With Our Backs to Berlin

by Tony Le Tissier

  Yet Harry was a Latvian Jew who had fled his countrymen’s persecution ahead of the Nazi invasion and worked as a teenage coalminer in Kazakhstan before volunteering for the Red Army. With the eradication of the German forces in East Prussia, Harry’s 129th Division held an inspiring ceremonial parade at which it received the Order of the Red Banner. Then, after a short rest, the division joined Marshal Zhukov’s 1st Byelorussian Front east of the Oder River opposite Frankfurt/Oder. For two weeks they rested and rehearsed the battle tactics for the forthcoming operation, for which their parent 3rd Army was in reserve. On 26 April, the division reached the outskirts of Berlin.

  The platoon was put on a Studebaker truck. Harry set the squad’s machine gun on top of the driver’s cab and they drove into the German capital. Then a Panzerfaust hit the truck, luckily only on the left wheel. Gunfire opened on the platoon. Harry provided covering fire with the machine gun as his squad jumped off and took cover in the nearest building. A tank came up in support and, after a dozen shots into the building, the squad were able to clear it. One German was dead, two wounded, one of them a woman in Luftwaffe uniform. Even bleeding she looked fanatical, more so than the men. Harry was wounded a second time, but bandaged himself and stayed with his men.

  Next day the spearheads fighting their way forward from the south and east met near Tempelhof Airport. The day after, the neighbouring army’s leading unit thrust towards the city centre, aiming for the Reichstag and Reichs Chancellery, Hitler’s last redoubt. The Führer gave his last desperate orders to cut Berlin’s encirclement. Harry’s unit was ordered to pull out and turn south to counter this attempt. The 35 kilometer forced march down the Berlin-Dresden autobahn that night was more of a trot than a walk. Twice they were met by enemy fire and suffered several casualties, but pressed on to join the northern flank of the encircling Soviet forces around the remains of General Busse’s German 9th Army, which was part of the army group that Hitler was depending upon for his relief.

  At dawn Harry led his squad into their last battle. The village of Halbe, 40 kilometers southeast of Berlin, appeared to be deserted with any civilians remaining in hiding. The squad deployed on the eastern edge of the village overlooking a vast neglected pasture. A Maxim machine gun was brought up to reinforce the riflemen. Harry placed it on his right flank and, after issuing orders to his men, went to search the farmhouse to their rear. In the cellar he discovered the frightened inhabitants. ‘Stay indoors, don’t leave the house under any circumstances until you get fresh instructions!’ he told the astonished inhabitants in fluent German. ‘Ja, jawohl, Herr Offizier!’ they responded in chorus. Harry’s eyes scanned the shelf on the wall and spotted a row of cans of preserved meat. ‘Please take it!’ said an old man, the only male in the family. Harry picked up two of the cans, locked the door and went back to the trenches, stepping over a few corpses of German soldiers.

  He was just in time. His soldiers were holding a German, a 15 year-old who had been riding a bicycle with a Panzerfaust on his shoulder. Reaching the squad, he realized that he had come to the wrong address, turned around and fell off his bicycle. There was no need to disarm him; the boy looked pathetic and scared to death. On being asked how he came to be there, the boy said: ‘Three days ago we were assembled in a school in east Berlin to meet Goebbels. The Reichs Minister spoke to us, promising that we would win the war, we would just have to answer the Führer’s call to help out until the new weapons arrive.’ Harry felt sorry for the boy. He helped him straighten his wheel out and sent him home to his mother.

  He wiped the dust from his binoculars and went on observing the area. ‘Not a single sign of life, it’s too quiet!’ he said to himself. At this instant an image appeared, moving across the field. Harry adjusted his lens and saw a woman with a baby in her arms running towards the village. Just as suddenly, she disappeared. ‘What the hell is she doing there?’ he asked himself as he went to distribute the two cans of meat to his hungry riflemen. Then the runner arrived with a call for Harry to report to the battalion command post.

