Slaughter at Halbe

1

Soviet Military History Journal, Moscow, April 1965.

2

Chaney, Zhukov, p. 307, quoting Nicolaevsky.

3

Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, pp. 397–403; Montgomery-Hyde, Stalin, p. 525; Ziemke, Battle for Berlin, p. 64; Seaton, The Russo-German War, pp. 562–5.

4

Gosztony, Der Kampf um Berlin, p. 122 [quoting John Ehrmann, Grand Strategy, October 1944–August 1945, p. 142].

5

Shtemenko, The Soviet General Staff at War, pp. 317–18.

6

Ibid., pp. 319–20.

7

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 83.

8

Shtemenko, The Soviet General Staff at War, pp. 320–1.

9

Zhukov, Reminiscences and Reflections, pp. 346–51; The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union [hereafter cited as GPW], pp. 376–8; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, pp. 531–5.

10

GPW, pp. 88–9; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, pp. 535–7. The role of the tank armies after the breakthrough is taken from a map used by General Ivanov in the 1993 film Der Todeskampf der Reichshauptstadt [Chronos-Film].

11

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 82.

12

Ibid., pp. 88–9.

13

Rocolle, Götterdämmmerung – La Prise de Berlin, p. 14; Guderian, Panzer Leader, pp. 323–5.

14

Toland, The Last Hundred Days, pp. 1118–19. These bunkers later accommodated the Soviet Army High Command in East Germany.

15

O’Donnell, The Berlin Bunker, pp. 40–3.

16

Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS, with additional information on the Volksarmee from Tully. Note that the Germans used Roman numerals for their corps formation titles (including the unusual XXXX for 40) but not for their artillery corps. The Soviets did not use Roman numerals at all.

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, states that on 15 March 1945 an instruction was issued dropping the word ‘Panzer’ from XI SS Panzer Corps’ title and the word ‘Mountain’ from V SS Mountain Corps’ title, but it appears that this was not implemented, as the formations concerned are referred to by their full titles in contemporary documents, as used in this text.

17

Timmons, ‘Command and Control in the Wehrmacht’.

1

Zhukov, Reminiscences and Reflections, pp. 366–7.

2

Ziemke, Battle for Berlin, p. 83.

3

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 105.

4

Ibid., pp. 197–8.

5

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 165.

6

Chuikov, The End of the Third Reich, p. 164.

7

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 165.

8

Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 111–12.

9

V. A. Roldugin, quoted in the Kreisleitung Jüterbog booklet, p. 50.

10

Von Luck, Gefangener meiner Zeit, p. 272, Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 144, 171; Gosztony, Der Kampf um Berlin, p. 207 [citing Steiner, Die Freiwilligen, p. 228].

11

Gosztony, Der Kampf um Berlin, pp. 228–9, including quotation from Der grundlegende Befehl des Führers vom 21. April 1945 (National Archives, Washington DC).

12

Kuby, The Russians and Berlin 1945, p. 105 (quoting Colonel Refior, an officer of the Berlin Defence Area staff); Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 214.

Six months’ service with the Reichsarbeitsdienst was a statutory preliminary to military service and included generous amounts of drill, marching and discipline in its programme. Towards the end of the war, RAD units were inevitably armed and incorporated into the military.

13

Novikov, ‘The Air Forces in the Berlin Operation’, p. 93. ‘We did not know that the enemy had so few troops to defend this boundary and expected strong opposition.’

14

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, p. 131.

15

Zhukov, Reminiscences and Reflections, p. 609 – but not mentioned in Koniev!

16

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 115.

17

Some 40 years later at Spandau Allied Prison the author discussed this episode with Soviet Army officers, who regarded this incident as common knowledge.

18

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 184, says that there was about a battalion of clerks and drivers from Zossen and three tank-hunting brigades mounted on bicycles, whom he presumes were Hitler Youth units.

19

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 122.

20

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 35.

