Emden is a port city located in the northwest corner of Germany, located on the right bank of the Dorart Bay in the North Sea, near the mouth of the Ems River, across the river from Winshhotten in the Netherlands. Despite its small size, with only 30,000 or 40,000 permanent residents, Emden is a busy and important port, housing and trade, shipbuilding, fish and food processing, and other industries. In German history, there were two famous cruisers named after "Emden", one was the "Oriental Swan" belonging to the fleet of Count Spee during the Second Empire, its elusive attacks once terrified the Indian Ocean shipping of the Allies, and the chivalrous demeanor of the Allies, who never killed any of the crew members of the captured ships, even won the heartfelt admiration of their opponents; One was the first surface warship built and commissioned by the German Navy during the Weimar era, and during World War II, it participated in the Weser Exercise against Norway and served as a training ship until it was sunk by British bombers in 1945.

In late October 1950, more than 1,000 officers and men of the 51st Infantry Regiment of the German Army retreated from the Bremen front to Emden to expand and strengthen the fortifications of the city, which had been built by local paramilitary groups. As the ports of Hamburg, Bremen, Kukes, and Wilhelm were occupied by the Soviets, ships from Norway, Britain, Spain, and other American countries had no choice but to turn to Emden or go to Western European countries to unload and transit. In terms of geographical location, Emden was undoubtedly a shortcut for Germany to receive external aid, but it could be attacked by Soviet air raids at any time during the day, and only at night could it barely guarantee security, and it was not easy to cause political risks -- whether it was unloading or transiting in the Netherlands or France, the host country could be blamed or even retaliated against by the Soviet Union, everything could only be operated in a state of extreme secrecy, and the efficiency of the delivery of military supplies could be imagined. However, by the end of October, the Soviet ground forces, which had crossed Bremen and continued to advance westward, had captured Grosséphine and Ilo, only 10 kilometers from Emden, and the Soviet howitzers had directly threatened the port channel, and the defenders of Emden were faced with an important choice between holding out or retreating. By this time, their defensive strength had increased several times compared to when the 51st Infantry Regiment first arrived, and many army and imperial units retreating from the Bremen front were resting and gathering here. They were united by Maximilian. Morality. Commanded by Admiral Angris, a veteran German general who had been in the army for many years, had a front-line career throughout World War II, and led his troops to assist the Allies in the latter part of World War III. Although the Soviets soon cut off Emden from the German hinterland by land, the main armored forces of the Baltic Front suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Hamburg-Bremen and were in dire need of recuperation, and the Soviet forces attacking to the west were mainly infantry and artillery. In view of the fact that the German officers and men and their auxiliaries had built up the required defensive system, that the Helgoland Bay was under the effective control of the German Navy, and that Emden still had sea links with the outside world, General Anglis proposed to the German Joint Staff to hold Emden, which was approved.

By the time the Soviets launched their first assault on Emden, General Anglis had already set up camp at Emden with his command, and the guards under his personal command included more than 9,000 officers and men of the Army and more than 2,000 Imperial soldiers. There are also nearly 1,000 support staff. The tentative assault of the Soviet troops ended after only four hours of heroic resistance from these Germanic people, but the defenders of Emden were rewarded not with respite, but with a suffocating and terrifying shelling. From noon to dusk, the powerful Soviet artillery poured thousands of tons of shells on the little Emden, and the port city of Lower Saxony, which has a history of more than 1,100 years and was fortunate enough to survive two world wars, was finally destroyed, and the whole city and the port were shrouded in flames and billowing smoke, and the fortifications of the German defenders were the focus of Soviet artillery fire. Under the bleak sunset. The scorched earth of the scorched earth guarding the ruined city seems to have gone back thirty-four years, and one can see it at Verdun at that time. …,

