End of the war in the southern Black Forest (1945)

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German military cemetery in Blumberg near the Evangelical Church (2019)

The end of the war in the southern Black Forest was initiated with the French 1st Army crossing the Rhine between Mannheim and Karlsruhe at the end of March 1945 and their advance through the Black Forest to the east and into the Upper Rhine Plain to the south.

After the southern Baden area near the Swiss border had been largely spared immediate war events during the Second World War , at the end of April 1945, when a German army corps withdrew through the southern Black Forest towards Bavaria in the Blumberg area , fierce fighting with French units belonging to the troop unit broke out cut off the path. Several villages were destroyed and there were casualties among soldiers on both sides and casualties among the civilian population.

The presence of French troops in southwest Germany was a consequence of the Yalta conference . There, in February 1945, the three main powers of the anti-Hitler coalition decided to define an area from the British and American occupation zones that could be occupied by French forces. Charles de Gaulle , president of a French government recognized under international law since October 1944, had insisted on France's participation in a post-war European order.

prehistory

In the course of the Second World War, the German armies on the Eastern Front against the Red Army and after the Western Allied invasion of Italy in autumn 1943 in southern Europe became increasingly on the defensive. Stalin had also called for a " second front " in France to relieve his troops , but this had been delayed again and again due to difficulties in planning and logistics when crossing the English Channel . It was not until the summer of 1944 that the British, Americans and Canadians managed to land on the coast of northwestern France on the German “ Atlantic Wall ”.

War situation in 1944

Allied landing craft off Normandy

After the invasion of the Western Allies on June 6, 1944 in Normandy and on August 15, 1944 in Provence , the German occupation of France collapsed after fierce defensive battles for the landing head in the north and the subsequent liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944). Over the winter of 1944/1945 , however, the German front stabilized again on the Siegfried Line and the Rhine. The Ardennes offensive carried out by Adolf Hitler against his generals in mid-December 1944 was unsuccessful and provided only brief relief. After one last, unsuccessful attempt to win back Alsace ( Operation Nordwind ) over the New Year , the Commander-in-Chief West was only able to organize the defensive.

"On December 11, 1944, the Upper Rhine Army Group was formed [...] to prevent American and French troops from crossing the Rhine." Here, " the Wehrmacht High Command had no powerful units at its disposal. For this purpose, new brigades and divisions were formed from security, customs border guard and fortress units, the Volkssturm and the remnants of beaten regiments, [...] which were not up to a modernly equipped enemy. These newly formed units were founded in December 1944 in the XVIII. SS-AK and in the LXIV. AK combined and subordinated to the 19th Army . "

The LXIV. AK occupied the northern half of the front on the Upper Rhine south of Karlsruhe to the Kaiserstuhl , the XVIII. SS Army Corps occupied the front section from the Kaiserstuhl (dividing line Leopold Canal ) to the Swiss border near Basel ( Weil am Rhein ). On January 12, 1945 the general of the Waffen-SS Georg Keppler was appointed commander of the XVIII. SS Army Corps appointed.

Upper Rhine Front 1945

Abandoned German bridgehead in Alsace at the beginning of February 1945

From February 1945 the western allied troops succeeded in occupying the German territories almost everywhere up to the left bank of the Rhine. In the south, German troops held a bridgehead in the Colmar area for a few weeks.

“At the end of January / beginning of February, the Alsace bridgehead was cleared by the 19th Army. Despite strong enemy pressure, he succeeded while maintaining the bulk of the material. "

The Upper Rhine area had been set up for defense since the autumn of 1944, but no connected lines of defense could be equipped and occupied.

After the bridgehead had been abandoned, attempts by the enemy to cross the entire length of the river were expected. The German section from Basel to Karlsruhe, which was set up for defense towards the west, was - as it should show - in the 'wrong position', as it were, because it was rolled up by the French from north to south.

French Black Forest offensive

French Army attack area

After American troops with the participation of French units had pushed the front in north Baden and Württemberg through the conquest of the Saar- Moselle triangle as far as the Rhine from mid-March ( Operation Undertone ), the French 1st Army , which was mainly reorganized from colonial troops , continued with its II Army Corps on March 30th and 31st near Speyer and Germersheim [map between Mannheim and Karlsruhe] - independently, without consultation with the US Army , - across the river.