21

Gosztony, Der Kampf um Berlin, pp. 193–5 [citing Gerhard Boldt’s Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei, p. 49]; Ryan, The Last Battle, p. 234; Schramm, Kriegestagesbuch des OKW, pp. 1289, 1438–9; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 147, says originally twelve tanks had set off from the Kummersdorf Training Area nearby.

22

The horse-drawn cart used by the Soviets to carry the soldiers’ personal gear.

23

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 29–30.

24

Kuby, The Russians and Berlin 1945, p. 97; Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 115.

25

Kreisleitung Jüterbog booklet, pp. 12–15.

26

Ibid., p.12 [citing Major-General A. P. Riasanski, Im Feuer der Panzerschlachten, Moscow, 1975, p. 179 ff.].

27

Refior Berlin Diaries, p. 20, Federal Military Archives Freiburg, RH 53-3-24; Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 122; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 183; Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 35.

28

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 129–80.

29

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 43, 45.

1

GPW, p. 381; Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 121–2.

2

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 124.

3

Ibid., p. 122.

4

Kreisleitung Jüterbog booklet, pp. 13–19.

5

Ortschronik von Kummersdorf Gut, a handwritten document supplied by Rolf Kaim to the author.

6

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 42 [citing Federal Military Archives 19 XV/10, Sheet 60].

7

Novikov, ‘The Air Forces in the Berlin Operation’, p. 95; Wagner, Der 9. Fallschirmjägerdivision, pp. 355–6.

8

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 157.

9

Noakes & Pridham, Nazism 1939–1945, pp. 935–6.

10

Führling, Endkampf an der Oderfront, p. 105.

11

Thorwald, Das Ende an der Elbe, pp. 88–9.

12

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 42 [citing Federal Military Archives 19 XV/10, Sheet 71f].

13

Ibid., pp. 39–40.

14

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, pp. 133–4.

15

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 173.

16

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, pp. 26–7.

17

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 172–3.

18

Führling, Endkampf an der Oderfront, p. 105.

1

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, pp. 166–7.

2

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 50 [citing Federal Military Archives 19 XV/10, Sheet 71f and 19 XV/10, Sitrep of 22 April 45, Sheet 213].

3

Colonel von Dufving, Weidling’s chief of staff, told the author that he may inadvertently have been responsible for some of these rumours through having ordered all the corps’ non-combatant troops to Döberitz on 18 April.

4

Discussions between the author and Herr Fritz-Rudolf Averdieck and other survivors of the 20th Panzergrenadier Division; Engelmann, Geschichte der 18. Panzergrenadier Division, pp. 645–6; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 244.

5

Kuby, The Russians and Berlin 1945, p. 108; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 216–17; Wagener, The Soviet Air Forces in World War II, p. 63.

6

Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 160–1; Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, p. 202; Thorwald, Das Ende an der Elbe, pp. 116–17.

7

Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 161–2; Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, pp. 202–3; Thorwald, Das Ende an der Elbe, pp. 118–19.

8

Von Loringhoven interview in the film Der Todeskampf der Reichshauptstadt [Chronos-Film].

9

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 48.

10

GPW, p. 381.

11

Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 131–2.

12

Ibid., pp. 128–9, 132.

13

Wilke archives.

14

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 188–91.

15

Ibid., pp. 186, 192.

1

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 97.

2

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, p. 64; Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, pp. 203–4; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 196–7.

3

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 44 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 2/337, Sheet 8f, 23 April 45].

4

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, p. 64; Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 80–3; Ryan, The Last Battle, p. 351.

5

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 48; Ryan, The Last Battle, p. 443.

6

Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, p. 205.

7

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 46 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 19 XV/10, Sitrep of 22 April 45, Sheet 15].

8

Bradley, Dermot, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand & Markus Röverkamp: Die Generäle des Heeres 1921–45.

9

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 194–5.

10

Stang/Arlt, Brandenburg im Jahr 1945, p. 99.

11

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 167.

12

Ibid.

13

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, p. 134.

14

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 190.

15

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 135.

16

Ibid., p. 135.

17

Ibid., p. 137.

