Year Zero: Berlin 1945

by David McCormack

  It is not to be deduced that certain sources of that information were specifically intended to confuse the Soviet High Command and in doing so divert attention away from the area the Germans were preparing for their main operation on the Eastern Front.

  Despite the above, I request General Marshall, if possible, to continue communicating available information concerning the enemy. I regard it as my duty to send this message to General Marshall exclusively so that he would be able to draw the relevant conclusions regarding the source of that information...

  Whilst Antonov's message betrays the depth of suspicion in the Soviet camp, Stalin nonetheless agreed with the general thrust of Eisenhower's plan, as he too believed in the probability of a German last-stand in Bavaria. Stalin remained convinced however that his allies were deceiving him. Now it was time to carry out some deceptions of his own.

  Stalin's reply to Eisenhower was delivered by General Deane on 1 April. In his reply, he praised the idea of a junction of attacking forces in the Erfurt – Leipzig - Dresden area as conforming entirely with plans drawn up by the Stavka :

  Your plan to cut the German forces by joining up the Soviet forces with your forces entirely coincides with the plan of the Soviet High Command. I agree with you also that the place for the joining up of your forces and the Soviet forces should be in the area Erfurt – Leipzig - Dresden. The Soviet High Command considers that the main blow of the Soviet forces should be delivered in that direction. Berlin has lost its former strategic importance. The Soviet High Command therefore plans to allot secondary forces in the direction of Berlin.

  That same day, General Antonov delivered his report on the plan for the Berlin offensive. The 'secondary forces' involved would consist of no less than three Red Army Fronts with a combined strength of 2,700,000 troops (including the Polish 1st Army), 6,250 tanks and self propelled guns, 41,600 artillery pieces and 7,500 aircraft. Stalin's determination to take Berlin set in motion a contest between Zhukov and Konev following his changes to the previously agreed boundaries between the two Fronts. Whilst Zhukov had been given the honour of taking Berlin, Stalin also opened up possibilities for Konev by saying :

  In case the enemy puts up stiff resistance on the eastern approaches to Berlin, which will undoubtedly happen, and the First Byelorussian Front is delayed, the First Ukrainian Front is to be ready to attack Berlin from the south with the tank armies.

  During the early hours of 2 April, Stalin signed the directive for the 1st Belorussian Front's operations. Following the necessary changes to the Stavka plan which took into account the boundary changes between the two main Fronts involved, Stalin signed the directive for the 1st Ukrainian Front's operations the following day. The enforced delay in the 2nd Belorussian Front's operations meant that Zhukov's forces would advance towards Berlin with an open flank. Zhukov later recorded his thoughts about the impending operation :

  Of course, it would have been better to wait five or six days and begin the Berlin operation with three Fronts simultaneously. However, in view of the existing military-political situation, the Stavka could not put off the operation until a later date. We had very little time left before April 16 and very many measures to be urgently taken. Troops were to be grouped, extensive logistical support provided for, and large-scale operational, tactical and special preparations of the Front carried out for an exceptionally important and unusual operation such as the taking of Berlin.

  Zhukov flew to his command the day after receiving Stalin's directive and immediately began to prepare for the attack which it was anticipated would lead to the capture of Berlin and a junction with Allied forces on the Elbe within 12-15 days.

  The British Chiefs were still not satisfied with the decision to leave Berlin to the Red Army. On 3 April, they met to discuss the situation. This meeting led to the drafting of a message which stressed 'the desirability of Anglo-American forces capturing Berlin as soon as possible' being sent out to their American counterparts the following day. Churchill finally put the matter to rest, as he realised, more than the British Chiefs did, that the American position was unshakeable. In a message to President Roosevelt he acknowledged the position regarding Berlin and made assurances that it did not in any way affect his relationship with Eisenhower :

  My personal relations with General Eisenhower are of the most friendly character. I regard the matter as closed, and to prove my sincerity I will use one of my very few Latin quotations: Amantium irae amoris integratio est (The quarrels of lovers renew their love).

  Churchill understood clearly that America was the dominant partner, due to its vast resources in men and war material. On 9 April, he amplified the point, by telling guests at Chequers :

  There was no greater exhibition of power in history than the American army fighting the battle of the Ardennes with its left hand and advancing from island to island towards Japan with its right.

  At the political level, the issue of Berlin was finally settled. The prize of Berlin would go to the Red Army.

  Three days later, Roosevelt died at his retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia. That same day, Vice President Truman automatically took on the mantle of leadership. The American people were stunned by the death of Roosevelt. In Britain, his loss was keenly felt, particularly by Churchill, who later in the House of Commons said :

  … In war he raised the strength, might and glory of the great Republic to a height never attained by any nation in history... But all this was no more than worldly power and grandeur, had it not been that the causes of human freedom and of social justice to which so much of his life had been given, added a lustre to all this power and pomp and warlike might, a lustre which will long be discernible among men. He has left behind him a band of resolute and able men handling the numerous interrelated parts of the vast American war machine. He has left a successor who comes forward with firm step and sure conviction to carry on the task to its appointed end. For us, it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old.