  The battalion commander and his staff were on the south side of the street dividing Halbe in two, and were looking south across the pasture to the woods. White flags were waving among the trees, indicating a wish to surrender. Harry stood to one side waiting to report his situation and state of readiness. The battalion commander turned to him: ‘Corporal, you speak German, don’t you?’ Harry nodded and the captain continued: ‘You see the white flags? It’s less than a kilometer. If you want to earn the ‘Red Banner’,[38] go clarify the situation and bring back some delegates with you for their surrender.’ Harry began crossing the pasture. After going about two hundred yards he stopped. The white flags had disappeared. He looked back. The command group was no longer there either. Several gun shots sounded from the woods. Harry looked towards the Germans again, but there was no sign of life.

  Fifty years later he learned by chance what those flags had been, which also explained the commander’s remark about the high decoration, for he must have known how risky the task was. A group of German soldiers, known as Seydlitz-Troops and claiming to represent the National Komitee Freies Deutschland, for various reasons were working with the Soviets against Hitler. Many of them had had experience on the Eastern Front and had no wish to go on fighting Hitler’s war. Meanwhile the Soviet intelligence service had organized special task forces for parachuting behind the German lines, operating a complex spy and diversion system. Encouraged by the Soviets, the Seydlitz-Troops grew in numbers with the retreat of the German Army on the Eastern Front, encouraging whole groups to desert, and thus sabotaging the Nazi war effort. As soon as they were discovered by the SS or other convinced Nazis, they would be shot. Thus the Fifth Column worked on both sides. The white flags Harry had seen were being waved by a group of Seydlitz-Troops attempting to arrange the surrender of the main body to the Russians, but they were spotted and most of them killed by the SS.

  Harry realized that he was in danger of falling into a trap, and went back to his squad. The next moment the runner appeared: ‘German tanks are moving towards the village with infantry following them.’ The pasture immediately became alive as the German assault began. Letting them advance 200 meters, the squad opened fire, mowing down many of the attacking infantry, and the rest rolled back. The situation was worse to the squad’s rear on the main street of the village, where German tanks were rolling forward, machine guns firing from their turrets, and followed by infantry assault groups, among them black-uniformed SS with sub-machine guns. Now they were fast approaching Harry’s lines and two men had already been wounded. The squad was firing non-stop at the attackers, the Maxim disappeared and a third man fell, dead. The Germans kept coming on endlessly and the fighting was fierce. The supporting light 45 mm gun on the sidewalk could not stop the German tanks. A shell from the leading heavy ‘Tiger’ tank hit the gun, killing or wounding all the crew. The squad tried to withdraw, but it was too late, the main street was already overrun. Then, as if by Divine intervention, a sudden dusk fell, which enabled them to reach the backyards, crawling with their wounded until they got out of Halbe and back to their main forces.

  Twilight found the devastated battalion in retreat, having lost many of its combatants, including the commander. Many wounded were left behind, most of whom were found by the Germans during the night and shot. At this point, with a desperate effort, the Germans succeeded in breaking out of their encirclement. As Harry would learn fifty years later, their aim was to avoid Russian captivity, rather than to save the Führer and the already encircled Berlin garrison.

  During the following day the battalion recovered, received reinforcements and prepared to retake the village. The field kitchen arrived and set up on the ground. The corpses of enemy soldiers and horses were all around, but the smell of burnt flesh could not keep the troops from their meal. The mail came and with it a three month-old field postcard from Jaka for Harry: ‘Dear Brother, I am finally back in Riga. I found Aunt Jenny. She told me
the sad news: Mother was shot at the beginning of 1944, just before the liberation of the city, while trying to escape the last selection (for execution).’ The blood rose to Harry’s head. He put the postcard into his breast pocket for safety.

  A contingent of Katyusha multiple-barrelled rocket launchers arrived and took up firing positions. The T-34 tanks were also ready. The night passed without much emotion; they knew it would be ‘hot’ next day.