18

Ibid., pp. 137–41; Komornicki, Polnische Soldaten stürmten Berlin, pp. 128–34.

19

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 124.

20

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 78.

21

Weidling, ‘Der Todeskampf’, p. 42; Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, p. 221; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 216–18. Ryan’s interview notes with Refior, von Dufving Archives.

22

Weidling, ‘Der Todeskampf’, pp. 42–5; Willemer, p. 19; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 224.

1

Chuikov, The End of the Third Reich, p. 164; Kuby, The Russians and Berlin 1945, pp. 52–3. Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 201, gives the time of encounter as 0900 hours. Zhukov does not even mention it! According to Koniev’s Year of Victory this was 23 April, but it is quite clear from the accounts of both Zhukov and Chuikov that it must have occurred on the 24th.

2

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 131. The new inter-front boundaries followed the main railway lines into Berlin, being clearly discernible to the troops on the ground, however badly damaged the environment, then crossed the Landwehr Canal to the Anhalter railway station. Any extension of that line left the Reichstag clearly to the west and in Koniev’s path. (Here I disagree with both Ryan, The Last Battle, p. 354, and Erickson, The Road to Berlin, p. 586, for the reasons stated.) North of the canal Zhukov could now only approach the Reichstag from the east, north or west. Chuikov’s group, originally intended to cover the whole southern arc of the city, could now, however, concentrate a disproportionately powerful punch on the eastern flank of that arc in competition with the 3rd Guards Tank Army. From then on one suspects that Zhukov must have pushed Chuikov deliberately to block Koniev’s route to the Reichstag, thus causing the forthcoming changes in the inter-front boundary of 28 April with a fait accompli.

3

Chuikov, The End of the Third Reich, p. 163.

4

Ibid., pp. 159–60.

5

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 50.

6

Ibid., p. 53.

7

Erickson, The Road to Berlin, pp 587–8.

8

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 156.

9

Ibid., pp. 158, 161; Wagener, The Soviet Air Forces in World War II, p. 350; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, p. 592.

10

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 78–9.

11

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 140.

12

Chernayev, ‘Some Features of Military Art in the Berlin Operation’, p. 105.

13

Zhukov, Reminiscences and Reflections, p. 610.

14

Fleischer, ‘Der Kessel von Halbe’.

15

Wilke notes in the hands of the author.

16

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, p. 135.

17

Brand, in the author’s Death Was Our Companion. Ketsin is not identified on maps of this area, but this could be a misspelling of Ketzin, north-west of Potsdam, where the Soviet encirclement of Berlin was completed on 25 April.

18

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 18, 20.

19

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 60.

20

Ibid., p. 60 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 19 XV/10, Sheet 332].

1

GPW, p. 382; Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 172; Toland, The Last Hundred Days, p. 451.

2

Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 171–2.

3

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 79.

4

Kreisleitung Jüterbog booklet, pp. 23–4.

5

Förster/Lakowski, 1945 – Das Jahr der endgültigen Niederlage der faschistischen Wehrmacht, p. 337.

6

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 80, 82 [citing Refior Berlin Diaries, p. 141].

7

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 167.

8

Fleischer, ‘Der Kessel von Halbe’. The Il-2 was named Ilyusha after its designer, Sergei V. Ilyushin, and was a ground-attack aircraft armoured with up to 13-mm plate, making it virtually impervious to infantry fire. At this stage of the war it was armed with two 37-mm wing-mounted cannon and two 7.62-mm machine guns in the engine cowling, and could also carry four 82-mm rockets or 100-kg bombs as an external load.

9

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 72–9.

10

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, pp. 30–2.

11

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von halbe 1945, pp. 95–6 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 19 XV/10, Sheet 296].

12

Domank, ‘The 1st Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division at Halbe’.

13

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 65–6.

14

Ibid., pp. 63–6.

15

The Pe-2 was named Peshka after its designer, Vladimir M. Petlyakov, and was a dive-bomber with a three-man crew, armed with six machine guns and 1,000 kg of bombs.

16

Von Luck, Gefangener meiner Zeit, pp. 272–3.

