In October 1944, the Red Army entered East Prussia, the heart of German militarism. Horrific war crimes ensued.

Map 1: The Red Army’s advances all across the broad front

 

 

Map 2a: European Theatre, 1 October 1944

 

 

Map 2b: European Theatre, 1 November 1944 

 

Map 3a: The Pacific Theatre, 1 October 1944

 

 

Map 3b: The Pacific Theatre, 1 November 1944 

 

 

Map 4: The Gumbinnen Operation 

 

Historical photos 

 

Konigsberg Castle before World War 1

 

German officers find evidence of massacre at Nemmersdorf, East Prussia

 

Civilians killed at Nemmersdorf, 1944

Sources

Antony Beevor, The Second World War. New York, NY, USA: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 

Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 

Pat McTaggart, "Goldap Operation: Soviets in the Prussian Heartland,” in WWII History, vol. 14, No. 2, February 2015. Cited in Warfare History Network, February 2015, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/goldap-operation-soviets-in-the-prussian-heartland/ 

Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War, 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017.

Morse code by Thane Brown

Music composed and recorded by Nicolas Bury