Hitler's Brandenburgers

by Lawrence Paterson

  The Don River posed a major barrier before the solid terrain of the Caucasus that was well-suited to armoured operations. At its narrowest point, the river was still 250m wide, though five substantial bridges capable of bearing heavy German vehicular traffic spanned its width in Rostov and for their capture, Oberleutnant Grabert’s 8th Company was brought into operation, having been attached to the 13th Panzer Division. In the division’s vanguard was Oberstleutnant Harald Stolz’s 43rd Kradschützen Battalion, a reconnaissance unit of combined motorcycles and armoured cars. Fighting their way through the confusing urban battle in Rostov, Stolz attempted to reach the main railway bridge but reached the river to the east of the span which Soviet engineers had partially demolished though the adjacent road bridge remained intact. Unable to force a crossing, Stolz established a strongpoint and awaited reinforcements.

  As resistance faded in the city of Rostov itself, Grabert’s company made its way to the river by truck, carrying inflatable boats as part of their equipment and established itself with Stolz, crossing the northern branch of the Don River along with twenty-eight volunteers from the Kradschützen Battalion’s engineer platoon. Ferried across the river, they immediately established a command post on the far bank. In sweltering summer heat, heavy machine-gun and mortar fire caused a small number of German casualties, the first half-company of Brandenburgers already making their way across using their inflatables under the command of Oberleutnant Dr Oskar Hüller. Securing a larger bridgehead on the river’s south bank, the remainder of the 8th Company soon followed and Grabert planned his assault on the bridge itself.

  The southern bank was more sparsely built upon than the northern, a small harbour east of the bridge fringed with warehouses, while the terrain near the bridge lay exposed; a single slightly raised causeway leading to Bataysk, but swept by Soviet gunfire. After establishing his position, Grabert awaited darkness before beginning his assault. Covered by supressing fire from the northern bank, the Brandenburgers pushed through intense defensive fire, illuminated by drifting parachute flares and a burning truck on the bridge itself. They stormed the southern end of the bridge and captured it intact. Grabert was grazed in the head by a ricochet and his men were low on ammunition as he planned to continue the attack and take the next bridge downriver. Flares signalled his men to move their heavy weapons forward as his assault group prepared to rush forward, capitalising on their speed to keep pressure on the retreating defenders and keep them off balance. The bridge they held was still swept with heavy machine-gun fire and unusable and the seizure of further crossings would serve to push the defenders away from the river bank that they still held in isolated pockets.

  Leading from the front, Grabert took his company in a direct assault at 0230hrs as dawn approached, though Soviet machine guns that had previously been concealed opened fire and took them by surprise. Several men were hit, but the momentum of the attack carried the Brandenburgers through and the next bridge was soon secured, though only with a tenuous grip. However, amongst those men that had been seriously wounded was Grabert himself, shot in the stomach and bleeding profusely. In severe pain, he was dragged under the bridge superstructure onto the sloping river bank and into cover. Stabsarzt Dr Helmut Weber of the company headquarters injected him with morphine to ease his pain, though he already knew the severity of his wound, reportedly saying: ‘Don’t do anything to me, Doctor, I am a medical doctor myself and know that I will die.’ 2

  Casualties were steadily mounting as ammunition, morphine and medical supplies began to run out for the remaining Germans. With the heat of the midday sun tormenting the Germans, Unteroffizier Fohrer was despatched to swim back across the river and request aerial and artillery support as soon as possible and it was only the timely intervention of Stukas that allowed the remaining Brandenburgers to hold their position until elements of the 13th Panzer Division crossed the captured bridge. The way to the Caucasus was now cleared of its last natural barrier. However, Siegfried Grabert was not alive to savour the triumph, dying under the bridge as reinforcements arrived on 25 July 1943. The attack had virtually destroyed the 8th Company. Leutnant Hüller was also killed, his body being found in a mud-filled ditch 100m from the bridge along with the Sanitätsunteroffizier Weber who had been shot in the head. In total seventeen men were killed (two officers, two NCOs and thirteen men), sixteen men were missing (two NCOs and fourteen men) and fifty-four men were wounded (eleven NCOs and forty-three men) of whom thirty-four were hospitalised. Grabert was posthumously awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross and promoted to Major. On 9 August 1942, Haehling issued a communique to his regiment:

  The commander of 8./Lehrregiment ‘Brandenburg’ z.b.V. 800, our Knight’s Cross holder Hauptmann Siegfried Grabert, was killed at the head of his company in heroic combat in the Bataysk bridgehead on 25 July 1942.

  Hauptmann Grabert had given his soldiers, who were wholeheartedly attached to him, an example of an enthusiastic, intrepid and brave German soldier in both everyday life and against the enemy. His soldierly duties and combat successes are a glorious chapter for the Lehrregiment ‘Brandenburg’ z.b.V. 800.

  He endured his mortal wounds with complete equanimity and gave the orders for his company’s continuing battle to the last moment.

  The Lehrregiment ‘Brandenburg’ z.b.V. 800 thanks its faithful and dear comrade for his successful deeds and exemplary courage. He will always remain a shining and inspiring model for the Regiment.

  The shattered company was withdrawn for a brief period of rest and refit, newly promoted Leutnant d.R. Ernst Prochaska, who had served outstandingly as a platoon commander since the company’s inception, given command. He would lead his men back into action during August as a new phase in the advance into the Caucasus began, codenamed Operation ‘Edelweiss’.

  On 11 July, Directive 43 had been issued from Hitler’s headquarters that described the ‘continuation of operations from the Crimea’. Amongst the plans, Manstein’s Eleventh Army was ordered to cross the Kerch Strait and occupy the Taman Peninsula by early August at the latest in Operation ‘Blücher’. This thrust was designed to capture the Black Sea ports of Anapa and Novorossiysk before heading into the Caucasus Mountains and along the coast to Tuapse and ultimately Poti. With Poti in German hands, the Black Sea would be secured and the last Soviet naval bases destroyed. There were specific tasks for the Lehrregiment outlined in Hitler’s directive:

  The following special operations (Abwehr II) have been prepared. These special operations are to be examined by the General Staff of the Army with the Office of Foreign Intelligence, Security Section II [Abwehr II] and, if approved, to be included in Operation ‘Blücher’.

  (a)Parachute drop of a commando detachment in the Maykop area to protect oil installations (‘Operation ‘Schamil’).

  (b)Sabotage operations against the triangle of railways Krasnodar–Kropotkin–Tikhoretsk and against the bridges over the Kuban in that area.

  (c)Participation of a light engineer company of the Brandenburg Training Regiment, raised for operations of this kind, in attacks on enemy ports and coastal installations.

  With the Don delta cleared of Soviet resistance, the next stage of Operation ‘Edelweiss’ began with the push south towards Krasnodar, Maykop and into the Taman Peninsula. Leading the Wehrmacht advance were the 5th, 7th and 8th Brandenburg Companies. On 1 August, a Kampfgruppe of the 13th Panzer Division had reached Novoalexandrovsk, capturing the town on the bank of the Rasshevatka River which lay within the fertile grain-producing lands of the north Caucasus. Maykop and its scattered oilfields lay less than 150km away and German patrols reported strong Soviet troop concentrations between the panzer spearheads and those vital oilfields. The risk of sabotage and destruction before the Germans could capture them was too great and Leutnant Adrian von Fölkersam of the 3rd Company was tasked with infiltrating behind Soviet lines and capturing the oilfields or at least preventing their demolition.

  Adrian Baron von Fölkersam – known as ‘Ar
ik’ to his friends – had been born into an aristocratic Baltic German family who had long served the Imperial Russian military: his grandfather Admiral Dmitry Baron von Fölkersam of the Tsar’s Imperial Navy and his great-grandfather General Gustav Baron von Fölkersam of the Imperial Army. Fölkersam’s family fled Russia following the Russian Revolution in 1917 and settled in Latvia when he was a young child. Growing up in Riga, from 1934 he attended university in Munich, Königsberg and Vienna studying economics, after which he became a journalist on the Rigaschen Rundschau and joined the SA. Known as a charismatic team leader, Fölkersam then joined the Brandenburgers in which his brother Patrick had already enlisted. Both men were part of the 2nd Company, comprised of Volksdeutsche of Baltic, Russian and African origin.

