Year Zero: Berlin 1945

by David McCormack

  As Soviet troops celebrated and congratulated each other on their own survival, the last survivors of the break-out groups which had set off from the Chancellery the night before were being rounded up. There were numerous other break-out attempts, most of which ended in complete failure. Only a few determined individuals made it through the Soviet lines to reach safety west of the Elbe.

  In the gloomy depths of the bunker, the atmosphere following Hitler's suicide was a mixture of high tension and Wagnerian melodrama. Those who planned to break-out anticipated the moment of their release, whilst the few who had opted for suicide made speeches about loyalty and honour. After the suicide of Goebbels, all remaining obstacles to the proposed break-out were removed. The first group to leave was led out by Mohnke at 23.00hrs on 1 May. He had formed ten groups of between twenty and thirty people, each of which would set off at ten minute intervals. The basic plan was for all groups to make their way as far as the Stettiner Railway station by using U-Bahn and S-Bahn tunnels as much as possible. In theory, this would bring the groups out behind the Soviet lines. From here, they would head towards the Gesundbrunnen Railway Station. Then each group would attempt to make its own way to Neuruppin, where they would find safety with the main German forces. Such was the plan. In reality, it had little chance of success as Mohnke was unaware of the collapse of German units fighting to the north of Berlin around Oranienburg.

  Mohnke's group, containing among their number Gunsche (Hitler's Adjutant), Walther Hewel (Diplomat), Hans-Erich Voss (Vice-Admiral) and the female secretaries, crawled out through a cellar window in the Chancellery which led on to the devastated Wilhelmplatz. From here, the group descended into the depths of the Kaiserhof U-Bahn Station. Using their torches to penetrate the enveloping darkness, the group made their way along the tracks to the Stadtmitte Station. From here, they continued their trek to Friedrichstrasse Station. Strangely, the group's progress was halted at the entrance of a nearby tunnel running under the Spree by two watchmen. Having received no new orders in over a week, the watchmen refused to open the water-tight bulkhead. Accepting the situation without demur, Mohnke led the group back to Friedrichstrasse Station, from where they were forced to continue their attempted break-out above ground. The Weidendammer Bridge was blocked by a German anti-tank barrier. However, the group were able to make their way across the Spree via a nearby metal footbridge. From the ruins of the Natural History Museum, they witnessed Friedrichstrasse and the Weidendammer Bridge coming under heavy Soviet fire.

  The other groups had set off as planned. Bormann was a member of the third group which was led by Werner Naumann (Promoted to Minister of Propaganda in Hitler's political testament). However, the original plan unravelled quickly as the groups lost touch with each other in the underground gloom. Naumann's group had become disorientated in the murky underground tunnels and so decided to continue their break-out above ground. Meanwhile, Soviet troops had become aware that an attempt to break through their lines was occurring. The mounting confusion was added to by an ad hoc break-out attempt by some of SS Major-General Krukenberg's foreign volunteers from the Nordland Division who employed five Tiger tanks to blast their way through the anti-tank defences north of the Weidendammer Bridge. Fierce battle ensued in which all five tanks were destroyed and the Nordland volunteers suffered heavy casualties. Bormann and Hans Baur (Hitler's personal pilot) were caught up in the battle. In the chaos they temporarily lost sight of each other. After approximately twenty minutes had passed, Baur noticed Bormann sitting alone at the entrance of a burnt out building on the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Schifffbauerdamm.

  Meanwhile, Mohnke had taken advantage of the confused and chaotic situation to take his group up Chausseestrasse. From here, they made their way to the goods yard near the Stettiner Railway Station, where they were later joined by the survivors of the Nordland troop's break-out attempt. Mohnke's group had now swelled to some 150-200 people as they had been joined by more German troops along the way. Stopping briefly at the Humboldthain Flak Tower which was still strongly defended, the group then pressed on to the Schultheiss Brewery on Prinzenallee. Here, the group took shelter with several hundred other troops (including naval personnel flown in by Doenitz). Their predicament was made more comfortable by the large stocks of beer still stored on the premises. By early evening it was clear that there was no way out and that surrender was their only option.