  It began early in the morning. The Katyushas softened up the Germans for ten minutes, then the infantry went in to clean out whatever tried to resist. Harry’s squad piled itself on to the leading tank, which moved towards the forest where the remains of the pocket were concentrated. The tank stopped a hundred metres short of the woods to avoid being hit by Panzerfausts, and the squad jumped off and ran into the woods. A few gunshots were all the resistance that was encountered from the remaining German soldiers. One was shot, the others dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Further on a whole mass of Germans stood up with raised hands, obeying the order for the prisoners to assemble in groups. At the same time the rest of the platoon captured a colonel who was a highly decorated tank commander.[39]

  Next day it was all over. Sixty thousand Germans from this pocket surrendered. An estimated forty thousand, including the civilians sheltering with the remains of the 9th Army, had been killed in the encirclement and break-out.

  Later Harry was awarded the Order of Glory, the second highest ranking medal for valor, but received no explicit citation with it, so he could not attribute it to any particular event.

  Harry served on in the Soviet Army after the war, attaining the rank of sergeant major. He left to become a newspaper photographer back in Riga. Later he was one of the first of the younger generation to obtain a visa allowing him to emigrate to Israel, where he continued to work as a photographer, got married, raised a family and divorced. Years later he was invited to visit his grandchildren in America and decided to stay on, becoming an American citizen. During a state visit by President Yeltsin he eventually received his award of the Order of Glory from him at a ceremony held at the White House.

  ELEVEN

  The Surrender of the ‘Phantom Division’

  TONY LE TISSIER

  This story came to my attention at a luncheon of the 94th US Infantry Division Veterans’ Association at Perl, Germany, in September 1999, when related by Professor Schaeffer-Kehnert, a former artillery officer with the 11th Panzer Division that had opposed them in the fighting for the Orscholtz Switch of the Siegfried Line. This account is gleaned from the official history of the 11th Panzer Division and an article by Brigadier General William W. Molla in the magazine of the 21st US Infantry Division’s Veterans Association.

  Its predecessor in the 1940 French campaign having been dubbed the ‘Phantom Brigade’ by the British, the 11th Panzer Division took over the title with pride, calling itself the ‘Gespenterdivision’, which the Americans then translated as the ‘Ghost Division’.

  On 15 April 1945, by which time the 11th Panzer Division had been obliged to withdraw to the line of the Weisser Elster either side of the town of Greiz, its respected commander Lieutenant General von Wietersheim belatedly handed over command of the division to Major General von Buttlar in accordance with orders received several days previously to take over command of the XXXXIst Panzer Corps east of Berlin. Aware that the route to the north was already blocked, General von Wietersheim decided to stay with the division until the end of the war. He therefore reported sick to the divisional medical unit with a feigned stomach complaint and remained close to the Rear Command Post, where he kept in touch with the divisional Ia (Chief of Staff).

  That same day the division took delivery of twenty Hetzer tank-destroyers from a factory in nearby Plauen, thereby increasing its armoured strength at a time when the manpower establishment was more than filled, as stragglers and parentless units seemed to be drawn to the cohesive organisation of the division as if by a magnet.

  However, the division happened to be in imminent danger of being surrounded as the Americans broke through the neighbouring units on either flank. Some hard fighting developed that day during which one of the panzer-grenadier battalions destroyed fifteen American tanks in close combat.

  During the night orders were received by radio to break out to the south, so the division formed up into a long column and drove off with headlights blazing. The Americans did not intervene and the division was able to reach the western edge of the Erzgebirge Mountains and form a northwest front between Eibenstock and Klingenthal, where conditions remained peaceful.

  Then on about 23 April the division received orders from Army Group G to link up with the LXXXVth Corps at Passau. The rumour spread that it would be joining SS units in the defence of the so-called ‘Alpine Redoubt’. The division set off and eventually reached the area of Taus in the Bohemian Forest, 45 kilometres southwest of Pilsen. A new front was then formed facing southwest along the German-Czech border between Forst am Wald and Zwiesel. As this was happening, Patton’s 3rd Army was passing across the divisional front toward the Alps, occupying the last part of southern Germany.

  Meanwhile some more fuel had become available, and so the newly reconstituted 111th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment and divisional support units under Major General von Buttlar were able to push forward to the Wallern area, about 40 kilometres northeast of Passau, in accordance with orders received to block the American advance on Linz, leaving the main body behind to follow as best it might.

