Battle of Halbe's cauldron

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Battle of Halbe's cauldron
Hitler and Busse at the last front meeting at the CI. Army Corps, Harnekop Castle, March 3, 1945
Hitler and Busse at the last front meeting at the CI. Army Corps , Harnekop Castle , March 3, 1945
date 25. bis 28. April 1945
place Märkisch Buchholz and the surrounding area
output Victory of the Soviet Union
Parties to the conflict

Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Soviet Union

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Commander

Ivan Stepanowitsch Konew

Theodor Busse

Troop strength
280,000 80,000
losses

Soviet figures: around 20,000 dead

approx. 30,000 soldiers
10,000 civilians (estimated)
many forced laborers

The Battle of Halbe took place towards the end of the Second World War between April 24 and 28, 1945 in the area of ​​the village of Halbe , 60 km south of Berlin . The armies of the left wing of the 1st Belarusian Front and the right wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front closed the ring around the German 9th Army on April 24th, followed by several attempts to break out against the Soviet troops, which ran parallel to the Battle of Berlin . On April 27, barely combatable remnants of German troops and civilians fleeing west were trapped by Soviet troops in a small forest area between Märkisch Buchholz and Halbe. As a result of a relief attack by the 12th Army from the area south of Potsdam on April 29th and 30th, large parts broke out westwards via Kummersdorf-Alexanderdorf in the direction of Baruth and reached the German front at Beelitz on May 1st .

prehistory

After the collapse of the German Army Group Vistula in the Battle of the Oder (April 16-20), the 9th Army under General of Infantry Theodor Busse in the area between Frankfurt (Oder) and Cottbus was cut off. The even greater success during the Cottbus-Potsdam operation by the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Ivan Konjew also pushed the German 5th Army Corps (General of the Artillery Kurt Waeger ) of the German 4th Panzer Army to the north. On 19 April, the was Spreewald abgedrängte VAK with the 35th and 36th SS Grenadier Division , as well as the remains of the 275th and 342nd Infantry Division assumed the likewise cut 9th Army. Already on 22 April, the encirclement of the three corps of the 9th Army became apparent when Soviet troops all highways through the Spreewald south, the Strait of Lubben sections by half in the Southwest and Lake Isthmus in the Spreewald between Fürstenwalde and Koenigs Wusterhausen by West blocked. The Oder base in Frankfurt , which was held to the last, was evacuated on April 23 by the fortress commander Major General Ernst Biehler , and the crew managed to penetrate the looming pocket of the 9th Army.

Involved armed forces

Red Army

45 rifle and 3 cavalry divisions, 13 armored / mechanized brigades (around 700 tanks), one artillery division (300 guns / launchers).

1st Ukrainian Front , Marshal Ivan Konev

2nd Air Army - Colonel General Stepan Krassowski

3rd Armored Guard Army , General Pavel Rybalko

  • 9th mechanized corps with 69th, 70th and 71st mechanical brigades
  • 5th Mechanical Guard Corps with 10th, 11th and 12th Mechanical Guard Brigade

3rd Army of the Guard - Colonel General Vasily Gordov

  • 120th rifle corps with 127th and 149th rifle divisions
  • 21st Guards Rifle Corps with 121st and 389th Rifle Divisions
  • 76th Rifle Corps with 106th, 287th and 329th Rifle Divisions
  • 1st Guards Artillery Division
  • 25th Panzer Corps with 111th, 162nd and 175th Panzer Brigades

13th Army - Colonel General Nikolai Pukhov

  • 102nd Rifle Corps with 117th, 147th and 172nd Rifle Divisions
  • 27th rifle corps with 6th, 280th and 350th rifle divisions
  • 24th rifle corps with 112th and 395th rifle divisions

28th Army - Lieutenant General Alexander Luchinsky

  • 128th Rifle Corps with 61st, 130th and 152nd Rifle Divisions
  • 3rd Guards Rifle Corps with 50th, 54th and 96th Guards Rifle Division
  • 20th Rifle Corps with 48th and 55th Guards and 20th Rifle Divisions

1st Belarusian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov

2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Vladimir Kryukov

  • 3rd, 4th and 17th Guards Cavalry Divisions

3rd Army - Colonel General Alexander Gorbatov

  • 35th rifle corps with 250th, 290th and 348th rifle divisions
  • 40th Rifle Corps with 5th and 169th Rifle Divisions
  • 41st Rifle Corps with 120th and 269th Rifle Divisions

33rd Army - Lieutenant General Vyacheslav Tsvetaev

  • 38th Rifle Corps with 129th, 64th and 89th Rifle Divisions
  • 16th Rifle Corps with 383rd, 339th and 323rd Rifle Divisions
  • 62nd Rifle Corps with 49th, 22nd and 362nd Rifle Divisions

69th Army - Lieutenant General Vladimir Yakovlyevich Kolpaktschi

  • 25th rifle corps with 4th, 77th and 134th rifle divisions
  • 61st Rifle Corps with 274th, 246th and 41st Rifle Divisions
  • 91st Rifle Corps with 370th, 312nd, 117th and 283rd Rifle Divisions

Wehrmacht

11 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, one armored division

XI. SS Panzer Corps , SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp

V. SS Mountain Corps , SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln

V. Army Corps - General of the Artillery Kurt Waeger

course

Boiler formation

The ring of several Soviet armies around the 9th Army and the left wing of the 4th Panzer Army, which had been pushed to the north, was closed on April 24 at 10 a.m. The Soviet 71st mechanical rifle brigade of the 3rd Guards Armored Army met in the Berlin-Schönefeld area northwest of Königs Wusterhausen with the 88th Guards Rifle Division of the 8th Guards Army . The 3rd Guards Army (Colonel General WN Gordow), which had become vacant in front of Cottbus , reached the Duben - Luckau area with the 25th Panzer Corps (Major General JI Fominych ) and the 68th Guards Tank Brigade of the 4th Guards Tank Army secured near Kummersdorf. Decisive for the closure of the pocket around the 9th Army were orders from the Führer Headquarters , which did not allow a possible retreat from the Spreewald. This enabled the 3rd Panzer Guard Army and the 3rd Guard Army (General Gordow) to close the pocket in the west and to close the section there after the 3rd Army ( Erkner area ) and the 28th Army (Königs Wusterhausen area) had been brought in amplify. In the area west of the encirclement, the bulk of the mechanized formations (6th and 7th Guards Panzer Corps) of the 3rd Guards Panzer Army on the Baruth - Zossen line were briefly stopped by anti-tank trenches. Parts of the 9th Mechanized Corps (Lieutenant General IP Suchow ) remained standing to secure the right flank between Teupitz and the Müggelsee .

The 3rd Guards Army and the 120th Rifle Corps (Major General SI Donskow ) moved into the area south of Halbe; the 21st Rifle Corps (Major General AA Jamanow ) advanced in the southwest on the main road from Dresden - Berlin to Lübben . The 13th Army pushed in the south with the 117th Guards Rifle Division of the 102nd Rifle Corps (Major General IM Puzikow ) to Luckenwalde , the 280th Rifle Division of the 27th Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General FM Tscherokmanow ) reached Jüterbog , where the main artillery school of the Wehrmacht was located. In the northwest of the boiler the 128th Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General PF Batizki ) of the 28th Army was pushed in on the Mittenwalde and Motzen line ; the 3rd Guards Rifle Corps (Major General PA Alexsandrow ) was brought to Baruth as reinforcement . Both the 3rd Guard Army and the 13th Army were reinforced during the battle to prevent the German 9th Army from breaking out south. The 1st Guards Artillery Breakthrough Division, which was deployed in the Briesen area, represented a significant reinforcement . The reserves of the 1st Belarusian Front, the 33rd and 69th Armies finally marched to strengthen the less threatened northern and eastern pocket fronts.

Relief attempt by the Wenck Army

The German 12th Army , newly formed in the Magdeburg area under the command of General der Panzertruppe Walther Wenck , had received orders to relieve Berlin, which was embattled and encircled on April 25th. Wenck operated with three divisions of the XX. Army Corps (General Karl-Erik Köhler ) to the east, while the XXXXI. Panzer Corps (General Rudolf Holste ) to the north on the Havel section and the Jahn division to the south at Luckenwalde secured the flanks.

On the same day, the Spree Army Department in the Potsdam area under Lieutenant General Hellmuth Reymann was reinforced by the RAD Division Friedrich Ludwig Jahn under Colonel Franz Weller. General Wenck decided to ignore the inaccessible Berlin and instead to try to relieve the 9th Army, which was surrounded in the Hermsdorf area . On April 26th the attack of the XX. Army corps from the Beelitz - Treuenbrietzen line northeast of Belzig in the direction of Berlin, the main thrust led in the middle by the Scharnhorst division via Blankensee , the left flank secured the Hutten division and the right flank against parts of the Soviet 4th Guards Panzer Army the Körner division. There was a short-term gain in space compared to the surprised troops of the Soviet 28th Army. On the afternoon of April 28, the "Ulrich von Hutten" division and the units of Ferdinand von Schill's division , which operated on the outer left flank, managed to penetrate the Lehniner forest. Crossing the Havel and reaching the south-western outskirts of Potsdam seemed within reach for the "Ulrich von Hutten" division. Wenck's troops were able to establish a connection in the Ferch area on April 29 with the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn division of the Spree Army Department, which was breaking out to the south, and on May 1 they were also able to pick up the remnants of the 9th Army near Beelitz.