  Meanwhile, in Moscow, the sense of grief was no less palpable. To some degree Roosevelt had exercised a modifying influence upon Stalin, his manipulative geniality soothing the Soviet leader's suspicious mind. However, the new man in the White House was something of an unknown quantity, and as such Stalin had to tread warily. Despite reassurances from Washington that it was a case of business as usual, the Soviet dictator was somewhat concerned about reports of German surrenders to Anglo-American units. On the Eastern Front German units were putting up fanatical resistance, whilst on the Western Fronts they appeared to be surrendering en masse. His jaundiced appreciation of the situation no doubt included a scenario in which German troops were being rearmed and re-equipped by the Anglo-American alliance for an anti-Communist crusade. Truman's unplanned ascent to the presidency came at a time of a decline in mutual political confidence between the great powers. With this decline, the Americans and the Soviets pursued policies which were based on their own long-held principles, thus sowing the seeds of the Cold War.

  In Berlin, Dr Joseph Goebbels had of late managed to rekindle some of the intimate friendship he had shared with Hitler before his disastrous affair with the Czech actress Lida Baarova which had nearly brought his marriage (and his political career) to an end. Baarova later recalled :

  Hitler made a huge fuss about it. He called Goebbels in and told him to drop me and return to his wife and children. I couldn't take the pressure and I returned to Prague. Goebbels never tried to contact me again.

  Now in the gloomy depths of the Berlin bunker, Goebbels repaid his leader for not expelling him from his post by comforting him with readings of long passages from Thomas Carlyle's Frederick the Great. Historical parallels were drawn between the seemingly miraculous deliverance of this revered figure in his darkest moments of despair and the death of Roosevelt. The incredible turnaround of fortunes which brought
the Seven Years' War to an end following the sudden death of the Czarina Elizabeth provided hope that history may just repeat itself. The passage which had the greatest effect on Hitler was the one in which Carlyle describes how fate had brought her nephew Peter to the throne :

  We promised Frederick a wonderful star-of-day; and this is it – though it is long before he dare quite regard it as such. Peter, the successor, he knows to be secretly his friend and admirer; if only in the new Czarish capacity and its chaotic environments and conditions, Peter dare and can assert these feelings? What a hope to Frederick, from this time onward! Russia may be counted as the bigger half of all he had to strive with; the bigger, or at least the far uglier, more ruinous and incendiary; and if this were at once taken away, think what a daybreak when the night was at the blackest!

  Incredibly, daybreak arrived within hours of a visit by Goebbels to the headquarters of 9th Army on the morning of 12 April, where during the course of an address to the assembled officers, he made a pointed reference to the 'Second Miracle of the House of Brandenburg'. Following his address, one officer said, 'Well, what Czarina is going to die this time?'. Goebbels replied, 'I don't know, but fate holds all kind of possibilities'. For Goebbels, news of Roosevelt's death which had reached the Propaganda Ministry later that day, opened up new possibilities. Fate had seemingly intervened.

  Goebbels was enraptured by the news of Roosevelt's death. He ordered that the best champagne be brought out to celebrate. For a while, he could not quite believe it, the reports appeared so incredible. Just after midnight, he telephoned Hitler with the news, and in a tense and excited voice he said :

  My Fuhrer, I congratulate you! Roosevelt is dead. It is written in the stars that the second half of April will be the turning point for us. This is Friday, April the thirteenth! Fate has laid low your greatest enemy. God has not abandoned us. Twice he has saved you from savage assassins. Death, which the enemy aimed at you in 1939 and 1944, has now struck down our most dangerous enemy. It is a miracle!

  The telephone call ended with some speculation as to who would succeed Roosevelt. Perhaps the more moderate Truman might take on the role of Peter, bringing about the much anticipated change of fortune that might yet master fate. The following morning, Finance Minister Count Schwerin von Krosigk furthered the mood of jubilation by writing exultantly to Goebbels :

  … I myself see in Roosevelt's death a divine judgement, but it is also a gift from God that we shall have to earn in order to possess. This death eliminates the block that has obstructed all roads leading to contacting America. Now they'll have to exploit this God-sent opportunity and do everything to get negotiations started. The only promising way, it seems to me, is through the intermediary of the Pope. As the American Catholics form a strong, united block – in contrast to the Protestants, who are split into numerous sects – the Pope's voice would carry great weight in the U.S.A. Considering the seriousness of the military situation, we must not hesitate...

  It was incredible that men such as Goebbels and von Krosigk could believe in the intervention of divine fate and providence, whilst their world collapsed around them. Be that as it may, their belief in historical parallels helped, for a while at least, to provide hope. Although, perhaps, this was the greatest deception of all.

  Goebbels' euphoria lasted until the first reports from the front on 13 April indicated that no discernible change of attitude by the Allies had been observed. Later that day, he confided in his Press Secretary, saying that, 'Perhaps fate has again been cruel and made fools of us'. That day, Vienna fell to the Red Army. Four days later, Field Marshal Model's Army Group B which had been defending the strategically important Ruhr area ceased all resistance against American forces. Sharing Goebbels' delusions, Hitler still could not concede that the war was lost, Field Marshal Kesselring later observed that :

  He was still optimistic. How far he was play-acting it is hard to decide. Looking back, I am inclined to think that he was literally obsessed with the idea of some miraculous salvation, that he clung to it like a drowning man to a straw.

