The capture of the Daugavpils Unity Bridge on June 26, 1941

The attack in the direction of Daugavpils was led by the 8th Panzer Division of General Erik von Manstein's 56th Motorized Corps, led by Major General Erik Brandenberger. The 10th Panzer Regiment advanced in the vanguard. There were two bridges in Daugavpils that the Germans needed to continue the attack: the Unity Bridge and the Railway Bridge, and it was important to capture neither of them intact, but preferably both. Initially, it was planned to capture the bridges with the help of the "Brandenburger" airborne unit. The "Brandenburger" was a special task unit subordinate to the Intelligence Directorate of the German Armed Forces Headquarters, whose task was to seize particularly important objects. Its official name in June 1941 was the 800th Special Task Training Regiment "Brandenburg" (Lehrregiment Brandenburg zb V. 800), named after its base west of Berlin. After reviewing aerial reconnaissance data of the Daugavpils bridges, it was decided to capture them from the ground.

The task of seizing the bridges and preventing their explosion was assigned to the 1st assault unit of the 8th company of the regiment, commanded by First Lieutenant Hans Wolfram Knāks. The assault unit was reinforced with a heavy machine gun section (two machine guns) and one 81 mm mortar. The total number of personnel was: one officer, six non-commissioned officers, 41 soldiers. The assault unit was divided into two groups. Feldwebel Erst Prochaska's group with two infantry sections, as well as a machine gun section and a mortar was to seize the Vienības bridge. The task of the second group was to seize the railway bridge. To achieve surprise, three captured Soviet trucks and Red Army uniforms were used, which were not enough for everyone, so the operation had to use one German truck and partially disguise the soldiers. The commander of the shock unit, Knāks, rode in the front truck and pretended to be wounded. Both Brandenburg groups began the attack at 06:10 Berlin time. According to the plan, behind both groups, with a ten-minute break, the 1st battalion of the 10th tank of the 8th tank division rode at the railway bridge, and the 2nd battalion at the Vienības bridge. Along with the tanks, there were also motorized infantry.

The trucks of both groups reached both bridges in a column without incident. The bridge was protected by a significant number of Soviet soldiers, who were making the final preparations for blowing up the bridge. Double posts were placed on the bridge every 10 meters, and there were 60–80 people on the bridge in total. On the northern bank, on the slope of the bank, on both sides of the bridge’s front fortification for a length of 200 meters, at a distance of one to two meters, there were rifle squad positions, machine gun firing points with heavy machine guns, light machine guns, anti-tank rifles and automatic rifles with optical sights. On the bank – two anti-tank gun positions. In the houses on both sides of the bridge’s front fortification and in the adjacent streets – riflemen with rifles, light and heavy machine guns.

The first group's attack on the railway bridge was unsuccessful, as part of the bridge was blown up. The success of the entire operation depended on the capture of the Unity Bridge. The first truck, carrying Senior Lieutenant Knāks and Feldwebel Prohaska, crosses the bridge and reaches the fortifications on the northeastern bank. The truck arouses suspicion and comes under Soviet rifle and machine gun fire. The soldiers jump out of the truck and, using hand grenades and submachine guns, force the Red Army soldiers to reduce the intensity of their fire. This group establishes a bridgehead on the other bank. Feldwebel Prohaska with several saboteurs occupies the first house east of the bridge and provides protection for the bridgehead being established from the first floor. Two soldiers from the front group run across the bridge and try to cut the wires connecting the explosives, one of them is seriously wounded. At this moment, the commander of the combined assault unit, Senior Lieutenant Knāks, falls under machine gun fire. Feldwebel Prohaska takes over command of the northeastern bridgehead. Eight minutes later, a clearing group from the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Tank Regiment and soldiers from the 1st Company of the 8th Motorized Infantry Regiment arrive.

The German unit that broke through the bridge was under heavy crossfire from both the Soviet and German sides for another two hours. The wounded had to be taken to a house that was captured at the very beginning, and this house was periodically fired upon by German tanks. While the first truck was crossing the bridge, three other trucks dropped off saboteurs on the southwest bank near the Grīva fortifications. Machine-gun and mortar units immediately took up positions. Corporal Pilsa's unit eliminated the guard on the bridge and occupied a blasting post located in a nearby house west of the southwest bridgehead fortification. After the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Tank Regiment joined forces, Petty Officer Pils attacked the Grīva section to expand the bridgehead on his bank, and from the lead tank directed fire at the enemy sniper positions in the Unity House and adjacent buildings to secure the bridgehead on the northeast bank. Meanwhile, the two machine guns of Corporal Šlaus' machine gun section, from a position 100 meters west of the front fortification of the bridge occupied by Pils, carried out a crossfire to prevent Soviet reinforcements from reaching the positions of the forward group at the northeast end of the Unity Bridge.

As a result of the actions of the combined assault unit of Lieutenant Colonel Knāks, the Germans managed to capture the undamaged Vienības bridge over the Daugava at 07:30, and after the tanks of the 8th Tank Division arrived by 08:30, they also secured the area around the railway bridge. The railway bridge was partially blown up by Red Army soldiers, but due to the actions of the tanks and Knāks's assault unit, it was not possible to completely destroy it; the bridge was slightly damaged and later quickly repaired. By 10:30, two tank battalions were already on the northeastern bank of the Daugava, the 8th Motorcycle Battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 8th Motorized Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion of the 29th Infantry Regiment. Only at 16:30 did Red Army units begin unsuccessful attempts to recapture Daugavpils.

The losses of the strike force were: one killed, the commander of the combined strike force, Lieutenant Knāks; five seriously wounded, one of them - the division commander, Corporal Langenhans; six slightly wounded, one of them - the division commander, Corporal Pils. The name of Lieutenant Knāks is engraved in the German Brothers Cemetery in Daugavpils.