  He had risen through the ranks to become Leutnant adjutant of 1st Battalion before being posted to take part in ‘Edelweiss’. Fölkersam appears to have been eminently suited to his role, Wolfgang Herfurth of SS-Jägerbataillon 502 later described him:

  He was a man of few words and able to play many parts well. He could distinguish exactly what was important from the unimportant. He always had reservations about orders coming from above and each order was examined and checked for its feasibility. So, he sometimes changed orders without further approval. He was completely convinced of his family’s tradition and lineage and a supporter of the elite ideals as well as a follower of Stefan George’s poetry, which brought us closer to humanity. He carefully prepared his subordinate commanders with exercises and difficult question and answer contests. He put great emphasis on individual training and strengthening. And though he clearly had a great deal of confidence, he was no arrogant superior.

  For his mission, Fölkersam selected sixty-two men, mainly Baltic Volksdeutsche whose Russian was perfect, plus a scattering of hand-picked Sudeten Germans. For their mission, they would be in Volltarnung, without the usual precaution of a German uniform underneath. Given the nature of the deep penetration of enemy lines that was planned it was felt an unnecessary danger to carry any form of identifiable Wehrmacht equipment. They were equipped instead as NKVD troops of the 124th NKVD Rifle Brigade, Fölkersam taking the guise of Major Truchin.

  Because of the rapid German advance and corresponding retreat of the Soviet Ninth Army, the Russian front line was extremely porous and Fölkersam’s group marched under bright moonlight south through acres of sunflower fields, headed for Krasnodarskiy, 10km from Novoalexandrovsk. The small village of Feldmarshalskiy that lay astride the narrow road was packed with a mixed bag of retreating Soviet troops that had become separated from their parent units, including Kuban Cossacks – who had been responsible for holding the front line – Ukrainians, Kyrgyz groups, Caucasians and Turkmen, Georgians and finally Russians and Siberian units. From careful observation, Fölkersam’s patrols reported a sense that only the Russian and Siberian men were keen to return to the fighting, the remainder either favouring defection to the Wehrmacht or melting away to their homes, the few Soviet officers present struggling to retain control. Fölkersam’s men surrounded the village in the darkness, noting that alongside the enemy’s horses and camels were trucks and fuel supplies that the young Leutnant wanted to acquire before continuing to Maykop.

  Once the enemy troops were surrounded, Fölkersam and his men fired their weapons into the air and quickly moved in to disarm the startled troops. The power exerted by their NKVD uniforms cowed the dispirited men who were herded together in the centre of the village. There, Fölkersam jumped on to the bonnet of a truck and began haranguing the group, accusing them of desertion in the face of the enemy. Two dissenting Cossacks who responded with loud sarcasm were quickly manhandled away from the village square for ‘execution’. Fölkersam ordered all Cossacks separated from the remainder and, along with a small part of his force, marched them out of the village for proclaimed summary execution as traitors and cowards. Away from the prying eyes of the remaining Red Army men, Fölkersam rounded on the Cossack leader and asked whether they genuinely intended to defect to the Wehrmacht, causing confusion and suspicion amongst their prisoners. Fölkersam offered them the opportunity to head towards Anapa, mingling with refugees and making their way to the German lines, while he and his men fired volleys into the air that would satisfy the listening men in Krasnodarskiy. The deal was struck and after the Cossacks’ departure and ensuing gunfire, Fölkersam and his men returned to the village. They ordered the Russian and Siberian officers present to head south towards Maykop while they remained to deal with the remaining prisoners. Once the others had hastily departed, no doubt grateful to be alive and away from the NKVD bloodbath, Fölkersam extended the same offer to those left behind, before commandeering trucks for the journey to Maykop.

  The journey was long, hot and dusty as the main road south soon became clogged with refugees and retreating troops. Reaching Armavir on the Kuban River on 3 August, genuine NKVD troops stopped them, attempting to restore order amongst the teeming throng of people. Fölkersam swung down from the truck cab and presented his forged credentials to the NKVD colonel in charge, claiming to be on special assignment on behalf of Aleksei Zhadov, commander of Sixty-Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Unwilling to admit ignorance of the order, the colonel chastised Fölkersam for being a day later than expected and directed him to continue towards Maykop, while warning him to remain vigilant against ‘fascist spies’ disguised as Soviet infantrymen.

