by Heath, Tim
Before the Russians could launch their first assault on Berlin, they firstly had to take the strategic high ground known as the Seelower Höhen, or Seelow Heights. The Russians had been over-optimistic and a little ignorant of the difficulties that they may encounter when they had set forth their ambitious plans to take Berlin by 15 April. The fighting to secure the Seelow Heights would clearly illustrate to the Russians that even at this apparently terminal phase of the war, the Germans could still deliver some clever tactical surprises and offer very fierce resistance. It is not possible to cover every military and tactical aspect of the Russian assault on Berlin in this publication, but an examination of the general anatomy of the battle is important.
The Russians began their massive offensive towards Berlin on 16 April 1945. The Russian command had over 2,500,000 men and 6,500 tanks allocated for the assault. Masses of artillery guns of all calibres were brought in, along with mortars, machine guns and Katyusha ‘Stalin’s Organ’ multiple rocket-launchers.
At 3.00am on 16 April, the 1st Belorussian Front was the first to strike. Marshall Zhukov devised a plan where he would unleash a pre-dawn barrage from 10,000 artillery guns and 400 Katyusha rocket-launchers, that would effectively pulverize the German front lines on the Seelow Heights, also referred to as the Gates of Berlin. The bombardment was one on a truly epic scale, the heaviest in the entire history of land warfare.
The German commanders had predicted such an assault, so had therefore deployed a second defensive line of troops and weapons farther back and out of immediate harm’s way. As the Russians began to advance, German artillery began to exact a heavy toll on the Russian attack which, together with the swampy terrain, began to stall at the foot of the Seelow Heights. This was only a temporary setback, however, and with a combination of sheer weight of numbers and the dogged persistence of the Russian soldier, they were soon able to recover and continue on to eventually take the Seelow Heights. Once this valuable elevated position had been secured, the Russians could then position their heavy artillery to mount accurate bombardments of Berlin.
On the morning of 20 April 1945, Hitler’s 56th birthday, the Red Army was only twenty miles away. It was also on that day that bombers of the USAAF flew their final sortie of the war against Germany with a last crippling blow. Their objective was to sever the last remaining gas and water supplies into the city. As the last of the bombers began to turn away for home, Hitler emerged briefly from his bunker to address a small group of Hitler Youth boys.
One of those boys, Otto Krische, recalls the event:
How gaunt and sickly looking Hitler was. He was black around the eyes and his limbs appeared to shake in an uncontrollable spasm. There was a drying beard of spittle around the corners of his mouth, and his eyes – the fire had gone out in his eyes. He smiled, but it was a dead man’s smile; he looked a frail, beaten old man, and nothing like the Führer of the past years.
In the 22 April issue of the Nazi publication Das Reich, Propaganda Minister Goebbels appealed to the youth of Berlin to resist at any price. He asked that every German boy and girl fight with unequalled fanaticism. It was to be his last hypocritical bluff to the youth of Germany, as he chose to hide below ground with the remainder of Hitler’s shameful band rather than fight. Two weeks, later Goebbels and his wife Magda would poison with cyanide their six children, aged from four to twelve, before committing suicide themselves.
There were 500,000 German soldiers trapped inside Berlin, together with around 2,000,000 civilians. Many wanted the opportunity to leave, but were told if they tried, they would be shot as deserters. Lynching, performed by members of the Gestapo and the SS, began all over the city. Corpses could be seen hanging from lampposts, trees and buildings. These were often the victims of unfortunate misinformation due to the confused nature of the situation in the city and lack of communication. Puppet courts dispensing rough justice, were responsible for the murder of hundreds of ordinary Berliners.
Almost incessant propaganda boomed out across the city through loudspeakers, reminding the civilian population of what would happen to them if they were captured by the Bolshevik enemy.
