Malbrok/Marienberg Teutonic Order castle, 1945

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:24 pm

Apparently, HJ and other units mounted a strong defence of the old Teutonic Order castle at Malbrok/Marienberg in 1945. Some T34s were destroyed by Panzerfausts, and the castle suffered serious damage from artillery fire. Could someone provide some details of the action, German and Soviet units involved and some references?

Shmeiker · Post by **Shmeiker** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:53 am

Fights took place between 25.I.1945 and 17.III.1945. Most of them there conducted within the city of Malbork (declared to be a Festung, but many other cities got this status - it was in no way as well fortified as i.e. Wroclaw/Breslau) and also battles for the castle itself. Defenders comprised of German 2. Army (hard to find more detailed info for me, but others surely can help here - there were even unit of Volkssturm fighting there, poorily equiped but with some Panzefausts at their disposal, which proved to be very helpful) and they were attacked by Rokossowski and his Belorussian Front. Soviets did not want to spend too much time for Malbork, they wanted to get to Gdansk/Danzig asap. However mine fields, well placed trenches and machine gun nests around Malbork and within the city gave them quite some blow and slowed them down considerably. That forced Soviets to deploy substantial number of artillery and by using it they destroyed more than 50% of the huge Malbork Castle (mostly its eastern side). The city got ruined "in the process" as well.

This is a basic scan of the web - just as a first reply. I trust others will come with more specific information.

menel · Post by **menel** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:40 pm

The Germen forces were called Kampfgruppe "Marienburg" and the Russians were 2 Strike Army.
The town was destroyed in 80%.

Pirx · Post by **Pirx** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 5:03 am

Fridolin wrote:Apparently, HJ and other units mounted a strong defence of the old Teutonic Order castle at Malbrok/Marienberg in 1945. Some T34s were destroyed by Panzerfausts, and the castle suffered serious damage from artillery fire. Could someone provide some details of the action, German and Soviet units involved and some references?

Maybe You have watched movie with John Malkovitch?
Castle wasn't damaged during war. City of Malbork/Marienburg was destroyed like menel wrote. But battle HJ vs. T 34's was probably just a filmmakers fantasy.
BTW Braslau was festung but this city wasn't well fortified.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:25 am

Hi guys,

if you read German you can follow some details of the fighting on this site:
http://www.people.freenet.de/helmut.ram ... icht_2.htm;

It gives the OKH situation reports for 1945; They deal mainly with East Prussia, Silesia and Pomerania.

Open the page, search for Marienburg and read on.

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:46 pm

Pirx: No movie. I was there a few months ago during a break in a Conference in Torun. Moved north,visited the castle, and personally saw big pictures on the walls showing the damaged castle, wrecked vehicles etc. So the castle WAS damaged and the presence of HJ and destroyed T34 was acknowledged in texts I saw there, but without further details, unfortunately.

Thanks to everyone else for your hints.

Jan-Hendrik · Post by **Jan-Hendrik** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:02 am

http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.d ... t-Karl.htm ,

Kampfkommandant of Marienburg

OoB :

http://www.diedeutschewehrmacht.de/2%20armee%20(II).htm

Pictures of 1945 :

http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic ... burg#65719

Jan-Hendrik

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:38 am

Well! It's been a long time, but many thanks.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Only problem, now, to polish my somewhat rusty German!
Thanks

Jan-Hendrik · Post by **Jan-Hendrik** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:48 am

Well ,if you are able to read polish I might have 2 interesting PDFs about the fights 1945 for you

Jan-Hendrik

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:13 am

Spanish , Portuguese, Italian? Certainly...
English and American English (different languages)? Indeed...
French? OK
German? My God.. Let's get my Worterbuch!

But Polish....????

Jan-Hendrik · Post by **Jan-Hendrik** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:27 am

Everyday you learn somethin new

Jan-Hendrik

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:44 pm

Jan-Hendrick,

I agree, there is so much to learn concerning World War II. I didn't noticed this thread in the past and I did learn today about the fight between the HitlerJujend and their Panzerfaust against the T-34 at the old Teutonic Order Castle at Malbrok in 1945.

Do you still have your files on PDF about that fight? My Polish is not that good but my wife is gona help me out.

Regards

Jan-Hendrik · Post by **Jan-Hendrik** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 3:46 am

Send me a PM with your E-Post-Adress and you will get it

Jan-Hendrik

Feldgrau.net

Malbrok/Marienberg Teutonic Order castle, 1945

Malbrok/Marienberg Teutonic Order castle, 1945

Re: Malbrok/Marienberg Teutonic Order castle, 1945