![]() ![]() In February of 1944 the Soviets attempted to cross the river here, which was frozen over at the time. The remains of Scandinavian volunteers in the SS were buried here They are in fact still finding bodies in the forest, when they are discovered they are removed and interred here. It is now the resting place for the remains of 30,000 German soldiers as well as Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Estonia and even a few Russian that volunteered to fight along side the Germans. The cemetery sits on the site some where some fierce fighting took place. My guide says the story is made up, but still its neat monument. It now sits on the exact spot where the Soviets finally breached the Panther line and were able to push into Narva and establish a bridgehead.Īfter a few photos we continued down the highway and stopped at the Narva German cemetery Entrance to the German cemetery at Narva This tank was supposedly fished out of the Narva river in the 1970s. Our next stop was the so called Tank Monument The mess kit is in the left in this photoĪfter we spent some time seeing the fortress we left Narva city and drove along the Narva river. Reminders of the war are found pretty frequently here. Our guide spoke to the workers and they said the day before they dug up a few German and Soviet helmets. Sticking out of the dirt was a German mess kit. Our guide pointed out to look in one of the excavated holes. In the front of the fortress there was some construction going on. You get a very good view into Russia, and you can see for miles While standing at the top of the Narva Fortress you can see right into Russia We climbed up to the top and it was easy to see why. The tower was used by the Germans as an observation point. Narva fortress dates back to the medieval era, but during WWII it was used to inter Soviet P.O.W.s. The first place Pavel took us was to the Narva fortress. I didn’t so I hired a guide by the name of Pavel who was from the area, and is a local history teacher. Everywhere you look in Narva there are reminders of the titanic battle if you know where to look. The Germans fell back to the Blues hill outside of Narva and created a new strong point called the Tannenberg line. The Germans created a strong point known as the Panther line.This line held until it was finally breached by the Red army in the summer of 1944. The Red army attempted to create a bridgehead across the Narva river, but were stopped and pushed back by the German. The first part was fought in January and February of 1944. Narva was the site of a large and bloody battle. We were in Narva to see its WWII heritage. The city was in fact divided after the fall of the Soviet union and the boarder check point is situated in the city’s center Estonia-Russia boarder check point Petersburg being only 200 km away. Narva is about 90% Russian speaking a legacy of its Soviet Past. I knew we were close to Russian when I started to see signs for St. Narva sits on the Russian boarder and is the Eastern most city in the EU. The next day we left our hotel to journeyed two hours east to the city of Narva. ![]() Everywhere you look in this city there are reminders of its ancient past. Russian Orthodox church dating to Russian Imperial eraĪs I walked the streets I saw buildings that had been commissioned by Catherine the Great, other that has once belonged to wealthy German merchant that has been built in the 16s. Buildings that dating back as far as the 1300s. There is a fairly large medieval city called Old Town that has been lovely restored. Tallinn in my opinion one of the most beautiful cities I have had the opportunity to visit. After seven hours we reached our destination of Tallinn. The drive took us though Latvia and up a long the Baltic coast. We left Klaipeda and headed north all the way to Tallinn, Estonia. It was hard not to wonder if I was walking the same places as Guy Sajer. Sajer fought in the battle of Memel in 1945. He commented about the streets of Memel and how empty they were prior to the battle, as the residents were evacuated. As I walked these streets I remember reading Guy Sajer’s book The forgotten Soldier. For those who don’t know the book is a memoir of a German soldier’s experience on the Eastern Front. There is a very small old town with cobble stone streets and building dating to the 1700s. Today there is sadly very little left to remind one of the city’s East Prussian past. German Kreigsmarines returning to Memel in 1939 Klaipeda was once known as Memel and was the northern most city of East Prussia. After WWI the city was taken from the Germans and given to Lithuania. In 1939 German troops were sent into Memel to reoccupy it and return it to Germany. Wednesday we left Kaunas and drove to see Klaipeda Lithuania. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |