Exactly 80 years ago – on 8 April 1945 – the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front began the assault on Königsberg.

It was the 1387th day of the war. In order to avoid bloodshed, the front commander Marshal Vasilevsky offered the Germans to capitulate. There was no reply, so the Soviet troops continued their offensive on the city.

“Soviet units broke through the outer rim of the fortress positions and occupied a number of urban areas of Koenigsberg. Seven forts, a large number of pillboxes were occupied. Our troops advancing on the city from the south, joined the troops advancing from the north-west, and squeezed the Königsberg garrison into an iron ring. Soviet assault groups successfully overcame rubble and barricades in the streets and knocked Germans out of fortified buildings,” was how the Red Star described the beginning of the assault.

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