morale.
The final battle of the last Diamond Knight
On 10 March 1945, Sauken took over command of the 2nd Army from Weiss (Weiss was promoted to commander of Army Group North). Having experienced the Eastern Front, Schauken knew full well that Germany was doomed, but out of pride, pride, pride, and a sense of mission as a Prussian officer, he decided to carry out the impossible task assigned to him - to defend the coastal areas of Göttenhafen, Danzig, and the Herrah Peninsula. As a first-class professional soldier and commander, Sauken had a clear sense of his responsibilities thereafter, as one descendant said of him: "...He was the son of East Prussia, and what was more important to him was how to save the large number of civilians who had swarmed in, and he was determined to save them from the clutches of the ** people at all costs. This conviction became the only criterion for Sauken in his dealings with the High Command and the local Nazi dignitaries, and he did not hesitate to disobey orders or act completely independently. After his arrival, Schauken repeatedly asked for ammunition for the 2nd Army, but when a German container ship bound for the "Courland Pocket" dropped anchor near Danzig, Schauken unloaded all the supplies and ammunition on board and left it for his own army under the pretext of safety. This audacious act immediately drew a stern warning from his superiors: "If there is any more such action, you will be killed!"”
Photographed at the end of March 1945, the "Großdeutschland" division is showing a defensive position on the coast of Kahlholz in East Prussia.
On 13 March, the same day that Sauken appeared in Danzig, Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front launched a full-scale offensive in the Danzig-Sopot-Göttenhafen area. The Soviet 70th and 49th armies focused on attacking Sopot, halfway between Danzig and Göttenhafen, in an attempt to split the entire German line in two, thereby dividing Danzig and Göttenhafen into isolated fortresses. By 15 March, Sauken, with the 4th and 7th Armored Divisions and some infantry divisions still fighting at the ground, had fought the opponent for three days with the help of the favorable terrain of the mountains and wetlands, during which various naval ships were reluctant to rush to transport refugees day and night. Schoken's men fought back against each Soviet attack, fighting back every lost piece of ground, and once the opponent's offensive was suspended, the Germans often immediately switched to the offensive. Despite the bravery of Sauken's troops in trying to save themselves and the civilian population, the Soviets' air and ground superiority was so obvious that by 19 March, the commanding heights near Sopot had been conquered by the Soviets, and the whole of Sopot and the Bay of Danzig were suddenly in full view. At the same time, the southern part of Danzig was also subjected to incessant artillery fire, and the 4th Panzer Division, which was the backbone of the defense, was forced into Danzig only 2 kilometers away. Sauken once braved the flames of war to inspect the old troops, and a veteran asked him: "Why are we fighting hard in this place that is not of strategic importance?"Schauken replied with all seriousness that the 2nd Army had to defend the naval base on the Herrah Peninsula in order to evacuate civilians and wounded from Danzig and Göttenhafen. On 23 March, the Soviets broke through the German lines and reached the coast north of Sopot, thus dividing the Danzig-Göttenhafen region into two shrinking fortresses. On the 24th, Sopot was lost, and the city of Danzig was completely under Soviet artillery fire.
The Soviet 19th Army was also exerting strong pressure on Göttenhafen to the north. While ordering the troops to evacuate, Schoken also ordered the shipwrecks and the port facilities to be blown up, and the last of Göttenhafen's defenders retreated along the coast on the night of 26 March towards Oxheft, north of Göttenhafen. When the sky was bright on the 28th, Sauken and his men withdrew across the Vistula Bridge, and when he stood on a high vantage point and looked back, the smoke from the direction of Danzig still hung over the sky.
In the last days of March and early April, the German forces in the Danzig area were largely isolated in three encirclements: the first was on the Hera Peninsula, which became a temporary refuge for civilians and troops before they were evacuated;The second, on the coastal heights near Oxheft, where 8,000 soldiers and a large number of refugees had gathered, was declared a "fortress" by Hitler that it was a "fortress" where the last man had to fight, but Schauken, in consultation with the admirals, decided to evacuate the officers and refugees to the Hera Peninsula anyway (Schauken completed the evacuation on the afternoon of 5 April, and Hitler's telegram approving the evacuation arrived a few hours later).The third encirclement was the area around the Vistula Delta, which was guarded by troops fleeing from Danzig. Sauken ordered the Vistula embankment to be blown up, and the raging flood made it difficult for the Soviet troops to approach for a while, but could not stop the opponent's air force from bombing for a long time. On April 10, Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, was lost, and the Germans were killed in battle20,000 people, 9 captured20,000 people, and there are also 2 civilians who have no way to escape50,000 people died. At this point, all the German armies in East and West Prussia were squeezed into a narrow area, these units had their backs to the sea and had no way out, some were part of the 2nd Army that had retreated with Sauken, some were from the destroyed 4th Army, and some had belonged to the 3rd Panzer Army, and they were now all incorporated into the "East Prussian Army Group" under the command of Sauken. Sauken, a native of Samland, is now defending his homeland. But how is it possible to stop a high-morale, well-armed opponent?In unequivocal terms, Schauken pointed out to his subordinate commanders that the only task of the "East Prussian Army Group" was to hold off the opponent as long as possible and give the refugees waiting in Samran, the Vistula Delta and the Herra Peninsula a chance to escape.