This main attack was aimed at Stuttgart - the plan was to forestall the Americans there. The second thrust was aimed south along the Rhine to Freiburg . Bruchsal fell to the French on April 2, Karlsruhe on April 4, and Pforzheim on April 8 .

Now the 9th Colonial Infantry Division crossed the river and reinforced the attack south on Rastatt (April 13), from Offenburg (April 15) into the Kinzig valley and along the Rhine to Lahr (April 15).

Another Rhine crossing aimed even further south across the ongoing advance from west to east through the central Black Forest: “On April 16, the French I. Army Corps crossed the Rhine near Strasbourg / Kehl and on April 17, coming through the Renchtal (today: B28 ), the strategic hub of Freudenstadt . ”At the same time, the 9th Colonial Infantry Division reached the Kaiserstuhl and stood in front of Freiburg on April 19, 1945.

The German 19th Army, which had defended on the Upper Rhine, was split into different parts as a result of the attacks. The XVIII. SS Army Corps was soon cut off from neighboring units and was largely encompassed by parts of three French divisions.

Lore

There are two printed volumes on the subject by Hermann Riedel, 1983, and Fred Trendle, 2003 (see references) on which this presentation is based. Also known are three independent publications by contemporary witnesses that are in the Reimer Archive , Blumberg. These are incorporated in the article.

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Literature
1. The standard work on the event is Halt! Swiss border by Hermann Riedel, who gives an overview of the events in the entire southern Baden area and in the area of ​​the Swiss border on the basis of the documents listed above and the documented testimonies, but without reconstructing the exact course of the operations on both sides and the attempted breakout of the German army corps.

At the time of publication of his standard work, Riedel had already written two preparatory works:

  • Aasen - fate of a division [Division 805] and
  • Hopeless ...! - Last act of the war in the Black Forest, in the Ostbaar and on the upper Danube at the end of April 1945. Both publications: Villingen-Schwenningen 1975.

2. Fred Trendle: 10 days in April 1945 , describes the events from April 20 to April 30, 1945, sorted by days, divided into localities and also includes towns and villages north of Blumberg. (The Hochrhein locations are then missing here). He also describes the breakthrough attempt of the later "northern group" of the XVIII. SS-A.-K. towards Immendingen .

Reports from the military involved
At the command level there are reports from the German side from the staff of the XVIII. SS-AK vor: The diary of the commanding general of the Waffen-SS Georg Keppler provides an overview of the planning, course and tactical considerations, in addition to later representations of staff officers and also some soldiers who came from the region.

The level of command is supplemented in some aspects by the minutes of the commander of the French 1st Army, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny , who, however, had an extensive area of ​​command and only grazed the southernmost area. The diaries of the three French divisions involved in the campaign are detailed.

Sources such as the Wehrmacht report and similarly the French army reports give little information about what happened - they are consistently flawed or only report events with a delay and through excessive progress reports.

Contemporary witnesses
An exact sequence of events can be obtained in connection with an overall analysis of the contemporary witnesses, since numerous cross-verifications can be carried out here, which differentiate the command levels and - except for errors - also describe smaller partial events. There are misjudgments only where contemporary witnesses allow themselves more comprehensive comments.

Reports on April 1945 are missing in the Blumberg Chronicle; It was possible to include two late minutes of two then young eyewitnesses created on site as well as a picture / press article documentation on the 50th anniversary in 1995 of the events at the end of the war in Randendorf.

Contemporary witnesses call the XVIII. SS-AK often also "Black Forest Army".

Troop units involved

After it was foreseeable that the Black Forest would soon be enclosed by the French pincer movement, the German associations were given the task of moving east towards Lake Constance and Bavaria: " Army staff AOK 19 is leaving all parts in the direction of Allgäu!" (General Keppler diary in: Riedel, 39). The 'way back' was the XVIII. SS Army Corps cut off from the French troops coming from Freudenstadt and Waldshut in the Blumberg area.

German troops
As part of the 19th Army, the XVIII. SS Army Corps: The
corps , designated as “ SS ”, included two Wehrmacht divisions and two brigades , whose teams in April 1945 consisted of members of the Wehrmacht and the Volkssturm.

"Statements made by the population who were affected by the march through the divisions that they were SS units are incorrect."

- Hermann Riedel: Stop! Swiss border! 1983, p. 29.

This is confirmed by a member of the Wehrmacht: Report from Oberleutnant Dr. Robert Wagner, Waldshut:

“I am not aware of any units of the SS that took part in the XVIII. SS-AK belonged. Rather, I only remember that the SS-AK only consisted of SS officers and SS soldiers, while the troops assigned to it belonged to the army ”(Riedel, 85 ff.).

Only the corps leader, SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS, Georg Keppler , and his chief of staff, major general of the Waffen-SS, Hansen, as well as staff officers, belonged to the Waffen-SS . Hansen was on April 19, 1945 by Wehrmacht Lieutenant Colonel i. G. Kurt Gerber replaced.

The general designation as "SS Corps" was supposed to have a deterrent effect on the enemy.

"The corps consisted of security, customs border guard and fortress units , the Volkssturm and the remains of defeated regiments [...] It was a matter of so-called position divisions that were not up to a modernly equipped enemy." (Riedel, 15).

Subordinate to the XVIII. SS-AK "in April 1945":

The two divisions were associations with the "combat value IV". Similar to both brigades, there also " Panzerjäger " - but overall with a relatively large amount of artillery. Both also "Combat Value IV".

On April 8, 1945, Brigade 1005 and Brigade Baur were merged with "Staff and Remnants of the 89th Infantry Division" to form the "Combat Group 89th Infantry Division". The commander of Combat Group 89 ID was Major General Richard Bazing, the brigades were led by Colonels Hans Jurkschat and Eugen Baur, and the artillery was commanded by Colonel Leofried von Hertlein.

The fighting in the Blumberg area was carried out by Kampfgruppe 89th Infantry Division .

French troops
The French units fighting in the Blumberg area belonged to the French 1st Army ("1re Armée française - Rhin et Danube") under Marshal Jean de Lattre de Tassigny .

The following were involved in the encirclement of the German combat group 89 ID :

Units of the three French divisions involved in combat are each described in more detail in the chronicle from April 15 to 27, 1945.

German defense

From the beginning of 1945, the establishment of positions from the Rhine line to the hinterland for “sustainable defense” had been ordered on the Siegfried Line, but despite “hard work and dedication” everything was missing: “The fronts were too wide, the Forces too little, the change too big. ”In addition there was“ the increasing jabo activity , which soon paralyzed almost every daytime traffic on roads and railways. The damage to railway systems and rolling stock, mainly to locomotives, increased. "

After the French crossing of the Rhine north of Karlsruhe at the end of March, the German army command tried to adjust the defense, which was based on a defense on the river to the west, to the attack from the north. For this purpose, the troop units had to be regrouped - an attempt was made to form the “remaining divisions” and numerous stationary units as “combat groups”. In the southern section from Kaiserstuhl to Weil am Rhein (Basel), these were subordinated to the experienced SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS Georg Keppler on April 14, 1945 .

Occupation of Freiburg

Only after the regrouping of the army troops on April 14, 1945 and the regulation of the subordinate relationships was General Keppler able to carry out his own planning. After the French made the second Rhine crossing at Strasbourg / Kehl on April 16, German units succeeded in stopping the attack to the south off Lahr until April 18. Without any illusions about the balance of power, however, Keppler had already reacted on April 16:

“In view of this imminent danger and the lack of emergency services, Freiburg is given up on my orders and on my responsibility, contrary to the repeated express ' Fuehrer 's order ' as a ' fixed place '; the defense forces (2 battalions) designated for this purpose are withdrawn […] This becomes the city Freiburg was at the same time saved from the feared destruction and, as far as possible, kept away from all further fighting. "

