5 Jun 1894

Germany
2 Sep 1940

Germany
1 Oct 1940

Germany
  • Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann began basic training with Friegerausbildungsregiment 10 at Neukuhren, near Königsberg in Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. Hartmann would achieve 352 "kills" during the war before being sentenced, as a war criminal, to 50 years forced labour by the Soviets. ww2dbase [Neukuhren, Ostpreußen | AC]
23 Jun 1941

Germany
  • The Soviet Army armored counter attack near Tilsit, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Sovetsk, Russia) was beaten back. Meanwhile, German forces crossed the Bug River, penetrating 50 miles beyond the Soviet lines. From the air, German Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed another 1,200 Soviet aircraft on this day. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | Ostpreußen | TH]
  • German Gestapo leader Mueller issued directives to the Gestapo office in the city of Tilsit, Germany (now Sovetsk, Russia) to set up Einsatkommando Tilsit which would be responsible for killing Jews in Lithuania. ww2dbase [Tilsit, Ostpreußen | CPC]
  • Adolf Hitler arrived for the first time at his new secret Wolfsschanze (English: The Wolf's Lair) headquarters, which had been constructed in the Masurian woods near Rastenburg, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland). ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | AC]
25 Aug 1941

Germany
22 Sep 1941

Germany
8 Feb 1942

Germany
  • In Germany, Albert Speer was appointed the Minister of Armaments and Munitions to succeed Fritz Todt who was killed when his aircraft exploded shortly after take off near Rastenburg, Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. ww2dbase [Fritz Todt | Albert Speer | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | AC]
19 Mar 1942

Germany
28 Jun 1942

Germany
  • Hans-Joachim Marseille received Swords for his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal from Adolf Hitler at Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany. He also received Oak Leaves for his Knight's Cross, an award he had won earlier in this month. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
16 Jul 1942

Germany
26 Sep 1942

Germany
31 Oct 1942

Germany
  • As Adolf Hitler was confident that Stalingrad, Russia would soon be under German control, he departed the Wehrwolf headquarters near of Vinnytsia, Ukraine and moved to the Wolfsschanze headquarters in Rastenburg, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland). ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
7 Nov 1942

Germany
  • Adolf Hitler departed the Wolfsschanze headquarters at Rastenburg, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland) for München, traveling aboard his private train Amerika. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
6 Feb 1943

Germany
  • Adolf Hitler met with Erich von Manstein at Rastenberg, East Prussia, Germany. The Field Marshal had been flown 900 miles from Donetsk, Ukraine to the Führer's Wolfsschanze headquarters in Hitler's personal Focke-Wulf Fw200 V3 "Immelmann III". At the four hour conference, only five days after the surrender at Stalingrad, Russia, the Army Group South commander persuaded Hitler to allow him to retreat to the River Mius. ww2dbase [Erich von Manstein | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | AC]
31 Mar 1943

Germany
7 Jul 1943

Germany
26 Jul 1943

Germany
  • Joseph Goebbels traveled to Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany to coordinate some news regarding the capture of Benito Mussolini. In the evening, he noted in his diary the details of the devastation of Hamburg, Germany by Allied bombing. ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
18 Aug 1943

Germany
  • General Hans Jeschinnek, Chief of the German Air Staff since 1939, having already lost faith with Hermann Göring, committed suicide at the Luftwaffe Lager Robinson headquarters in Goldap, Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany (now Warmian-Masurian, Poland) following his controversial order to the air defence units in Berlin to fire on Luftwaffe fighters which had landed there in error during the RAF's raid on Peenemünde. ww2dbase [Ostpreußen | AC]
22 Sep 1943

Germany
  • Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was presented Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler at Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany. ww2dbase [Heinrich | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
Photo(s) dated 22 Sep 1943
German pilots Hartmann Grasser, Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (shaking hands with Hitler), Günther Rall, and Walter Nowotny with Adolf Hitler at Wolfsschanze, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Gierloz, Ketrzyn, Poland), 22 Sep 1943
26 Nov 1943