There was even a radio station dedicated to the werewolf groups around the city. Appropriately named Radio Werewolf, the station began broadcasting on 1 April 1945, the brainchild of Propaganda Minister Goebbels. The broadcast could be heard continuously calling for the boys and girls of Berlin to fight, and die if necessary, for the Fatherland. One of the inane broadcasts called for all unarmed boys and girls to throw bricks and stones at the enemy, quoting the legend of David and Goliath. Though the main message that was continuously repeated was ‘Besser Tot Als Rot’ or Better Dead Than Red.
The Russian guns began to shell the city, much of which was already in ruins. Those who were not able to fight, for whatever reason, usually the very old men and women and young children, sought safety in air-raid shelters, subways and cellars beneath buildings.
For the young girl members of the Werewolf groups, who would now have to fight alongside Volkssturm members and German soldiers old enough to be their fathers, the battle for Berlin would come as a nightmare. It would be unlike anything they could ever have imagined, the sights and sounds of which are indelibly etched deep in their memories to this day.
Heidi Koch:
I had never known fear like it, I was petrified. Loudspeakers around the city were asking the citizens of Berlin to remain firm and not to run like cowards, and that relief would arrive soon. The dead bodies of traitors were hanging from trees and lampposts; it was like everyone had gone mad. Russian shells began to fall around the city that could only mean that the Russians were getting closer to Berlin. Soldiers and civilians spent much of their time preparing defences by digging holes, making walls of rubble and by upturning abandoned motor vehicles and trams. At this point, we had been issued with weapons, and had been told not to go far from our refuge areas. If needed we, along with Volkssturm units, would be sent to reinforce German army positions and to give first aid to our wounded.
During this time, I talked with some of our soldiers; these were veterans of the fighting in the east, their uniforms were torn and filthy, and their faces were dirty and grey looking, and they were as scared as the civilians. There were many members of our SS in the city, but many of those I met did not speak very much and often ignored questions. There was one man in particular I kept asking questions and he turned and shouted at me, ‘Do you know what will happen if the Russians get here? Let me tell you, shall I, they will probably fuck you then shoot you, now do you understand?’
His eyes were wide and staring and he frightened me, so I turned and ran. After that, I talked very little with the soldiers, besides they were busy with their own tasks and absorbed within their own thoughts, I think many knew it was the end for them.
Theresa Moelle who had been serving with a flak unit recalls the seriousness of the German situation that April of 1945:
It was very bad, and over the months information kept filtering back about the Wehrmacht and its failures in battle, and how the Russians were pushing our army back up against Berlin. Our unit was encountering more and more Soviet aircraft that were employed in low-level cannon firing attacks against our positions in and around Berlin, and we shot some of them down as they were not very good fliers like the Americans and British. We received orders to dismantle our position and report to the antiaircraft garrison commander in Berlin on 8 April 1945. We were told to prepare immediately, and take with us only our essential belongings.
I arrived at the Moelles’ house during the late evening, as the darkness provided cover from fighter-bomber attacks. I quite literally ran in and grabbed a bundle of things and threw them into an army bread bag. Walter Moelle had been preparing to abandon the house and leave with the family, and had assumed I was going to go with them. When I told him I was staying and had to report to my unit, he went quite hysterical.
He shouted, ‘Have you gone mad? You will all be killed! Do
you think we want to see you dead?’
I replied ‘No, but I am going with the others, as they are my friends.’
As I dashed outside the house and ran to the lorry, he followed, and I remember how he kept shouting my name, and for me to come back and that he loved me. I did not stop or look back and climbed into the back of the lorry with the others. As we drove off up the drive, I shouted to him, ‘Don’t worry, I will be alright.’
By the 10th, we had been deployed to the northern sector of Berlin, along with hundreds of Volkssturm members to reinforce defensive positions, and our Flak 38 kanone was to be used in the ground role against Russian soldiers and vehicles should they attack and break through. For the most part, there was much confusion, fear, panic and general disorganization in the city. Food was becoming very scarce, and ruptured water mains were the only source of drinking water, but this was becoming contaminated by the sewerage system, which had also been ruptured in the bombing raids.
The first Russian perimeter incursions into the city of Berlin were made to the east and north. German units given the task of defending these perimeter sectors consisted of the remnants of those units pulled back after the fighting on the Seelow Heights, including the 18th, 20th and 25th Panzer Grenadier divisions, the Panzer-Division Müncheburg, 9th Paratroop Division, and the Nordland and Charlamein SS divisions. These units, once combined with the Volkssturm and other armed units of the civilian population, meant that there was a combined garrison of 300,000 ready to engage the Russians. The reality was that barely 50,000 of that number were experienced combat veterans.
The Russians were going to use the same tactics as those adopted by the Americans at Aachen. The commanders formed their masses of soldiers into effective assault groups utilizing tanks, light artillery, mortars, flamethrowers, grenades and machine guns to punch a hole through the city’s defences. Once the initial breach had been made, heavy artillery, tanks and infantry would be brought forward en-masse to begin the capture of Berlin, street by street. Waves of Russian soldiers would then follow and overwhelm the German defenders. It was a brutally effective plan, and as the first assaults were made, fierce fighting developed, particularly around the Templehof aerodrome that lay to the south of Berlin. Here members of the Volkssturm and Hitler Youth boys and girls, backed up by elements of the German army, fought against the Russians.
Dana Henschell, twenty-one years old at the time, recalls:
We were told that we must not let the enemy take the aerodrome and that it was of great strategic importance. Many of the Volkssturm were old men who just could not cope with what was going on around them. One of them threw down his Panzerfaust and started to run away. He was shot in the back a few seconds later, presumably by one of our own soldiers for desertion. I heard the shot and saw this old man fall down, and he did not move after that. I watched this happen and it’s true.
We had to hide amongst the damaged huts on the airfield perimeter and the soldiers were constantly updating us on what was going on, and every so often we had to move out from our positions to other ones as they shouted out their commands to us. As a Heckenschütze [sniper], I had to move away from our group of girls and Volkssturm and get to the far side of the airfield, where I would wait and shoot dead any Russian who appeared to the right side of the aerodrome, which is where the main attack was apparently coming from at that time. The Russians were firing artillery and mortars at the airfield, and as I got up and ran, I frequently stumbled over in panic, as a bomb came in and landed nearby, sending earth and shrapnel crashing down around me. I was worried about damaging the rifle, which sounds silly, and I actually hesitated to rub the dirt off it before carrying on running. I jumped down beside a destroyed vehicle that was lying on its side and was full of shrapnel holes; I noticed that oil saturated the ground and that I was now lying down in it. This position, though uncomfortable, gave me a good view and field of fire to cover, and if I needed I could withdraw to the rear with the others.
When the Russians did appear, firing and throwing grenades, there was just commotion all around. The Volkssturm men began to surrender without even firing a shot. I watched them jumping up to surrender, though some were shot and bayoneted to death by the Russians as they surrendered.
The next few seconds were the slowest of my entire life. I cocked [loaded] the rifle and with a pounding heart, I looked into the telescope with my right eye, while closing the other tightly shut. All I could view now was the black cross inside the telescope. Resting the rifle on the vehicle’s broken axle, I held the black cross steadily on a Russian soldier who was crouching down and firing his rifle at our soldiers positioned to my far right. As taught, I held my breath for a split second and slowly squeezed the trigger. As my rifle fired I saw the Russian thrown back by the force of the bullet’s impact; he twitched and convulsed momentarily then lay still. I quickly pulled back the bolt, and remember the empty bullet case flying out onto the grass. I again pressed my right eye into the telescope and scanned around for a target.
This time, a Russian, lying down and sneaking along the ground on his belly like a snake. Again, I held my breath for a second before slowly squeezing the trigger. As the rifle fired, the Russian rolled over onto his back and appeared to have been hit in the side of his body. I whispered ‘Verdammt’ [damn it] as I reloaded and fired a second shot into him, and after that he stopped moving.