17

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 168; Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 72–96; von Luck, Gefangener meiner Zeit, pp. 272–6.

18

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 54–5.

19

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 91–2 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 19 XV/10, Sheet 334].

20

Ibid., p. 96 [citing Federal Military Archives RH RH 19 XV/10, Sheet 413].

21

Förster/Lakowski, 1945 – Das Jahr der endgültigen Niederlage der faschistischen Wehrmacht, p. 338.

1

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, p. 30.

2

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, pp. 139–40.

3

Lakowsky/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 92–3.

4

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 167.

5

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 192.

6

Wilke archives.

7

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, p. 64 f.

8

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, pp. 65–6; Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 83–7; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 331.

9

Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 179–80.

10

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 66.

11

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 54.

12

Domank, ‘The 1st Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division at Halbe’.

13

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 66–8.

14

Ibid., p. 68.

15

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 83.

16

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, pp. 32–3. German soldiers were issued with waterproof tent-halves that could be worn as capes or fastened together to form simple pup-tents.

1

Domank, ‘The 1st Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division at Halbe’.

2

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 54.

3

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 101–2.

4

Ibid.

5

Förster/Lakowski, 1945 – Das Jahr der endgültigen Niederlage der faschistischen Wehrmacht, p. 342 [citing Federal Military Archives RH W.30.10./6, Sheet 842].

6

Brand in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

7

Von Luck, Gefangener meiner Zeit, pp. 259, 264–5, 270–1.

8

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 97.

9

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 180.

10

Spaether, Die Geschichte des Panzerkorps ‘Großdeutschland’, pp. 637–8.

11

Kortenhaus, Der Einsatz der 21. Panzer-Division, p. 140.

12

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 104–5, citing Krauß Report, 1997.

13

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, pp. 123–4.

14

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 97–8.

15

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, p. 66.

16

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 84.

17

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 238.

18

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 105 [citing Federal Military Archives RH 19 XV/10, Sheet 393f.].

19

Halbe mahnt…! 1963 pamphlet, pp. 15–16.

20

Ibid., p. 17.

1

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 124.

2

The second highest Soviet decoration after the Order of Lenin.

3

Adapted from Harry Zvi Glaser’s account in the author’s With Our Backs to Berlin.

4

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 63.

5

Domank, The 1st Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division at Halbe’; Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 108.

6

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 184; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, p. 600. Koniev was still aiming for the Reichstag.

7

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 184. The only Plauener Strasse then and now is in Hohenschönhausen in north-east Berlin. Koniev probably meant Pallasstrasse.

8

Koniev, Year of Victory, p. 187.

9

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 48.

10

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 312.

11

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 111.

12

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 111–18.

13

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 315.

14

Letter to Dr Lakowski, cited in Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp 182–3.

15

These tanks are referred to indiscriminately by witnesses as either Tigers or Königstigers. Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, p. 83 supplies the following information:

‘The exact number of Tiger IIs available near and in Halbe cannot be established due to the varied and conflicting accounts. The strength return for the 502nd at Klein Hammer gives seven each for the 1st and 2nd Companies, but already here the figure of seven for the 1st Company is doubtful. Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, gives 14 in Halbe, Scholz counted 12 in Halbe at night. Führling, Endkampf an der Oderfront, says 13 and Streng/Ott seven. Even the standard works have doubts, so that one must enquire about each tank: was it really a Tiger, or in fact a Panther? Thus three Tigers were listed as casualties in or near Halbe, Kuhnke (211), Harlander (213) and Münster (214). Apparently a further two Tigers were lost between Halbe and Löpten. Steng/Ott’s account of seven refers to Massow, where Schneider gives five, two having become stuck crossing the autobahn and having to be blown up. Thus two tanks were lost, one of them Kämp’s (123).

Of the six Tigers of the 502nd in Massow early on 29 April 1945, we have the following fates:

Hellwig’s 222 was ordered by Streng to secure the Reichsstrasse 96 crossing to the north towards Wünsdorf. Hellwig came back without it, the Tiger having had to be blown up by Neuhof.