The heavy artillery fell silent. The Katyusha's rocket rails gradually cooled, the Soviet officers and soldiers who had been engaged in the attack in battalion and company units appeared on the outskirts of Emden, the tanks in charge of taking the lead put on a battle formation with alternate cover, and the war eagles with the red star logo were constantly circling over the harbor. In a tense atmosphere, the Soviet tanks ran through the first line of German defense unhindered, and the Soviet infantry immediately passed through the dilapidated trench area, and the Germans seemed to flee with the same dexterity as ever, but the officers and men on both sides knew that this would be a life-and-death battle. Before night falls completely. Soviet fighters found their target and roared to attack, and countless shells and rockets rose from the ground, and the fierce exchange of fire in front of them woke up the Soviet soldiers to the beginning of a fierce fight, and they soon encountered substantial resistance in front of the German second line of defense. On a frontal front with a width of less than 5 km, a group of Soviet tanks was not enough to form a breakthrough force, but was hit one by one by the opponent's anti-tank guided weapons. The Soviet self-propelled artillery and short-range rocket artillery that attacked with the team tried their best to suppress it, the brave and fearless Soviet infantry carried out a strong attack with assault tactics, and dozens of Il-2 fighters soon joined the support ranks, but this was never able to shake the decisive resistance of the German officers and soldiers. Using the dense fire provided by machine guns and assault rifles, the defenders calmly repelled wave after wave of Soviet charges, and the front of the position was gradually covered with the remains of Soviet officers and soldiers, and the casualties of the German officers and men who held the trenches were also not small, but the reserves they put into the front line in time were far stronger than the Soviets expected. In this bloody battle, the German defenders gritted their teeth and persevered until the beginning of the counterattack - under the cover of night, two thousand imperial elites suddenly launched an attack on the Soviet build-up southeast of Emden. On the north bank of the Ems River, a Soviet infantry unit of one and a half divisions was repulsed by this tiger-like imperial force, and in the area of Papenburg, about 50 kilometers south of Emden, the Germans who were retreating step by step under the pressure of the Soviets also launched a counterattack at night, thus creating the illusion that the defenders of Emden had broken through to the south. The Soviet command hurriedly mobilized troops to the south to replenish the defense, but the imperial troops attacking from Emden did not cross the Ames River, but quickly advanced northward, attacked the Soviet troops east of Emden before dawn, destroyed several artillery positions of the opponent, and then returned to Emden through the battlefield. This bold move of the German army not only shocked the Soviet officers and soldiers, but also succeeded in diverting their attention, and the Germans organized ships to transport more than 4,000 combat personnel and a large amount of ammunition from the East Frisian Islands to Emden without using long-range artillery to implement a night blockade, which greatly enriched Emden's defensive forces. With the power of a night counterattack, the Germans also recaptured their positions north of Emden, widening the defensive zone by two kilometers.

After dawn, the Soviet troops, whose offensive deployment had been seriously disrupted, could not immediately launch a new offensive, and the German officers and men who were determined to defend Emden were racing against time to repair the fortifications, and although the air defense system composed of two sets of fire control radars, 15 sets of ground-to-air guided rocket launchers, and nearly 100 antiaircraft guns could not completely resist the attack of the Soviet air forces, their superb efficiency not only made the Soviet pilots jealous, but also constantly boosted the morale of the defending officers and men. At the same time, the German top brass cleverly played the card of public opinion and instigated the Dutch government to protest to the Soviet Union against the Soviet Union over the fall of Soviet artillery shells into its own territory and the casualties caused by it, and the Western countries led by the United States took this opportunity to exert their coercion on the Soviet Union. On the battlefield, the Soviet Union had an absolute victory over the Western allies, but in terms of economy and trade, the Soviet Union was always in a passive position, especially when the local industry was blown up by the allies, and the self-sufficiency of the Red Alliance was at best in terms of resources and manpower, and they urgently needed to import machinery and equipment and advanced technology from the outside. In view of the fact that the Allies could close the trade route to the Soviet Union at any time, Moscow responded bluntly to the protests of the Dutch government, but the scale of the artillery bombardment of Emden by the front-line troops was significantly reduced, and as German high-altitude reconnaissance planes skimmed over the area, aerial photographs clearly showed that the Soviets had withdrawn heavy artillery and long-range rocket artillery. …,

Intensive artillery suppression has always been an important magic weapon for the Soviet army, and without sharp teeth, the tiger of the Soviet army will not lose its aggressiveness. German intelligence officers embedded in the Lower Saxony region soon observed a massive movement of Soviet armored forces, and at least one tank corps was covertly moving from Bremen to the Emden area. After receiving the information, the Germans immediately used the night ferry to increase the number of anti-tank equipment to the defenders of Emden, and the defenders used this equipment to strengthen the defense and concentrate minefields in important parts of the defense line, while the Soviets also strengthened the blockade of Emden through bombing and empty mines. By November 7, a new round of Soviet offensive sounded, and in order to kick away the last "stumbling block" in northern Germany, the Soviet army really invested heavy troops in the offensive. Under the repeated bombardment of more than a dozen aviation regiments, the Emden area became almost a depression below sea level, and more than 200 tanks, supported by a large number of fighting vehicles and combat infantry, concentrated on the northern defense line of Emden. At the height of the fighting, the Soviet army made a trick and used the speedboats secretly transported to the Ems River by land to carry soldiers to attack the port of Emden, and the Soviet landing force once controlled the port area, and at the critical moment, the speedboat units of the German Navy braved the bombing and strafing of enemy planes to arrive at the mouth of the Ames River and intercepted the Soviet speedboats transporting the follow-up landing personnel, and the defenders of Emden then organized troops to recapture the port area. After two days and one night of fierce fighting, the Germans repelled the Soviet attack with less than 20,000 troops, and performed a stubborn defensive battle in the Upper Rhine Valley in this alluvial plain terrain that was not suitable for defense. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )