Clausewitz case

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Clausewitz case" (also known as Operation Clausewitz ) was part of the German defense strategy for the Reich capital Berlin during the Second World War when it was conquered by Soviet armies in April 1945 under the command of Marshal Zhukov .

Content and consequences

Evacuation measures had been prepared for the Reich government, Reich ministries and the security apparatus since February, but they did not come into effect until April 1945 because they were not intended to admit defeat early. On April 20, 1945, his 56th birthday, Adolf Hitler reported the so-called Clausewitz case via the Wehrmacht High Command . This ordered a series of actions which, in view of the approaching front, involved the evacuation of all Berlin buildings and areas in which government, Wehrmacht and SS offices were housed, as well as the destruction of official files, documents and documents. In the course of the decline of the Third Reich, the Clausewitz case is also a symbol of the more or less orderly flight of the Wehrmacht and SS staff as well as of most government agencies from the unstoppable Soviet troops, with the simultaneous destruction of the documents that were evidence in the after the defeat on the Soviet side could have been expected investigative and retaliatory measures. At the same time, the issue of the Clausewitz case made it unmistakably clear to all those involved on the German side that the Reich capital had finally become a front-line city and that its conquest had to be expected. At this point the battle for Berlin was approaching its final climax after the city had been almost completely surrounded by the Red Army . Only Hermann Göring went to southern Germany with his staff after Hitler had decided to stay in Berlin on April 22nd. The majority of the staffs to be evacuated settled to the north. A number of departments no longer reached northern Germany due to the war. Some of them set off before they even reached their destination or literally disappeared. At the beginning of May the special area Mürwik in Flensburg - Mürwik was established, in which the last Reich government settled, initiated the surrender and existed there until their arrest on May 23, 1945.

Actual meaning

Due to the confusion and chaos of the last days of the war, there seems to be little reliable information about details of the "Clausewitz case" today. Therefore, different theories are put forward about the exact meaning associated with this pair of words. The author Mark McGee sees Operation Clausewitz as a synonym for the last defensive battles against the superior Soviet forces. According to Richard Wires, the Clausewitz case related to the defense of the so-called Sector Z (Citadel) in the city center of Berlin, in which the government district was located, including the New Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker . The background to this is that Greater Berlin and the surrounding area were divided into an “outer restricted zone”, an “outer defense zone”, an “inner defense zone” and the citadel defense area. On the other hand, Erich Kuby describes the "Clausewitz case" merely as a military code that was supposed to alert the defenders of Berlin about the impending attack, while the signal word "Kolberg" meant that the fighting had started. Because in the basic order of March 9, 1945, under number 2, the combat mission was noted with the words "The Reich capital will be defended to the last man and to the last cartridge." full preparedness for defense should be triggered by "Kolberg". Earl Ziemke also understands the "Clausewitz case" as a password with which it was reported in coded form that the Red Army was approaching the city limits of Berlin and that attacks could be expected immediately. This coincides with the memories of Hitler's bodyguard and telephone operator Rochus Misch , according to which the state of alarm was decreed under the code word "Clausewitz" as a preliminary stage to the state of emergency. The view of Everette Lemons goes in the same direction, who understands the "Clausewitz case" not as a military operation, but as a description of the occurrence of a situation in which the Wehrmacht leadership viewed the capital of Berlin as part of the front line.

In fact, the source of the pair of words “Clausewitz case” is the instruction “Basic order for the preparations for the defense of the Reich capital of the Commander of the Defense Area Berlin, Dept. Ia op No. 400/45 g. dated March 9, 1945 with attachments ”, which was issued by the combat commandant of Berlin, Lieutenant General Hellmuth Reymann , after consultation with Hitler on March 9, 1945. Appendix 2 there contains the key words “Clausewitz”, “Kolberg” and “Blücher” with information on transmission, meaning and effects.

Name reference

The name Clausewitz goes back to the Prussian general, army reformer and military theorist Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (* 1780; † 1831), who with his theories about politics, war, military strategy and tactics had a great influence on the development of warfare and in the German officer elite, shaped by Prussian traditions and models, was a symbol of the cool and rational military strategist. However, the naming "Clausewitz case" does not seem to have any direct reference to a certain philosophy, strategy, tactics or procedure developed by Clausewitz. Rather, it can be assumed that the nomination - comparable to the code names Company Barbarossa , Company Cerberus or Company Nordwind - was part of the disguise that was detached from the content, in order to give the instructions associated with it a concise, but not easily decodable title. This is supported by the fact that a few years earlier, in July 1942, the approach and entry of Army Group A as an operation had been given the code name Company Clausewitz , after it was still called Fall Blau II in the planning stage . Here and there, the word “case” is synonymous with planned actions, operations or undertakings and refers to the fact that such projects were generally subject to special military-strategic (case) planning beforehand.

reception

In the movie Der Untergang from 2004 there are various indications that with the "issue of the Clausewitz case" all ministries and offices in Berlin will have to be evacuated and relocated. Several (certainly mostly fictitious) dialogues with different participants are shown in which the "Clausewitz case" is the subject of the discussions. On the occasion of the Fuehrer's birthday reception , the actors of Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Fegelein talked about a rumor that Hitler had issued the Clausewitz case and that Berlin could hardly be kept as a front city. After that, one scene shows the evacuation of a large office building (possibly the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office), in which the fastest possible burning of official documents and documents is shown as a direct result of the ordered Clausewitz operation. This is followed by an alleged verbal argument between SS-Oberstarzzt Ernst Günther Schenck (with the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer) and a higher-ranking SS-Obergruppenführer, in which the former refers to the fact that, as a member of the Wehrmacht and head of office at the same time, contrary to the Führer order, he is not yet moving away want. Another scene is shown later in which Hitler, during a briefing, says to the summoned SS-General Wilhelm Mohnke that he had issued the Clausewitz case, declared Berlin a front city and ordered him, Mohnke, as combat commander to secure the government district.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 20 f.
  2. ↑ Thomas Fischer, Soldiers of the Leibstandarte, 2008, p. 42.
  3. ↑ cf. on this Karl Bahm, Berlin 1945, Klagenfurt 2004, p. 105 ff.
  4. ↑ Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 20 f.
  5. ↑ Mark McGee, Berlin: A Visual and Historical Documentation from 1925 to the Present, p. 91.
  6. ^ Richard Wires, Terminology of the Third Reich, 1985. p. 12.
  7. ↑ Erich Kuby, The Russians and Berlin 1945, p. 31.
  8. ↑ Erich Kuby, Die Russen in Berlin 1945, Der Spiegel 19/1965, pp. 74 ff., 84, online version , last viewed on May 4, 2013.
  9. ^ Earl Ziemke, The Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich, p. 40.
  10. ↑ Rochus Misch, The Last Witness, 2nd edition, Munich 2008, p. 196.
  11. ↑ Everette Lemons, The Third Reich, A Revolution of Ideological Inhumanity, Volume II Death Mask of Humanity, 2006, p. 534.
  12. ↑ printed in Bengt von zur Mühlen (ed.), Der Todeskampf der Reichshauptstadt, Berlin / Kleinmachnow 1994, p. 21.
  13. ↑ Percy E. Schramm, War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht 1942 - Part 2, 1st edition, Herrsching 1982, p. 1330.
  14. ^ Percy E. Schramm, War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht 1942 - Volume 1, 1st edition, Herrsching 1982, p. 460.