Pott’s Tiger was shot up on the R 96 and none of the crew was able to bail out.

Stehmann’s 111 was blown up between Fernneuendorf and Sperenberg.

Neu’s Tiger stopped near Märtinsmühle (or Hennickendorf?) with water in the fuel.

Streng/Ott’s penultimate Tiger 223 was shot up at about 0500 hours on 1 May between Schönefeld and Zauchwitz, about 300 metres south-east of the footbridge over the Nieplitz stream. After the wounded crew had bailed out, now under the command of Neu, the tank blew up and the 18-ton turret was blown off. Ott ended in Soviet captivity.

Klust/Fink’s last Tiger, finally under the command of SS-Lieutenant Egger, reached the radio towers between Schönefeld and Elshoz, where they tanked up with diesel. The vehicle drove on for a further three or four kilometres before giving up the ghost. Driver Fink had discovered, without realising it, the later much cited multi-fuel engine. The tank was blown up in 1946/47.

According to an eyewitness, Erwin Schade, who was then 14 years old, bits flew up to fifty metres away.’

16

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 332–3; Ziemke, Battle for Berlin, p. 119; Komornicki, Polnische Soldaten stürmten Berlin, p. 143.

17

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 315.

18

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 119.

19

Domank, The 1st Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division at Halbe’.

20

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 108–18.

21

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 319, 321.

22

Ibid.

23

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

24

Fey, Panzer im Brennpunkt der Fronten, pp. 198–9.

25

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 317.

26

Ibid.

27

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

28

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 320.

29

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

30

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 320.

31

Ibid.

32

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, p. 34.

33

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, pp. 58–9.

34

Helmut Jurisch in corresondence with the author.

35

Ibid.

36

Führling, Endkampf an der Oderfront, pp. 123–8.

37

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 316.

38

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 319.

39

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 310–11.

40

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 55.

41

Ibid., pp. 83–4.

42

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, pp. 65–6; Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 85–6. Patients from the main civilian and military hospitals in Berlin and Potsdam had been evacuated here to a lung clinic and adjacent barracks (Ramm, Gott Mit Uns, p. 228). General Koehler, in a letter written to the commander of the 83rd US Infantry Division on 26 April appealing for the acceptance of the sick and wounded, anticipated finding 6,000 in his operational area, so it is possible that there were something like this figure recovered overall.

43

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 113.

44

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 87–9.

45

Kreisleitung Jüterbog booklet, p. 26.

1

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 121.

2

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 320.

3

Ibid., p. 323.

4

Ibid., p. 322.

5

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

6

Hölz had been promoted from colonel to major-general on 23 April.

7

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 121–2; Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 323. According to his family, Langkeit surrendered to the British on 22 May, so it seems he may have either avoided capture by the Soviets, or managed to escape. (Letter to the author).

8

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 323.

9

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 122.

10

Ibid., pp. 123–4.

11

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 324.

12

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

13

Helmut Jurisch in correspondence with the author.

14

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 325.

15

Ibid.

16

Ibid.

17

Ibid., p. 326.

18

Ibid., p. 325.

19

A distinction has to be drawn between the village of Kummersdorf and the artillery proving ranges at Kummersdorf Gut with their own railway station six kilometres to the south. In all the soldiers’ accounts ‘Kummersdorf’ means the artillery ranges complex, not the village proper.

20

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 325–6.

21

Ibid., p. 326.

22

Ibid., pp. 325–6.

23

Ortschronik von Kummersdorf Gut. [Rolf Kaim to author].

24

Bartmann in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

25

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 86.

26

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 122–4.

27

Brand in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

28

Helmut Jurisch in correspondence with the author.

29

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, pp. 65–9.

30

Ibid., p. 70.

31

Ibid., pp. 83–5.

32

Ibid., p. 70.

33

Ibid., p. 57.

34

Wilke archives. The ‘Wolchow club’ was made of hard wood and was a souvenir of Porsch’s involvement in close-quarter fighting in the area of that name (usually spelt as Volkhov in English) east of Leningrad.