  General von Wietersheim thereupon returned to duty, taking over command of the main body on his own responsibility. The main body then moved a short distance toward Klattau and Neuern. Poor radio conditions in this mountainous area led to a complete breakdown in communications between these two elements now 100 kilometres apart, and they were only to meet up again in captivity.

  Then on 2 May the expected order arrived from Field Marshal Schörner for the division to join the Eastern Front in Czechoslovakia. All guns and armoured vehicles immobilised through lack of fuel were to be destroyed and their crews set off on foot as infantry.

  At a conference of unit commanders and senior staff officers, it was agreed that to comply with these orders would only lead to the needless destruction of the division and inevitable captivity in Soviet hands. The Alpine Front had already surrendered and other formations around them were disappearing or disbanding themselves without orders. It was therefore unanimously agreed to surrender to the Americans if honourable terms could be met.

  On the morning of 4 May General von Wietersheim sent two of his staff officers, Major Voigtmann and Lieutenant Knorr, with an interpreter under a white flag to the headquarters of the 90th US Infantry Division on the German-Czechoslovakian border at Neumarkt with a letter that read: ‘The development of the military and political situation makes it desirable for me to avoid further losses on both sides. I have therefore ordered the Major, and the bearer of this note, to negotiate with you the cessation of hostilities.’

  The honourable terms requested were beyond the competence of the commander of the 90th Division, General Earnest, to agree so he referred them on to General Patton, who approved them with the comment that the 11th Panzer was the ‘fairest and bravest’ German division that his 3rd Army had fought! General Bradley also approved the terms, adding that the division should arrive in proper order, ‘with its kitchens’.

  The terms enabled officers to retain their sidearms and the men to continue to be armed until clear of Czechoslovakia. The division was then to form a camp at Kötzting until able to disband.

  Also involved in the surrender negotiations was Colonel Charles H. Reed of the 2nd Cavalry Group, which had been an opponent of the 11th Panzer in Lorraine, when a good rapport between foes had been formed to the extent of even exchanging seriously wounded prisoners during lulls in the fighting. Now he was responsible for preventing Soviet representatives from intervening in this matter.

  The various units of the divi
sion paraded for a last ‘hurrah!’ for the fatherland before marching across the border into captivity.

  Fresh clothing and supplies had been drawn from depots in Czechoslovakia and these were now evenly distributed among the troops, as were the divisional funds, professional soldiers getting a little more than the others as their transition to civilian life would be harder for them.

  Meanwhile General von Buttlar canvassed his task force near Wallern for opinions whether to continue with their task or join the main group in American captivity at Kötzting. The majority opted for the latter, so at 0700 hours on 7 May General von Buttlar contacted the 101st US Infantry Regiment of the 26th Yankee Infantry Division at Andreasburg. However, it was to be another week before von Buttlar’s task force rejoined the main body of the division at Kötzting after the delivery by American tankers of 135,000 litres of fuel for their vehicles.

  The story is not over, for at Kötzting the main event of the year was the Whitsun mounted carnival, a major attraction for the old cavalry hands of the 11th Panzer Division and 2nd Cavalry Group alike.

  It so happened that the famous stud of 400 Lippizaner horses had been evacuated to the German Army Stud Farm at Hostau, where they had been joined by a Russian stud of 200 horses. On 26 April, with the Red Army only 60 kilometres away, elements of the 2nd Cavalry Group reached the Czechoslovakian border, where they stopped in accordance with the terms of the Yalta Agreement. This placed them nearer to the stud than the Russians. By means of a letter written by a Luftwaffe colonel in American captivity, it was suggested to Lieutenant Colonel Rudofsky, commander of the stud farm, that it might be possible to bring the horses across the border into American custody. Rudofsky sent his chief veterinary surgeon, Dr. Lessing, to negotiate and on the evening of the 26th he met Colonel Reed in a farmhouse on the border. The Americans suggested that the horses be brought out on foot, but this was impractical as there were too few grooms and also many of the mares were about to produce or already had newly-born foals at their heels. Dr. Lessing returned to Hostau accompanied by Captain Stewart of the 2nd Cavalry Group, to see what could be done.