Gotenhafen and Danzig Bay

10 March – 8 April 1945, Gotenhafen (Gdynia), Danzig and the Hela peninsula

Soviet victory; Gotenhafen and Danzig taken, but many thousands evacuated by sea

As the Red Army reached the Baltic in March 1945 and pressed on Gotenhafen and Danzig, the German navy's last heavy ships fired for weeks in support of the army, which was holding a shrinking pocket while hundreds of thousands of refugees and soldiers were taken off by sea. Prinz Eugen fired more than 2,000 8-inch shells; Lützow joined her from late March, with the old Schlesien and the destroyers. Soviet aircraft attacked them day after day, and Soviet guns ashore fired back; a shell hit Lützow's conning tower. On 23 March Z31 towed the hulk of Gneisenau to the harbour entrance at Gotenhafen, where she was sunk as a blockship. Gotenhafen fell on 28 March and Danzig on 30 March. The ships covered the evacuation to the Hela peninsula, and on 8 April, out of ammunition, Prinz Eugen and Lützow withdrew west.