27 January 1945, the KG Langkeit assembled around Reppen (Rzepin in Poland at present) area and one battery of artillery battalion moved forward as far as Neuendorf (Gajec in Poland at present) during the night on 29 January 1945 (1).

30 January 1945, Reppen, refugees from the direction of Schwiebus (Swiebodzin in Poland at present) reported Soviet was advancing with numerous tanks, driving Germans troops before him. Furthermore, countless vehicles were heading toward Reppen-Frankfurt/Oder road to cross Oder before Russians. The 7. Kompanie of II. Bataillon/Panzergrenadier-Regiment was set down the road as point to reach Pinnow (Pniow in Poland at present). Their mission was to break through to Sternberg (Torzym in Poland at present) and liberate a group of army and SS units encircled north of Sternberg. To support the mission, the artillery battalion also deployed its two batteries, one to northwest of Reppen and another near Pinnow. The command post of Panzergrenadier-Regiemnt with its two battalions also moved into Pinnow. The regiment formed two battle groups and made a motorized advance in the direction to Sternberg. The previous point 7. Kompanie and one squad from each battalion remained behind and anti-aircraft battery also moved to Pinnow for local defense. Oberst Langkeit followed right behind the point in the direction between Pinnow to Sternberg. Suddenly Russian tanks appeared in the northeast of Pinnow. It's nearly evening (1).

It happened here: KG Langkeit marched from Reppen to Pinnow.

The alarming situation was reported to Oberst Langkeit and local defense patrols found the Russian tanks with following infantry columns were passing north of Pinnow in the direction to Reppen.

30 January nearly evening, east of Reppen, tanks of Russian 1st Guard Tank Brigade, after they defeated German garrison at Lagow (Łagów in Poland at present) (2), followed the highway from Schwiebus (Swiebodzin in Poland at present) to Reppen toward Frankfurt-an-der-Oder (3) and started firing into Pinnow. The first clash between KG Langkeit and Russian 1st Guard Tank Brigade happened.

It happened here: Russian 1st Guard Tank Brigade marched from Schwiebus to Pinnow

Reference:

1. Spaeter, Helmuth. The History of the Panzerkorps Großdeutschland Vol.3, p217. Winnipeg, Manitoba: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 2000.

2. 1-я гвардейская танковая бригада

3. Le Tissier, Tony. Zhukov at the Oder, p37. Westport, Connecticut, London: Praeger Publishing, 1996.

Copyright 2018 Dr.Chuang, Taipei, Taiwan