Operation Hannibal

In the closing days of World War II a crisis was emerging for German civilians trapped on the Eastern Front by the Red Army. Many lived between the Soviet advance and the Wehrmacht defense of Nazi Germany. They were fearful of Soviet retribution for the millions of Russians that had been murdered by the Nazis in the early years of the war. Since all land routes had been cut off, an evacuation by sea was the only way to provide escape for the civilians back to Germany. Such an escape was fraught with many dangers. Soviet submarines prowled the Baltic Sea where the ships would sail and the Red air force bombed the ports and ships at sea. Most of the available ports were under siege by the Red Army and civilians who tried to reach the ports were often killed or died in the winter weather. To save the civilians and some of the German soldiers, the German Navy developed a plan for the evacuation called Operation Hannibal in early 1945. This history tells the story of this flight from its start in January 1945 until it concluded the day after the end of World War II.