On 13th January 1945 the Red Army opened its large-scale attack on East Prussia after crossing the German border for the first time on 16th October 1944. The Nazi leadership only lifted the ban on fleeing for the civilian population directly before the invasion. An evacuation was therefore no longer possible. Fighting and the freezing cold caused many victims.
Some of the inhabitants fled to the west by train or horse-drawn carriage. Already on 26th January 1945 all land connections to the west were cut off by the rapidly advancing Red Army. Refugees were overwhelmed by the front or returned to their villages where an unknown fate awaited them. Many drowned while fleeing over the frozen lagoon where they tried to reach the narrow country road on the Vistula Spit to Gdansk. Other trapped ones were shipped from the port of Pillau (today Baltiysk) via the sea route to Gdansk, Gdingen (today Gdynia) and Hela (today Hel) up to 25th April. From there they were taken further West, usually to Denmark, which was occupied by Germany.
Illustration:
Map of the Soviet attack in East Prussia and the different escape routes of the population