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The Samland Offensive was a Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front in the final stages of World War II. It took place in Sambia ((ドイツ語:Samland)); ((ロシア語:земланд, ''Zemland'')). The East Prussian Offensive, which commenced on January 13, 1945, had seen the Red Army clear German forces from much of East Prussia. The defenders had been driven into a series of pockets on the Baltic coast and in the city of Königsberg, in which they were besieged. Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, who had taken over command of the 3rd Belorussian Front in February, incorporated General Hovhannes Bagramyan's 1st Baltic Front into his command from February 22, redesignating it as the Zemland Army Group (or Samland Front).〔Duffy, p.203〕 Bagramyan's forces initially laid siege to Königsberg; the city was eventually stormed on April 9. They were then given the task of overcoming the substantial German force still remaining in Sambia. ==German planning== German defence efforts had largely focused on the port of Pillau at the tip of the peninsula, which was the main evacuation point for casualties and East Prussian civilians. Throughout the siege of Königsberg, Sambia had been defended by Army Detachment Samland under the command of General Hans Gollnick, who had tried to maintain a corridor between Königsberg and Pillau. On April 7, the remnants of Second and Fourth Armies, which had been destroyed in encirclements at Danzig and Heiligenbeil respectively, were combined as ''Armee Ostpreußen'' with the task of defending Sambia, the Vistula delta and the Hel Peninsula; Gollnick's troops were incorporated in it. Most of the units of ''Armee Ostpreußen'' were little more than remnants, and the entire formation was very poorly supplied. During the battle for Sambia, its officers were outraged to discover that the ''Luftwaffe'' and ''Kriegsmarine'' had maintained large underground depots full of stores and fuel in the woods of the peninsula; the supplies had to be destroyed in the retreat.〔Duffy, p.384〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Samland Offensive」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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