  Mohnke sent Colonel Claussen to negotiate the surrender. He returned with news that a surrender order had been issued and broadcast several hours earlier. For some, the end of the Third Reich meant that they had no reason to go on living. A young SS officer named Gert Stehr proclaimed, 'Others may surrender, but Waffen SS officers should not survive the death of the Fuhrer'. He then put his pistol to his head and shot himself. Hewel, the diplomat who regretted not killing himself earlier, now followed suit. Dr Schenck witnessed his suicide, later recalling that, 'Hewel had put the pistol to his temple and squeezed the trigger as he bit on a cyanide capsule'. Shortly afterwards at approximately 20.00hrs, the surrender was completed. For those who chose to live, years of imprisonment lay ahead.

  Bormann and Baur had in the meantime faced their own difficulties in finding a way out, as neither knew Berlin intimately. They made their way along the railway embankment to the Lehrter Railway Station, passing close to the burnt out Reichstag. Three other survivors of the break-out, including Dr Stumpfegger had by now joined them. As they approached the station, they were surrounded by boisterous Soviet troops who mistook the group for Volkssturm men. These Soviet troops appeared to pose no immediate threat as they happily shared their food and cigarettes. In this convivial atmosphere, Bormann and Dr Stumpfegger took their opportunity to slip away unnoticed. They made their way up the Invalidenstrasse, but could not progress any further as the route was blocked by more Soviet troops. As their world closed in around them, they made their way back towards the Lehrter Station. There appeared to be Soviet troops everywhere. With no possible way out, Bormann and Dr Stumpfegger resorted to biting on their cyanide capsules. Later, at Nuremberg, Bormann would be tried in absentia as rumours of his escape to South America persisted. It was not until 1972, that his remains were discovered close to the Lehrter Railway Station. Later, advances in forensic science were used to positively identify his remains.

  Not all of the troops tenaciously holding on to their shrinking perimeter received the order to break-out. The Latvian SS troops defending the Air Ministry and the French SS troops defending an administrative building near to the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz Albrecht Strasse were thus effectively abandoned to their fate. The Latvian troops broke-out independently, getting as far as Pankow. Here, they split up, leaving each man to fend for himself. The much reduced French volunteer force fought on, in what was fast becoming an apocalyptic scene of destruction. Soviet sappers used incendiary devices to create a searing mass of flame which forced the defenders to take up new positions.

  Later that night, General Krukenberg acted on his own initiative by ordering his own SS volunteers from the Nordland Division to gather around Friedrichstrasse Station in preparation for a break-out to the north-west. The majority of the remaining French volunteers received the order which was delivered by one of Krukenberg's squad leaders named Patzak. However, Patzak didn't reach SS Captain Henri Fenet's unit of French volunteers which was still holding out in the Ministry of Security building. Fenet's troops realised that they were on their own when scouting parties revealed that there were no friendly forces in their vicinity. Later, they made their way to the Air Ministry, where on hearing that the surrender had come into force, gave themselves up.

  Meanwhile, the 1,500 troops who gathered for the break-out inevitably drew the attention of Soviet units in the area. Using their last remaining armoured vehicles in the vanguard, the Nordland troops attempted to smash their way through to safety. They were met everywhere by Soviet tanks and artillery which exacted a heavy toll on their lightly armed troops. On Lortzingstras
se (close to the Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn Station) the previous commander of the of the Nordland Division (General Ziegler) was killed by shrapnel from a Soviet mortar round. With no possibility of the break-out succeeding and with his unit shattered and fragmented, Krukenberg hid out in a workshop, having taken off his uniform and disguising his identity by donning a pair of old overalls which he had found. Despite his attempts to melt away, he was discovered and taken prisoner the following day.