Germany
  • The turbojet powered Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter was demonstrated at Insterburg, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Chernyakhovsk, Russia) before Adolf Hitler, who, to everyone's surprise, insisted that it should be developed as a bomber. ww2dbase [Me 262 Schwalbe | Insterburg, Ostpreußen | AC, CPC]
  • Ju 290A-5 aircraft, among other aircraft types, was shown to Adolf Hitler at Insterburg, Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. Hitler liked the designed and asked to have one as his personal transport. One such aircraft was delivered to Hitler's personal pilot Hans Baur, but Hitler would never fly in it. ww2dbase [Ju 290 | Insterburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
15 Jul 1944

Germany
  • Claus von Stauffenberg met with Adolf Hitler at Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany at 1300 hours. General Friedrich Olbricht activated Valkyrie in Berlin, Germany two hours prior to the meeting, expecting his troops to be in position to seize key positions in the capital at about the same moment Hitler was to be killed by a bomb that Stauffenberg brought into the meeting. Hitler departed the meeting early unexpectedly, and Olbricht hastily called off the operation, announcing that the troop movement was simply a drill. ww2dbase [July Plot | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
28 Jul 1944

Photo(s) dated 28 Jul 1944
Adolf Hitler showing Benito Mussolini the wreckage after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, Germany, late Jul 1944, photo 1 of 2Adolf Hitler showing Benito Mussolini the wreckage after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, Germany, late Jul 1944, photo 2 of 2
17 Aug 1944

Germany
16 Oct 1944

Germany
  • Soviet units entered German territory as Goldap, East Prussia (now Gołdap, Poland) was captured. ww2dbase [Goldap, Ostpreußen | TH]
  • Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Fw 190 aircraft southeast of Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
18 Oct 1944

Germany
  • Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Fw 190 aircraft over Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
23 Oct 1944

Germany
  • Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Bf 109 aircraft 8 kilometers south of Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
24 Oct 1944

Germany
26 Oct 1944

Germany
  • Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Bf 109 aircraft southeast of Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
25 Dec 1944

Germany
1 Jan 1945

Germany
13 Jan 1945

Germany
15 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Adolf Hitler ordered Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland to move from East Prussia, Germany to Poland to counter the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive. This counterattack would be repulsed by the Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front. ww2dbase [Vistula-Oder Offensive | Ostpreußen | CPC]
  • Roza Shanina reached Eydtkuhnen, Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany (now Chernyshevskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Eydtkuhnen, Ostpreußen | CPC]
16 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Roza Shanina wrote in her diary "What I've actually done? No more than I have to as a Soviet man, having stood up to defend the motherland." ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Ostpreußen | CPC]
17 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Roza Shanina wrote a letter to a friend, in which she noted that she might be on the verge of being killed in combat as the numbers of her battalion dwindled. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Ostpreußen | CPC]
21 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Red Army units captured Tannenburg, East Prussia, Germany (now Stebark, Poland), but only after the Germans destroyed the monument memorializing the 1914 German victory over the Soviets. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | Tannenburg, Ostpreußen | TH]
  • Bauyrzhan Momyshuly was made the commanding officer of 9th Guards Rifle Division while fighting in Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. ww2dbase [Bauyrzhan Momyshuly | Ostpreußen | CPC]
22 Jan 1945

Germany
23 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Emden departed Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia) with the remains of Paul von Hindenburg aboard. ww2dbase [Emden | Königsberg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
24 Jan 1945

Germany
27 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Roza Shanina was seriously wounded while shielding a wounded artillery officer. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Ostpreußen | CPC]
28 Jan 1945

Germany
  • Roza Shanina passed away in near the Richau estate three kilometers (1.9 miles) southeast of the village of Ilmsdorf, Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany (now Novobobruysk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) from wound received in combat on the previous day. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Ilmsdorf, Ostpreußen | CPC]
31 Jan 1945

Germany
1 Feb 1945

Germany
4 Feb 1945

Germany
11 Feb 1945

Germany
7 Apr 1945

Germany
10 Apr 1945

Germany Photo(s) dated 10 Apr 1945
German prisoners of war marching across a bridge after being captured by the Soviets, Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia), Apr 1945
15 Apr 1945

Photo(s) dated 15 Apr 1945
Fort after Soviet capture, Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia), circa mid-Apr 1945

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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