German World War II strongholds

German strongholds during World War II (German: Festung "fortresses") were towns and cities designated by Adolf Hitler as areas that were to be fortified and stocked with food and ammunition in order to hold out against Allied offensives.

The fortress doctrine evolved towards the end of World War II, when the German leadership had not yet accepted defeat, but had begun to realize that drastic measures were required to forestall inevitable offensives on the Reich. The first such stronghold was Stalingrad.^{[citation needed]}

Eastern Front Fortresses

On the Eastern Front, Warsaw, Budapest, Kolberg, Königsberg, Küstrin, Danzig and Breslau were some of the large cities selected as strongholds.

Western Front Fortresses

On the Western Front, Hitler declared eleven major ports as fortresses on 19 January 1944: IJmuiden, the Hook of Holland, Dunkirk, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, Brest, Lorient, Saint-Nazaire and the Gironde estuary. In February and March 1944 three more coastal areas were declared to be fortresses: the Channel Islands, Calais and La Rochelle.^[1]

Fate of the Fortresses

The fate of the fortress areas varied. Stalingrad, the first to fall, is seen as a crucial turning point in the war, and one of the key battles which led to German defeat. In several cases, Alderney, for example, the fortresses were bypassed by the attackers and did not fall, surrendering only after the unconditional surrender of Germany.

Location	Country	Commandant	Besiegers	Date declared	Date surrendered	Notes
Alderney	British Crown dependencies	Lieutenant Colonel Schwalm	Royal Navy		16 May 1945	Contained until after general German surrender See German occupation of the Channel Islands
Berlin	Germany	Hellmuth Reymann, Helmuth Weidling	Soviet Red Army		8 May 1945	See Battle in Berlin
Boulogne	France	Ferdinand Heim	reinforced Canadian 3rd Division		22 September 1944	Captured after a five-day operation. See Operation Wellhit
Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland)	Germany	Karl Hanke	Soviet 6th Army	25 July 1944	6 May 1945	See Siege of Breslau
Brest	France	Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke	US Third Army		19 September 1944	Captured after six-week assault. See Battle for Brest
Budapest	Hungary	Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch	Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front	1 December 1944	13 February 1945	Captured after 102 day long assault. See Siege of Budapest
Calais	France	Ludwig Schroeder	Canadian 3rd Division		1 October 1944	See Operation Undergo
Crete	Greece	Hans-Georg Benthack	Royal Navy, Hellenic Army		8 May 1945	See Fortress Crete
Dieppe	France		Canadian 2nd Division		1 September 1944	Evacuated before receipt of the relevant Führer Order; liberated without opposition. See Operation Fusilade
Dunkirk	France	Friedrich Frisius	1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade		8 May 1945	Contained until general German surrender. See Siege of Dunkirk (1944)
Kolberg	Germany	Fritz Fullriede	Soviet 1st Belorussian Front	November 1944	14 March 1945	See Battle of Kolberg (1945)
Königsberg	East Prussia, Germany	Otto Lasch	Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front		9 April 1945	See Battle of Königsberg
Küstrin	Germany	Heinrich-Friedrich Reinefarth, Adolf Raegener	Soviet 82nd Guards Rifle Division			A small number (<1,000) of the German garrison reached German lines after a breakout during the night of March 29/30 1945
Le Havre	France	Eberhard Wildermuth	First Canadian Army		12 September 1944	Captured after 48-hour assault. See Operation Astonia
Lorient	France	Wilhelm Fahrmbacher	US 66th Infantry Division	19 January 1944	10 May 1945	Surrendered after the unconditional surrender of Germany
Posen (now Poznań)	Poland	Ernst Mattern until 28 January 1945, then Ernst Gonell	Soviet 1st Belorussian Front		23 February 1945	See Battle of Poznań (1945)
Saint-Malo	France	Andreas von Aulock	US Third Army	19 January 1944	17 August 1944	Captured after two weeks. See Battle of Saint-Malo.
Warsaw	Poland		Soviet Red Army	27 July 1944	17 January 1945	Captured hours after the withdrawal of German troops, in violation of Hitler's order to hold the "Fortress". See Festung Warschau

Notes

↑ Wilt 2004, p. 108.

References

BBC article on Alderney
Europe: A History, ISBN:0-06-097468-0, the history of Europe; page 1038
Wilt, Alan (2004). The Atlantic Wall 19441-1944: Hitler's Defenses for D-Day. Enigma Books.

External links

Festung Breslau/Fortress Wrocław

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[FOOTNOTEWilt2004108-1] Wilt 2004, p. 108.

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