  On the same day, a sizeable column of troops and civilians struck-out from Ruhleben towards Spandau. The attempt was spearheaded by the remaining tanks and armoured vehicles from the Muncheberg Panzer Division and the 18th Panzer Grenadier Division. Meanwhile, word had spread quickly amongst the civilian population that General Wenck's 12th Army was at Nauen. There were also rumours that hospital trains were waiting to take the wounded to Hamburg. Desperate to escape the Soviet stranglehold, thousands of civilians joined the troop column heading towards the Havel bridges which were being tenaciously held by the Hitler Youth.

  The initial thrust was successful, albeit at a high cost in lives. As the column rushed the Charlotte Bridge, 20mm quick firing guns gave covering fire. The bridge became a scene of bloody chaos, as desperate people scrambled over each other to reach the far side. One of those killed in the mad scramble for safety was Ernst Himmler (brother of Heinrich Himmler). Sheer weight of numbers enabled the column to overwhelm the Soviet defence and break through into Spandau. The town was heavily occupied, with strong defences in and around the town hall. German tanks shelled the building as a preliminary to an assault by troops of 9th Parachute Division. The developing battle provided cover for trucks laden with troops and civilians to make a dash for safety.

  One of the would-be escapees was Helmuth Altner, a seventeen year old veteran of the Oder battles and Berlin street fighting. Somehow, he managed to clamber onto the mudguard and bonnet of an overcrowded truck. Holding on for dear life as the truck picked up speed, he was one of the few to survive the pursuing Soviet troops as they sped through Staaken and on to Ketzin. This successful German break-out greatly agitated the Soviet command who were concerned that members of Hitler's inner circle may have used the opportunity to escape. Burnt-out German tanks and vehicles were checked thoroughly. Much relieved, Zhukov was later able to report that, 'Among the crews killed, none of Hitler's entourage were found'. One can only imagine Stalin's wrath if there was even the slightest suggestion that senior Nazi figures were making a last minute bid to escape.

  Meanwhile, Altner had been wounded in the foot. Whilst his wound was painful, he remained hopeful as his column had advanced to within almost touching distance of friendly forces. However, his mood quickly turned to despair as the route through to the nearest German positions was blocked by Soviet troops occupying the village of Pasewin. An attempt to outflank the Soviet position by skirting around the hamlets of Zachow and Roscow ended in failure. Altner then found himself alone, as his foot wound prevented him from keeping up with the others. The area was now swarming with Soviet troops. There was no way out. Altner later recalled the moment of his capture :

  I had fallen behind a little, as the pain in my foot had become unbearable. The Russians are walking scattered among us... Suddenly one of the Russians stops and waits for me, as I am the last... I slowly go up to him. Then he takes my arm. I am afraid that he will take me aside somewhere where no one will see us, and put an end to me, but then I notice that he is supporting me, walking in step with me and guiding me... I am astonished. The immense tension of the last few days gives way inside me, and I am suddenly unable to hold back the tears...

  Altner's foot wound proved to be a blessing in disguise. Instead of being marched off to the east, he was taken for treatment in a hospital in Brandenburg. Many others were not so fortunate.

  Chapter Eleven

  After Hitler

  In Berlin, the end of hostilities brought about a sense of relief, mixed with feelings of anxiety about what was to come. The master race were now the conquered, subject to the whims of a people whom Goebbels had characterised as Asiatic barbarians. Indeed, there were acts of barbarism, in which mainly second echelon troops indulged in an orgy of looting and rape. The women of Berlin soon learned to make themselves scarce at night, only emerging in the morning as Soviet troops slept following the drunken excesses of the night before. The number of rape victims in Berlin remains difficult to determine accurately, as some women and young girls were subjected to multiple assaults. For the depersonalised and desexualised young frontovki, rape was very much a group activity. Estimates suggest that there were as many as 100,000 – 130,000 victims of this appalling crime. If the terrible experiences of the female population of East Prussia are taken as an indication, this figure is certainly not too high, rather it may be something of a conservative estimate.