- Georg Keppler: Diary, April 16, 1945. In: Riedel, p. 39

Shortly afterwards, Keppler found out “from the army […] that Hitler's special flying stand trial was on the way against me because of the abandonment of the Freiburg Festes Platz , but that the corps had now been almost completely encircled. Nevertheless, as a precaution, I gave the order to arrest this special district court immediately in case it should turn up anywhere and to bring it before me. This order of mine caused general joy and satisfaction, especially in the corps headquarters, where the news had sparked outrage. I am also firmly determined to lead the fight according to local needs and not following insane orders from the green table at the Fuehrer's headquarters , and all the more so now that after the army has been withdrawn, I have to rely on myself alone. "

Aerial photo of the bombed city center after the air raid in November 1944. The cathedral was largely spared

Shortly before, troops had been called in to defend the city:

“On April 19, 1945 I received the order to march with this battalion [of Grenzregiment 8] to the northern edge of the city of Freiburg in order to defend the city of Freiburg. I was placed under the battalion of City Commandant Gen. Major Bader. “On April 20, the troops set up in Freiburg-Nord, but a company that was still advanced was apparently captured in Gundelfingen or had already withdrawn. A completely unorganized retreat began via the Zähringen castle via St. Peter [...] to Donaueschingen.

On April 21, the regimental stand of a combat group of Grenadier Reg. 7 still “at Karthäuserstraße 137.” In a distance “Moroccans in the streets” could already be seen, the officer later wrote: “We had obviously received orders to withdraw to the Black Forest edge position.”

A Volkssturm battalion commanded to the western edge of Freiburg (“southern end of Freiburg airfield ”) on the night of April 21-22 . 1/41 "Margrave" got caught in "artillery fire, aircraft fire, tank breakthrough", was partly captured or broke out "during the night in pouring rain".

Precise information in French troop diaries:

After the 9th Colonial Infantry Division had arrived at the end of the day on April 19th in the apron from Freiburg, the following is noted under the date April 21st: "The Petit Group (3rd combat group) entered Freiburg at 2 p.m. through the northern suburbs, The Lepinay group (3rd combat group) also moves in from the west at 9 p.m.: Freiburg is totally occupied at 10 p.m. (3rd Combat Group with 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 6th Colonial Infantry Regiment); the bridges were taken intact. "

Commemorative medal for the crossing of the Rhine in 1945, General de Lattre

The French army commander Jean de Lattre de Tassigny indirectly confirms the suspension of a defense of Freiburg in his book dated April 21, 1945: “At 2 p.m., tanks of the 2nd Africa invade. Hunter Rgts. and colonial soldiers in the northern suburbs of Freiburg. At 9 p.m., another grouping of the same unit comes from the west. The city surrenders almost without a fight. "

A pincer movement was now set in the planning of the French commanding officer: To the north, Freudenstadt fell as a “strategic hub” on April 18 and had become the starting point for advances in three directions. Freiburg was won on April 21, 1945 in the Rhine plain. A wedge was driven south from Freudenstadt - by this time it had already advanced to Behla via Villingen and Donaueschingen , but was stopped there on April 22nd by a strong German defense.

Retreat to the Black Forest

The German units evading from the Freiburg area into the southern Black Forest since April 20, 1945 - summarized in the “XVIII. SS Army Corps ”- were able to cross the Black Forest from west to east relatively unhindered. Keppler wanted to try to get the units through to the east towards Lake Constance. He prevented a careful approach in the Raumschaft destruction (z. B. a dam) and tied senseless actions Gauleiter , local party leaders or werewolf groups.

Map showing the approach of the corps from the west between Breg and Wutach, attempts to break through between Donaueschingen and the Blumberg area

The retreating corps was already geographically sealed off after the rapid advance of French armored units via Freudenstadt-Villingen to the Swiss border near Blumberg on April 23rd, but at this point the southern 'pincer movement' along the Upper Rhine through the Wutach valley into the Blumberg area began. On the evening of April 23, the French 3rd Combat Group was still far from its target near Lörrach.

Lattre de Tassigny writes that he had originally not planned any advance along the High Rhine, but “(gave) in the course of the friendly visits which the officers of the Swiss Army regularly paid my command post, [...] they expressed their wish that our troops would be like this want to appear as soon as possible to the Rhine, between Basel and Schaffhausen, in order to grant the inviolability of their border a greater guarantee. ”Accordingly, on April 21, De Tassigny ordered an advance from Basel along the Rhine via Waldshut to the Swiss border near Epfenhofen.