More and more Russian soldiers were appearing and began to fan out around the ground in front of me. One of the Russian soldiers ran to help the man I had just shot, and so I aimed and fired and killed him too. I looked over my shoulder as I thought that they might try to come around our rear, but all seemed to be alright at that stage and I received no warning from my comrades.
The Russians must have discovered where I had been as, after some minutes had passed, a mortar bomb fell very close to where I was hiding. I heard the muffled explosion of the bomb and the shrapnel striking the vehicle and several small pieces landed near my legs. Another two bombs came in seconds later, and these appeared to be much closer. In the belief that I had been discovered, I quickly backed away from the vehicle and crawled away through the grass and small trees around the boundary.
Moments later there was a loud ‘whoosh’, followed by an explosion as an artillery shell came in and must have landed very close to where I had been as I felt the earth shake and saw a large chunk of the vehicle I had been hiding under sailing into the air as the shell exploded. I got up and started to run as fast as I could as more shells came in. The rattle of machine guns and crack of rifle fire grew more intense now as I became fully aware of what was going on around me. I came running through some trees and startled three of our soldiers manning a machine gun as the one aiming the weapon swung it around towards me and screamed, ‘Halt!’ and must have been ready to shoot me dead in an instant.
He drew a deep breath and just said, ‘Go on – fuck off, get out of here.’
As I moved back to the rear, I remember the cries of wounded men and how other people were trying to treat their wounds. I remember the look on their faces as men were being brought into one of the huts at the rear that was being used as a first-aid post. Men who had arms or legs blown off, or fragments of their skulls missing exposing their brains, all kinds of horrific injuries. Blood was everywhere, even up the walls; it was like a butcher’s shop for human beings. Some of our girls could not cope and some were outside vomiting and crying hysterically and calling ‘Mutter, Mutter’ [mother, mother].
A young soldier came in and shouted, ‘Get these fucking kids out of here now!’
‘Where do we go?’ we asked and the soldier just said, ‘I don’t care where you fucking go, go home if you like, but get away from here now.’
I helped two of the girls to their feet and decided that I should go with the soldier and help him to get the other girls away from the aerodrome area, even though it was against the Führer’s orders, I don’t think anyone cared anymore. We left in a civilian baker’s
van, which the soldiers had commandeered and was one of a very few which had fuel. Shells landed around us as we jumped into the back of the van and drove off, swaying from side to side.
Many Hitler Youth boys and girls remained behind at the airfield, but it was useless and the Russians soon captured the aerodrome. We headed back into the nightmare of Berlin with its cratered roads aligned with hideous ruins. One of the girls was still hysterical and I did my best to try to comfort her. She was covered in the blood of dead and dying German soldiers. The baker’s van pulled up outside a makeshift first-aid station, and we were all bundled inside it. At that point, I realized that I had left my rifle behind at the aerodrome. Nausea coursed through my stomach and I retched violently, but nothing came out. My whole body ached and I was sweating heavily and trying to get my breath. I was given a small metal cup of water, which had sugar in it and drank it down. I was told I was suffering from shock and this would help calm the effects.
The fighting around the peripheral areas of Berlin continued with an ever-increasing ferocity, and by 24 April, the city’s fate was sealed – there was no escape from Berlin as the Russians had now completely surrounded the city.
Just two days prior to the Russian encirclement of berlin, Anna ‘Tiny’ Dann, her mother, father and two brothers escaped the hell of Berlin through Nauen, via a road to the northwest of the city. Her two brothers, Franz and Josef, who had been attached to a Berlin flak battery, had taken a military vehicle under the pretence that, under orders from their commanding officer, they were going to collect ammunition resupplies. It was an intensely risky undertaking, but the two brothers were determined that their little sister and parents would not be sacrificed for what had become Hitler’s lost cause. Anna and her parents were stowed away under a tarpaulin sheet in the back of the lorry, only emerging once they were safely out of the city.