  For all the terrible events that accompanied the fall of Berlin, the occupation policies of the newly established Soviet military administration largely contradicted Goebbels' terrifying predictions of what would happen to a conquered German population. In what little remained of the Nazi state, Hitler's theories of racial hatred were perpetuated by his appointed successor and his government in Flensburg. On 2 May, Schwerin von Krosigk (Foreign Minister in Doenitz government) took to the airwaves to highlight the suffering of German civilians at the hands of the rapacious Red Army :

  The world can only find peace if the Bolshevik tide does not flood Europe. In a heroic struggle without parallel, for four years Germany fought to its last reserves of strength as Europe's bulwark, and that of the world, against the Red menace. In the east, an iron curtain is advancing, and behind it, hidden from the eyes of the world, the work of exterminating those who have fallen into Bolshevik hands goes on.

  Krosigk's speech was an outrageous distortion of history which made no mention of the Nazi terror apparatus. Whilst the Soviet administration was unquestionably harsh, there were no ghettoes, no gas chambers. Germans living in the Soviet zone of occupation were not to be killed en masse, but converted to the cause. Whilst the German armed forces formally surrendered to the Allies on 8 May at Karlshorst (Berlin), the Doenitz administration continued to enact a sham form of government until it was wound up by the British authorities on 23 May.

  Meanwhile, in Berlin the issues facing the conquerors were very real. Before the political indoctrination of the defeated population could begin, the shattered city had to begin functioning again. The infrastructure of the once great city of Berlin had collapsed. Streets were choked with debris, trains and trams no longer functioned, power plants, pumping stations and gas works were largely destroyed. However, the most pressing problem was food. Stalin made a political decision to feed the German population.

  With Nazi Germany defeated, the differences between the incompatible political systems which made up the Grand Alliance became more marked. During this early stage of the Cold War, Stalin prioritised the needs of Germans above his own citizens. In his memoirs, Zhukov recalled the implementation of Stalin's policy :

  The population of Berlin had to be saved from starvation. The supply of foodstuffs, which had been stopped before the Soviet troops entered Berlin had to be organised. It turned out that large groups of the population had received no food for several weeks. The Soviet troops stationed in Berlin began to extinguish the fires, organise the removal and burial of corpses, and de-mine whole areas. The Soviet command, however, could not solve all these problems without involving masses of the local population in active work.

  With few men left, the workforce available to the Soviet administration consisted mainly of women. Soon, the 'Rubble Women' became a feature around Berlin's shattered streets. Work meant food, and in the ruined capital there was certainly no shortage of clearance work.

  It was left to General Berzarin (Military Commander of Berlin) to put Stalin's plans into practice. He soon became a well liked and respected figure in Berlin as he mingled with German civilians queuing at field kitchens. His t
enure was however short-lived, as after only fifty-five days in office, he was tragically killed in an accident. Rumours spread that he had been murdered by the NKVD, or even by Nazi Werewolf fanatics (Bezarin was killed in a tragic road traffic accident). During his short time in office, this energetic officer achieved minor miracles by establishing order, reintroducing essential services and feeding the population. The long process of winning over the German population had begun.

  The catastrophic defeat of Hitler's Germany was greeted with mixed feelings by ordinary Berliners. By July 1945, the city was full of American, British, French and Soviet troops. The famed wit of Berliners largely focused on lampooning the occupiers. A popular joke of the time concerned the old Berliner who was asked which nationality he liked most. After ruminating for a while, the man replied - 'The Siamese'. When it was pointed out to him that there were no Siamese occupying forces in Berlin, he put his head to one side and said - 'Ah, so? Why come to think of it, there aren't'. Whilst you won't need treatment for cracked ribs after laughing too much at this joke, it does nonetheless serve to demonstrate how humour was used by many as a coping strategy.