Chronicle April 15-22, 1945

After the French 1st Army crossed the Rhine at the end of March 1945, the Siegfried Line was rolled up from the north. This made the "Black Forest edge position and its occupation illusory" facing west. Since the Americans and French were already advancing northeast around the Black Forest, General Keppler noted on April 15: “The encirclement of the XVIII. SS-AK begins. ”The French attack operations are accelerated even further by the crossing at Strasbourg / Kehl across the Rhine on April 16.

April 17th: The troops that were supposed to defend Freiburg had already withdrawn to the Black Forest, and Keppler was preparing to withdraw from his command post in Waldkirch.

The French advance in speed after crossing the Rhine the day before reached Freudenstadt on April 17th - there were multiple acts of violence, arson, looting and hundreds of rape by troops, which their officers could only discipline after two days . The planned further advance in three different directions was delayed and only began on April 19, 1945.

April 20: In the Rottweil – Villingen – Donaueschingen – Blumberg area, the Volkssturm was mobilized in all localities . In the citizenship arose reluctance and refusal, there were arguments with the party and "bigwigs". Military troops withdrew, armed men were formed (including Hitler Youth), other units arrived and occupied positions or prepared positions.

“The Blumberg Volkssturm battalion leader and mayor, Theo Schmid, fails in his efforts to have the Volkssturm take off completely. A good number of the men listed do not obey the call. [...] The local industrial companies receive instructions from Schmid to prepare for the destruction of the means of production. Soon after, the entrances to the Dogger ore mines were blown up. [...] Schmid (moves into) his command post on the Lindenbühl. "

- Fred Trendle: 10 days in April , 2003, p. 13.

Rottweil fell into French hands on April 20, and the evening news on Swiss Radio Beromünster caused surprise and horror in the wider community, as the population had been misinformed about the situation up until then.

Operations of the 1st French Army (April 15 - May 8, 1945)

April 21, 1945
Keppler learned from the Waldkirch command post that an advance had already been made via Donaueschingen to the Swiss border near Blumberg. He now gave the order to withdraw all the forces of his army corps from the Rhine plain into the Black Forest - “with an express ban on demolishing engineering structures and other destruction in the corps section. Everything again contrary to the express 'Führer orders'. "

The unit that advanced via Blumberg towards the Swiss border on April 21 was the Lebel group of the 1st French Armored Division: “The group reached Donaueschingen at 12 o'clock, took the undamaged bridge over the Danube and advanced further towards the Swiss border. Little resistance is encountered in Hüfingen, but the group is seriously stopped south of Behla, where a patrol of the 1st alger. Spahi Reconnaissance Regiment is completely wiped out. "

Obviously, the resistance on the road from Behla to Blumberg took French unity by surprise. On the northern side of the Behlaer Höhe there was “ Customs Border Guard and Wehrmacht in defense position. The southern side (Riedböhringer Forest) is defended by the Blumberger Volkssturm. […] The command is entrusted to Major Bosch (Wehrmacht), who has set up his command post in a mine tunnel near Blumberg. ”(Trendle, 29).

The French spearhead that was driven through fell into the fire of the defenders: “Within a few minutes five enemy tanks were lying in front of the German position as smoking wrecks.” The French dare a frontal attack: “This amateurish attack also turned out to be a fiasco. […] The French retreat first to Behla and then towards Hüfingen. ”(Trendle, 30).

April 22, 1945
"Shortly after dawn, French tank units and trucks with mounted infantry are approaching again from the direction of Hüfingen." Tanks occupy the defensive bar in direct fire, artillery fires from Hüfingen and at noon, fighter-bombers repeatedly attack the Behlaer Höhe. […] When dusk sets in, the French have made no further progress. ”The troops are quartered in Behla. Major Bosch "gives the order to retreat towards Riedböhringen [...] between the Eichberg and Steinberg near the Panzergraben at the northern works around midnight." The losses amount to five men who are buried "at the place of their death". (Trendle, 46).

