Germany, Bavaria, central city of Munich, Soviet positions

Friday, November 17, 1950, sunny

The whistling of Katyusha rockets overhead and the violent explosions that made the ground tremble still irritated people's eardrums, and in two streets and alleys that roughly ran north-south, T34/85 tanks that had just been activated moved in the direction of the street entrance like a slow-flowing river, and a large number of infantry wearing Soviet-made M40 steel helmets armed with submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, carrying bullet bags and grenade bags, followed their tanks to the street entrance.) About 200 meters west of the rubble-covered street is Munich's famous Marienplatz, where the Old Town Hall, the Provisional Government of the GDR and the Reichstag are all located around the square, which can be regarded as the geographical and political center of Munich. In the past two weeks, the Soviet troops who had entered the city of Munich had reached Marienplatz three times, and three times were driven back by the German defenders. The fierce fighting has left the beautiful Marienplatz in ruins, and almost every crack in the stone slab contains the blood of soldiers on both sides, but the fighting and bloodshed are far from over. As the roar of artillery fire gradually weakened, the sharp whistle filled the streets of the city on the west bank of the Isar River, the roar of chariots and the sound of the sea tide accompanied by the neighing of machine guns, the Soviet soldiers belonging to the Austrian Front of the Soviet Army braved the rain of bullets and bullets, and what drove them to fight stubbornly was no longer the sense of honor of chasing victory, but the irreversible fate -- the strict orders from Moscow made every officer and soldier of the Soviet Army realize that Munich had become the key to determining the direction of the war and the fate of the country. If Munich cannot be captured, whether they are waiting outside the city or retreating in an orderly manner, it will become the basis of the enemy's political propaganda, and the Western camp, which is unwilling to be defeated, will also take this opportunity to hold the Soviet Union hostage, and the Soviet Union will not only be unable to eliminate the hidden danger of Germany, but even its national security will be threatened again.

No matter how powerful the obstacles were, the tide never stopped, and the slogans of the Soviet officers and men were like this surging tide, and dense machine-gun bullets flew sideways through the narrow and cramped streets. Rockets with tail flames flew from all over the battlefield at any time, and the Soviet tanks that led the infantry to attack were damaged and paralyzed one after another, and soon only a few tanks rushed ahead. The rest were held back by the wreckage of their companions, and hundreds of Soviet infantry had to take advantage of the ruins lining the streets to advance slowly; The powerful shells of the SU122/152 destroyed one point of fire after another of the defenders, and countless pieces of rubble were lifted and rained down, but such shelling could not tear through the invisible defenders' defenses. The closer to Marienplatz, the more Soviet officers and soldiers had to pay a very heavy price for every step forward, and the road to victory was littered with tank wreckage and the remains of soldiers......

Munich. The economic, cultural, technological and transportation center of southern Germany, one of the most prosperous cities in Europe, is known as the "village of a million people" because it retains the quaint style of the original capital of the Bavarian Kingdom, with a total area of nearly 300 square kilometers, the buildings of the old city are sturdy and compact, the industrial facilities of the new city are large and durable, the turbulent Isar River divides the entire city in two, and the ground conditions close to the Alps also provide convenience for the defense of the city. After withstanding the repeated attacks of the Soviet troops. Munich soon became the "Stalingrad of Germany". And a purely defensive war was not enough to make it a turning point in the Second Soviet-German War. By the time the Soviet forces occupying the eastern, northern, and central parts of Munich made their last attempt to capture all of Munich, the German forces assembled in southeastern Bavaria had grown to 37 divisions and 22 regimental independent units. On the German-Austrian border and in Austria, although the sabotage of German fighters and the Austrian Resistance was countered by the Soviets, as the first snow of the winter fell in the Alps, the Soviet army's efficiency in sending supplies from Austria to southern Germany was greatly reduced, and the Soviet troops attacking Munich were able to maintain only the most basic logistical supplies. The harsh north wind also made the Soviet officers and soldiers who continued to fight hard feel a deep chill. …,