35

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 328.

36

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 168.

37

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 125–8.

38

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, p. 99.

39

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 86–7.

40

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, pp. 66–7; Strawson, The Battle for Berlin, p. 146. Neither von Dufving nor Refior mention it in their accounts.

41

Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, p. 68.

42

Ibid., p. 66; Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 93–4.

43

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 176.

44

Ibid., p. 177.

1

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 97–8; Gorlitz, The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel, p. 223.

2

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 128.

3

Helmut Jurisch in correspondence with the author. Schoka-cola was a form of chocolate containing an energising substance.

4

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 327.

5

Ibid.

6

Letter to Dr Lakowski, cited in Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 183.

7

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 327.

8

Ibid., p. 334.

9

Ibid., p. 335.

10

Ibid., pp. 335–7.

11

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 129.

12

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 337.

13

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, p. 36.

14

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 128–30.

15

This was a nickname for the Po-2, sometimes also called the Sewing Machine because of the distinctive sound of its engine. The Po-2 was a biplane, armoured against infantry fire, and used extensively for night bombing, the observer dropping either clusters of hand grenades or light bombs by hand in First World War style. Many of the crews were female.

16

Wilke, Am Rande der Strassen, pp. 71–4.

17

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 129.

1

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 338.

2

He was the heir to the Klessin estate featured in the author’s With Our Backs to Berlin.

3

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 338.

4

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 74–6.

5

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 339.

6

The area around Beelitz is famous for its asparagus crops. The asparagus fields with their deep corrugations would provide some measure of cover from fire for the troops sheltering there.

7

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 340–1.

8

Lindner in the author’s Death Was Our Companion.

9

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, p. 342.

10

From Stanganhagen onwards the road was Route 246, the main road from Trebbin to Beelitz, so Gädtke’s subsequent moves took him north of the latter town.

11

Gädtke, Von der Oder zur Elbe, pp. 36–7.

12

Tieke, Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe, pp. 339–40.

13

Jurisch to the author. Although he gives the date of this incident as 30 April, it seems most likely to have occurred on 1 May. In a subsequent discussion with the author, Jurisch stated that the driving of the tanks into a swamp just north of Salzbrunn was deliberate.

14

Kollatz: ‘Die Front an der Elbe 1945’, p. 65.

15

Busse, ‘Die letzte Schlacht der 9. Armee’, p. 168, describes the break-out as having taken place on the night of 26/27 April and the union with 12th Army on the morning of the 29th, but this is in conflict with Wenck’s chronology and that of other witnesses, and allowance should be made for the fact that Busse’s article was apparently written in captivity some ten years after the event; Wenck, ‘Berlin war nicht mehr zu retten’, pp. 68–9. Koniev, Year of Victory, pp. 180–2, denies the break-out was effective.

1

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 105.

2

Helmut Jurisch in correspondence with the author.

3

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, pp. 186–8.

4

Küster, Geschunder Leibe, pp. 155–7.

5

Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck, p. 119.

6

Ibid., p. 111.

7

Ibid., pp. 121–2.

8

Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, pp. 133–5.

9

GPW, p. 385; Lakowski/Stich, Der Kessel von Halbe 1945, p. 138.

1

Simonov, Kriegstagebücher, p. 105 f.

2

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, pp. 87–8.

3

Article by Günter Führling in Deutsche Militärzeitschrift, Nr. 14.

4

Halbe mahnt…! 1963 pamphlet, p. 17.

5

Schulze, Der Kessel Halbe–Baruth–Radeland, p. 54.

6

Schulze to author.

7

Ortschronik von Kummersdorf Gut. [Rolf Kaim to author]

8

Mihan article to author; Jörg Mückler in Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch 2000–2001.

9

Halbe mahnt…! 1963 pamphlet, pp. 13–14.

10

The author was informed by another general present that Busse was given a very stony reception when he gave an address on Civil Defence to the Bundeswehr Senior Staff College at Hamburg after the war.