  Buoyed by his belief in providence and his own military genius, Hitler remained convinced that Berlin was not threatened by any immediate danger. Indeed, he considered that the anticipated Soviet offensive would be aimed at Prague, not Berlin. Had he too been taken in by Stalin's disinformation which pointed towards an attack in that direction?

  Whilst Hitler appeared sure where the next mighty blow by the Red Army would fall, Soviet strategic priorities appeared somewhat opaque to the Anglo-American Allies, largely due to Stalin's obfuscations. On 15 April, a carefully worded query from the American Ambassador in Moscow regarding Soviet aims and objectives was skilfully parried by Stalin. He indicated that Eisenhower already knew that the impending major offensive on the Eastern Front was aimed at capturing Dresden. Indeed, Stalin had indicated as much at the Yalta conference in February. However, even as he spoke, final preparations were under way for the massive assault on Berlin.

  Chapter Seven

  The Paladins Depart

  On 16 April, those Berlin cinemas still open were screening the patriotic films Comrades and Hallgarten Patrol, along with the light hearted comedies A Merry House, It All Started So Gaily, The Ideal Husband and the circus themed film The Big Number. Those with more elevated tastes could still visit the Berlin Philharmonic to see Robert Heger conduct a programme consisting of Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Brahms' Double Concerto and Death and Transfiguration by Strauss. Life somehow went on, even after the first indications of the Soviet onslaught were felt in the Berlin districts of Weissensee, Lichtenberg, Kopenick and Erkner. The sound and vibrations of the opening Soviet barrage did not penetrate as far as the more central Berlin districts, but news of the attack came quickly enough following a somewhat cautious radio announcement which said no more than that, 'Heavy Russian attacks continue on the Oder Front'. The average Berlin citizen needed no elaboration, the moment they had long been dreading had finally arrived.

  At 05.00hrs (Moscow time), Colonel-General Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula was attacked by powerful Soviet forces following a huge artillery barrage. In the critical central sector, Lieutenant-General Helmuth Weidling's 56th Panzer Corps defended the Seelow Heights with great skill and bravery. Zhukov's attempt to storm the heights ended in dismal failure, the commander of 8th Guards Army General Vasily Chuikov later recalled the debacle :

  The artillery bombardment, using every gun and mortar, and reinforced by bombers and dive-bombers, lasted twenty-five minutes. In its wake, and under cover of a double moving barrage, the infantry and tanks moved forward. Hundreds of powerful searchlights lit up the ground in front of the advancing troops. The plan of attack was carried out strictly, to the letter, but real conditions made alterations of their own... On many sectors the troops came to a halt in front of streams and canals running across the Oder valley, waiting for the light of dawn to show them clearly the obstacle they had to overcome... The enemy put up particularly stubborn resistance on the Haupt canal, which runs along the valley round the foot of the Seelow hills. The spring floods had turned it into an impassable barrier for our tanks and self-propelled guns. The few bridges in the area were kept under enemy artillery and mortar fire from beyond the Seelow Heights and from dug-in tanks and self-propelled guns, all well camouflaged.

  Here the advance of our troops slowed down more than ever. Until the engineers had crossings ready, they were brought to a dead halt. Any kind of manoeuvre by motor vehicles or tanks was out of the question; the roads were jammed, and to try and move across country, in this marshy valley with its well-mined fields, would have been fatal.

  The chaotic scenes which characterised Zhukov's initial attempt to take the Seelow Heights were later graphically described by Vladimir Abyzov who served as a rifleman in the 236th Guards Rifle Regiment. His memoir entitled The Final Assault makes for interesting reading, in it he recalls :

  We hugged the ground, waiting for the combat engineers to
arrive. Shells continued to burst around us. Flares shot up into the grey sky. Eventually someone shouted, 'We have a bridge!' and the platoon jumped up and started to run again. We felt no fatigue and we didn't realise that we were soaked to the skin. We didn't even notice night change into day. Beyond the canal there was no mud, though there were many shell craters in the ground. The field was green with silky winter wheat. We ran across this field till the enemy met us with a wall of fire. We fell to the ground and quickly began to dig in. For the first time, the sky was clear of clouds. We saw hills before us. They were not high, but rather steep, some of them crowned by church spires … The Germans could see us clearly as if we were in the palm of their hand. They spared neither shells nor bullets, but we held our ground. We did not fire back – it would have been useless, because they were well out of range of our sub-machine guns.

  Zhukov did not take the news that Chuikov's troops were pinned down calmly, as every minute lost would give his rival Konev some advantage in the race towards Berlin. In order to facilitate a more rapid breakthrough, he changed his tactics by throwing his tank armies into the fray. Far from achieving the breakthrough he so desperately needed, this ill considered move produced further chaos and confusion on the battlefield as his armour floundered on the muddy terrain. A German counter-barrage inflicted heavy casualties on Zhukov's troops and armour.