The third wave of evacuation happened in January 1945, when the East Prussian Offensive was already in progress. While Nazi authorities propagated the faith in the Final victory, any individual initiatives involving evacuation was labelled as defeatism.[40] Most civilians left their homes just hours before Red Army units overran them, and were often directly involved in combat.[2][40][41] At the same time Nazi representatives, like Gauleiter Koch who had prepared two steamboats in the harbour of Pillau for his personal use, were the first to escape to the west.