Captured at the end of April 1945, the remnants of the "Greater Germany" division were evacuated from Pilau, with only 800 men finally reaching the British-occupied zone of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Soviets planned to destroy Sauken's headquarters with the strength of five armies, and the main attack was chosen in Sauken's birthplace of Fichhausen. On 13 April, on the first day of the offensive, the Soviets broke through the lines of two divisions on the left flank of Sauken, and the tank units began to advance at high speed towards North Samran. Schauken ordered the rearguard troops to hold off their opponents at all costs in order to cover the retreat of the large force in the direction of pillau. On the 16th, the Soviets entered Fichhausen, and many units, including the 5th Panzer Division and the 505th Heavy Panzer Battalion, disappeared - they were trapped on the Peyse Peninsula east of Fichhausen with no way out. The British historian John Erickson once described the struggle of Sauken's men in the last moments: "A fighting force of about 20,000 German troops engaged in an impromptu defensive battle of incomparable madness at Pilau. The Germans fought repeatedly with their opponents, constantly crushing the attacking enemy to pieces, and the losses of the Soviet army increased more and more, until the second echelon of the 11th Guards Army was thrown into the battlefield, and the Soviets broke the German defense line in the last angry offensive. Six long and bloody days followed, with heavy casualties on both sides, until the beach and nearby pine forests were littered with corpses, and the battlefield calmed down in the twilight until the black smoke from the destroyed chariots cleared. The 105-day campaign of East Prussia came to an end at this moment."
In the Battle of Pilau, 8,000 men of Sauken's unit were killed, but 30,000 officers and men (mostly wounded) and the last few refugees were evacuated by sea ** boats before Pilau was occupied. On 25 April, the Soviets finally conquered Pilau, but what they saw was an empty dead city. Three days later, Hitler ordered Sauken's "East Prussian Army Group" to be placed directly under the command of the Supreme Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Keitel. Two days later, Hitler committed suicide, and Dönitz was designated as the successor Führer, and on 3 May he sent an urgent telegram to Schauken: "The change in the situation of the Imperial Affair requires the immediate withdrawal of numerous troops from East and West Prussia and Courland. Combat operations in East Prussia and Courland must take into account the aforementioned requirements. The officers and soldiers will board the ship with light ** and evacuate, and all supplies, including war horses, will be abandoned and destroyed......The German Navy was to send all available ships to the area of East Prussia and Courland. After receiving the order, Schoken began to evacuate troops and refugees from the Vistula Delta and the Hera Peninsula.
On 7 May, Sauken sent a sealed order to the regimental and higher units of his subordinate departments, but asked the officers to consult it only when they received clear instructions. The regimental commanders and division commanders must have mixed feelings when they received this secret order, whether the commander Sauken ordered them to prepare to evacuate the desperate situation at the last moment, or gave instructions to surrender to the Soviet troops on the spot?
As night fell on 8 May, Sauken's troops flocked to the two remaining ports on the Herra Peninsula, anxiously awaiting the arrival of evacuating ships. A few destroyers and torpedo boats arrived first, and a few more large freighters arrived later, and no one knew exactly how many people had boarded the ships, but every available space was crammed with soldiers and refugees, and as long as they were not overloaded to the point of danger of capsizing, the captains and captains were always sympathetic. It was late at night, and the departing ships left only a faint silhouette on the sea, but the tens of thousands of soldiers gathered in and around the docks still refused to leave, clamoring, clamoring, shoving, and waiting for the next "Last Noah's Ark". Sauken drove to the disappointed soldiers, who had exercised his authority as head of state for the last time on the same day, just before a total ceasefire with the Allies, and awarded Sauken the 27th Diamond Knight of the Order of the Armed Forces in recognition of his bravery and the loyalty, tenacity and discipline of his troops in the final moments (a section specifically mentioned in the final issue of the Wehrmacht's final bulletin on 9 May). Dönitz also sent a plane to pick up Sauken for evacuation, but was refused, and instead Sauken stuffed a number of wounded and sick people into the plane!Abandon the troops at the last moment?This is not Sauken's style. At this moment, he went to the officers and soldiers and told them with practical actions that they should maintain their dignity, and that he himself would walk with them into the Soviet prisoner of war camp and face the gloomy and uncertain future together.
In late April and early May 1945, Schauken's troops boarded a ship to evacuate East Prussia, and most of the people in the picture were wounded and sick.
Moments before the German unconditional surrender came into effect, Schauken's division commanders received instructions to open the secret order. The order reads: "German daylight saving time at 11 o'clock tonight'East Prussian Army Group's troops in Hera unconditionally surrendered to the Soviet troops. The commander himself expressed his gratitude to all the fighters, sergeants and officers for their proven bravery and tenacity. Our battle is over. Von Schauken. "The commanders quickly conveyed the order of Sauken to the rank-and-file officers, and they worked overnight to prepare for the next day's surrender, and all the heavy and ammunition were blown up or pushed into the sea and into the Vistula River. But in some units, one of Sauken's orders was not carried out—the warriors could not bear to hunt or abandon their horses, which were comrades and brothers with whom they had lived and died.
Sauken to the commander of the 4 3rd Soviet Army in Hela (A. Beloborodov). p.General Beloborodov surrendered. When he met with the general, Schauken, speaking fluent Russian, asked the German officers and men to allow them to enter the prisoner of war camp with luggage carts. Afterwards, Schoken appeared in the Putziger Spit with several staff officers, and watched as a long line of prisoners of war passed in front of him. Eleven generals entered the Soviet prisoner of war camp with Sauken.
The Knight's Iron Cross with Diamond Two Swords and Oak Leaves, created in July 1941, was once recognized by Nazi Germany as a tribute to extraordinary battlefield bravery and successful command. Although the fighting intensified since then, the honor was awarded to only 27 soldiers until the end of World War II.