Outbreak of the 9th Army

On April 27, the remnants of the 9th Army and the civilians fleeing west were crowded together by the Soviet troops in a small forest area between Storkow , Märkisch Buchholz and Halbe . The last armored units of the 9th Army broke out of the pocket on the night of April 28-29, 1945, with great losses, on the orders of Busses, who had previously refused an offer of surrender. The outbreak was from the XI. SS Panzer Corps led as a shock group, supported by artillery and grenade launchers. The northern shock wedge, which had the task of shielding the eruption to the north, was formed by the tank department of the Panzergrenadier division "Kurmark" (Major General Langkeit) as well as remnants of the SS tank reconnaissance department 10, the southern shock wedge by the heavy one SS Panzer Department 502 (SS-Sturmbannführer Hartrampf) with a launcher battery, an armored personnel carrier company and the grenadier regiment of the Panzergrenadier division "Kurmark". These units were followed by the divisional staff of the "Kurmark", the staff of the XI. SS Panzer Corps, the staff of the 9th Army and units of the 5th SS Mountain Corps. The V Army Corps was responsible for withdrawing the southern flank of the pocket. The V. SS Mountain Corps had to secure the breakthrough to the east and north and should form the rearguard , which was formed by remnants of the 21st Panzer Division and the 32nd Panzerjagd Department.

The attacked Soviet 3rd Guards Rifle Corps had built up the defense in two squadrons. In the first season the 96th and 50th Guards and 130th Rifle Divisions defended, in the second season the 54th Guards Rifle Division was used. Major forces of the 128th Rifle Corps were concentrated east of the railway line from Baruth to Zossen. On April 29, the German troops broke into the weak points of the defense of the 54th and 55th Rifle Divisions of the 28th Army between Teupitz and Teurow and seeped through the forest areas west of the Baruth – Zossen road to the west. In the forest east of Kummersdorf, the columns were made up of units of the 71st Mechanized Rifle Brigade and suffered heavy losses.

About 25,000 German soldiers and about 5000 civilians reached the admission position of the German XX via Hennickendorf on May 1, 1945 near Beelitz (Elsholz) south of Potsdam. Army Corps. At this time, the 12th Army consisted of Hitler Youths and men from the Reich Labor Service on the one hand, and experienced soldiers and heavy weapons from the Wehrmacht training centers on the other. On the evening of May 1, the 12th Army began to withdraw via Wollin to the bridgehead on the Elbe , the rest of the artillery supported the rearguard, which was formed by the Hutten division. The Körner division gave up its positions between Niemegk and Treuenbrietzen and followed via Belzig to Schönhausen .

Losses and consequences

Destroyed German vehicles near the Spreewald
In 2013, soldiers of the German Armed Forces buried their remains

30,000 German soldiers died during the Battle of Halbe, an estimated 10,000 German civilians and many Soviet forced laborers. 120,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner. The Red Army lost 20,000 deaths. Most of the Soviet dead are buried in the Soviet Ehrenfriedhof in Baruth / Mark , the German dead mostly in the Waldfriedhof Halbe . Around 22,000 war dead (20,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilians who died together in the large triangle of Königs Wusterhausen - Beeskow - Lübben in the second half of April 1945) were buried at the Halbe forest cemetery.

Among the soldiers of the 12th Army was the later Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher , who reports in his memoir that the first soldiers of the German 9th Army to meet him were staff officers with submachine guns slung around their necks. Wenck led the 12th Army and the soldiers who had escaped from the Halbe pocket over the remains of the destroyed Elbe bridge in Tangermünde before they went into western captivity .

Around 120,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner by the Soviets after the Battle of Halbe. The commander of the V. SS Volunteer Mountain Corps, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln , also got into Soviet captivity, while the commander of the XI. SS Panzer Corps, SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp , committed suicide at Halbe on May 2, 1945.

At Halbe, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge is still busy recovering mortal remains in the 21st century. Soldiers' remains are still buried every year. There are over 28,000 dead in the Halbe forest cemetery alone .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hitler's last hope died in the Halbe pocket. Welt online from April 24, 2015.
  2. ↑ Tony Le Tissier: The fight for Berlin 1945. Bechtermünz Verlag, 1997, p. 77.
  3. ↑ Hitler's last hope died in the Halbe pocket. welt.de/geschichte, April 24, 2015, accessed on October 7, 2017.
  4. ↑ Brandenburg State Center for Civic Education: The truth about the Halbe boiler , accessed on October 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ Christian Fuhrmeister, Wolfgang Kruse, Manfred Hettling, Bernd Ulrich, Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge: Lines of Development and Problems , be.bra Wissenschaft Verlag, 2019, p. 379.
  6. ↑ Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen SS and the police 1939-1945. Volume 2 (Hachtel - Kutschera), Bissendorf 2006, ISBN 978-3-7648-2592-8 .
  7. ↑ https://www.mdr.de/mediathek/mdr-videos/c/video-325900.html

literature

Web links