  The Brandenburgers continued south and finally reached Maykop, driving immediately to Red Army headquarters where Fölkersam was introduced to the NKVD lieutenant general charged with local defence, referred to in subsequent accounts as General Perscholl.3 Fölkersam was warmly greeted, news of his execution of traitorous Cossacks having preceded his arrival, and the Brandenburgers were provided with a confiscated villa and adjacent garage for the duration of their stay. Perscholl invited Fölkersam to dinner and, over a full meal accompanied by large quantities of vodka, the German Leutnant established himself as a welcome guest in the city. During the days that followed he and his men were able to reconnoitre Maykop’s defences, Fölkersam going as far as using his NKVD position to order well-positioned anti-tank positions moved away from the main road lest panzers take a ‘less obvious’ axis of attack.

  By the evening of 8 August, German armoured forces were only 20km away and chaos had overtaken Soviet troops in Maykop. Perscholl had departed with his staff and there was widespread looting by roving bands of leaderless men. The time had come to execute the final stage of his mission and Fölkersam divided his men into three parties. The first and most numerous, under the command of Feldwebel Landowski, was charged with heading south-west towards Neftegorsk to prevent the destruction of oil installations being prepared for demolition. The Brandenburgers were to kill the genuine demolition parties and take their place, masquerading as a Soviet sabotage troops. A second smaller group headed by Franz Koudele was to sever telephone and telegraph communications between Maykop’s defenders and the outside world. Fölkersam himself led the third group that was intended to meet two Soviet brigades of Guards that had arrived from Tiblisi and Baku as reinforcements and attempt to persuade them to fall back from the town.

  German artillery fire was landing in the city as the third team planted explosives at a small artillery communications centre, the subsequent explosion taken to have been a lucky shell hit. Fölkersam then forcefully persuaded defending artillery troops that the German threat lay to the south and had them abandon their defensive positions while he and his ‘heroic’ NKVD men covered their move. He next presented himself to the Soviet general commanding one of the reinforcing brigades and attempted to also persuade him that the front line now lay to the south. His opponent was initially sceptical and suspicion began to transform into hostility before word of the retreating artillerymen swung the issue in Fölkersam’s favour and the first brigade was ordered to withdraw; its movement convincing adjacent troops to also leave their positions and head south.

  Meanwhile, Koudele had
managed to bluff his way into the central communications centre and browbeat the officer in charge to evacuate the building and retreat to the new defensive line at Apschetousk. Once the Soviet operators had departed, Koudele’s men manned the telephones and radios, redirecting Soviet troops towards Tuapse as they relayed the disinformation that Maykop was cut off and surrounded. By noon, panzers had reached the northern outskirts of the city and the Brandenburgers evacuated the building and destroyed the Soviet equipment with grenades.

  To the south-east Landowski attempted to contact Soviet authorities by field telephone to order a withdrawal from the oil installations but without success. Divided into ‘NKVD squads’, his troops raced into individual facilities and ordered Soviet troops stationed there to retreat while they handled the demolitions themselves as a ‘rearguard’. However, though largely successful, in at least one place a Soviet security officer had attempted to contact Army Headquarters and, after being unable to get through due to Koudele’s demolitions, sabotaged the machinery and wells at Makdse. In fact, despite some measure of success for the Brandenburgers, Hitler’s ambition of quickly plundering Maykop’s oil reserves was to be frustrated by widespread Soviet sabotage. However, against the city defences Fölkersam’s men had succeeded spectacularly and on the evening of 9 August, the 13th Panzer Division stormed into Maykop and took over 1,000 prisoners against relatively weak opposition. The men of Fölkersam’s command gingerly made their way towards approaching German troops and ‘surrendered’ themselves lest unnecessary casualties were caused. Fortunately, the leading elements had been fully briefed and there were no accidents, Oberst Haehling soon arriving by Kübelwagen to oversee the return of his men, and Fölkersam’s mission was over. He and his men had achieved a remarkable feat and Fölkersam was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 14 September 1942.