On the evening of November 17, the Soviet Red Flag was planted on Marienplatz for the fourth time. In addition to the 27th Army, which halted its advance due to heavy casualties, the 15th Infantry Army, the 28th Infantry Army, the 14th Mechanized Army, and the 243rd and 244th Tank Brigades of the 10th Guards Tank Army continued to storm the western and southern city districts where the Germans were entrenched. The offensive continued even after nightfall, and late that night, snow began to fall in southern Bavaria, at the northern foot of the Alps. Historically, the first snow in Munich will also arrive in late November and early December. In the face of the snowflakes, the reorganized 1st Army of the German Army and the newly reorganized 7th Assault Division launched an attack on Rosenheim, which was located more than 50 kilometers southeast of Munich. After 5 hours of fierce fighting, most of the 32nd Infantry Division of the Soviet Army was annihilated; At the same time, the 5th Army of the German Army and the headquarters of the 1st Expeditionary Corps of the Reich launched an attack on Mürdorf, more than 70 kilometers northeast of Munich, capturing the city before dawn and inflicting heavy losses on the units of the Soviet 9th Infantry Corps. With the Germans poised to take Rosenheim and Mirdorf at lightning speed, the pincer posture of the Soviet forces to counterattack and encircle the Munich area was unmistakable. Spurred on by this move, the Soviet army launched a fierce attack on the line of Regensburg Passau in Würzburg, intending to link the eastern and southern theaters of Germany, and using Soviet reserves in Austria and Yugoslav troops to support the Soviet troops fighting in Bavaria, while the Soviet troops occupying most of Munich only suspended the offensive and did not implement a strategic retreat, which is reminiscent of the German 6th Army in 1942, which was in a dilemma under Stalingrad. And from Moscow to Munich need to travel more than 2,500 kilometers, even from the Ukrainian border is still more than 1,000 kilometers, winding roads, broken and collapsed bridges, all increase the logistical burden of the Soviet army, no matter how strong and powerful the Soviet army is, it has become the end of the crossbow here!

At the height of the counteroffensive, the Germans fighting on the northern flank of Munich quickly advanced to the Austrian border after capturing Mürdorf, and within two days they took the old Oetting and Burghausen unstoppably, and the southern flank troops also successfully passed through the Chiemsee area, and on November 21 they captured the German-Austrian border town of Laufen, so that less than 100 kilometers of the German-Austrian border were in the hands of the Soviets, and there were only three roads left for vehicles. From the map, the Soviet troops attacking Bavaria were about to fall into the German encirclement, and the situation was precarious, but it was not yet known who would die on both sides. On the northern front, the Soviet onslaught, regardless of casualties, quickly paid off, and on November 20, the troops entering Germany from the Czechs captured Osterhofen west of Passau, and more than 100,000 Soviet troops crossed the mountain moat from the breach, one flanking the German guard at Passau, and the other advancing towards Mürdorf in eastern Bavaria; On the southern front, the five infantry divisions of the Soviet reinforcement front quickly arrived at the German-Austrian border, consolidating the supply channel connecting Munich, and the invited Yugoslav troops also arrived in Upper Austria one after another, this expeditionary force of about 150,000 is not as good as the main force of the Soviet army in terms of equipment, but it is also an elite division that has been tested on the battlefield for a long time, especially good at fighting in mountainous areas, and the ideological-based camp war has also weakened the differences and contradictions between them and the Soviet Union, so that they can go all out to the battlefield.

On 23 November, in the Troustbergottitit Moning area, about 90 kilometres from Munich and close to the German-Austrian border, a battle began with local implications. The Germans moving south from Burghausen and north from Laufen intended to complete the encirclement of the Soviet forces in Munich, and the Soviet troops, who had been reinforced, resolutely held on to the enemy, and both sides decisively committed heavy forces from the beginning. After days of fierce fighting and long marches, the offensive strength of the German troops had been significantly weakened compared with the beginning of the counterattack, but they still had the advantage of strength in this area, and the rain and snow also blocked the strength of the Soviet air force. In the battle for key positions, the German team rarely carried out high-intensity firepower strikes, the continuous bombardment of large-caliber rockets was not inferior to the traditional heavy artillery, a small number of self-propelled guns were also put into front-line battles, and in terms of weapons and equipment, only the most elite Panther tanks and attack helicopters appeared. The brave German infantry went on the offensive day and night, taking Soviet positions one after another, and during the battle, the German forces that had infiltrated Austria attacked the transportation facilities on which the Soviet troops relied to transport soldiers, and even instigated a large-scale uprising in the mountains of eastern Upper Austria. In the early morning of 25 November, the headquarters of the 18th Infantry Division of the German Army and the armored reconnaissance units of the 1st Imperial Expeditionary Corps met on the battlefield and theoretically encircled the Soviet forces in the Munich area, although this encirclement was still very fragile. Later that day, the Soviet 14th Infantry Corps, which was part of the Czech Front, broke through many obstacles and reached Myldorf, where a fierce battle ensued with the Germans, who were less than one division, and in Passau, the Germans on the flanks also abandoned the breakout on the night of the 25th, and the Regensburg-Passau Line, which was used to block the Soviet forces in the north, was completely ineffective. The Germans retreating to the west of Munich were reinforced by the 7th Infantry Corps and the 4th and 9th Assault Divisions of the United States and began to recapture the city center, while south of Munich, the Germans gradually repelled the besieging Soviet troops, and on November 26, they joined the defenders south of the city and launched a counteroffensive against the city center from the south. At this point, the confrontation between the Soviet Union and Germany in southern Germany became a race against time, and a day sooner or later could have decided the victory or defeat of both sides.