The French troops remained in Behla on Sunday, April 22, apart from brief advances into the area and only took the hills and villages to the south under constant fire: “After their failure south of Behla, the Lebel group increased their patrols to find out how it was looks with the German resistance, and prepared an infantry attack for the morning of the 23rd. ”(Diary 1. Pz-Div in: Riedel, 133).

One of the advances took place on April 22nd towards the nearby Fürstenberg: In the early afternoon hours, stronger enemy forces, supported by tanks, advanced against the village. They occupied it around 3 p.m. There were brief fights in which three defenders were killed.

A simultaneous French advance from Döggingen to Mundelfingen was repulsed by an anti-aircraft troop by shooting down armored vehicles, after which artillery fire began. “It looked desolate. […] Around 5 [17] o'clock the same scene was repeated: on the second approach, the flak had fired again, the result was a second bombardment. "During the third attack at 7:00 pm, bypassing the defensive positions," the flak surrendered: Mundelfingen was saved. "

"Riedböhringen was shot at from 3:30 pm, at night troop passage and fighting with the German line entrenched between Eichberg and Steinberg". (Riedel, 336).

In addition to the advances on the nearby towns of Behla, the more distant villages were already in the night of 21./22. April and then from Sunday morning to Monday:

"Sunday evening, April 22nd from 9.30 am [9:30 pm] to Monday, April 23rd, 6 am (only 1–2 hours at midnight longer break) strong barrage on the escape route to Fützen and strong artillery fire on Achdorf."

Also “Sunday evening, April 22nd, the first grenades on Blumberg. [...] The people were in the basement. "

Isolated shelling on Zollhaus-Blumberg (German occupied) on Sunday, which increased in the night to Monday.

The shelling began in Fützen on Sunday evening, also on Randendorf.

On this day (April 22nd) General Keppler noted: "Withdrawal of the defense forces from the Rhine [...] according to plan, [...] only possibility: breakthrough to the east, as long as the French forces advancing there are not too strong." (Riedel, 56 ). He ordered commanders and command officers to go to his headquarters in Hammereisenbach the next day, April 23, 1945.

The battles for Behla and then also for Zollhaus and Randen were not from the XVIII. SS-AK led, but by units stationed in the area and local Volkssturm.

First fights in the Blumberg area

“Until the French occupation, Blumberg was almost entirely spared from the war. Only once have low-flying planes attacked a passenger train in the forest between Blumberg and Riedböhringen, which resulted in three deaths. "

On the evening of April 20, 1945, “the Swiss broadcaster” brought the news that “the French were in Rottweil. The ' Volkssturm ' was alerted twice that same night . "

French advance to the Swiss border

The advance on the Upper Rhine, which led to the occupation of Freiburg on April 21, seemed to have ended for the 3rd Combat Group of the 9th Col. Infantry Division there, as it was incorporated into the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division , i.e. i.e., should be moved to the north. However, it was discovered with surprise (on April 23) that she did not obey this order, but marched towards Lörrach . Only in retrospect did it emerge that General de Lattre, at the request of Switzerland, changed the plan at short notice to prevent armed German attacks on Swiss territory by advancing along the High Rhine . It was also recognized that this would offer the possibility of fighting on the line Waldshut - Stühlingen above Schaffhausen with the troops advancing at Blumberg to enclose the XVIII. To unite SS-AK. (Jean de Lattre de Tassigny: Rhin et Danube. In: Riedel, 165 f.).

April 23, 1945
After the bombardment from Behlaer Höhe, a tank unit advanced to the Zollhaus level crossing on Monday morning, April 23, and fired the German troops there until they withdrew around 4 p.m. The attack continued after Randendorf and in the evening the French had managed to reach the Swiss border above Epfenhofen. At the same time there was a massive attack by the French from the Donaueschingen area via Behla via Mundelfingen to Achdorf.

In summary: “The Lebel group attacks Riedböhringen and Achdorf, which they both take in the early morning, pushes forward and in the afternoon puts down the resistance of Zollhaus; it will be made available to the 5th Panzer Division at around 6 p.m. ”(Diary of the 1st Pz Division in Riedel, 134 f.).

This advance by the Lebel group on Monday is described from various places:

The south-westerly advance via Mundelfingen to Achdorf on the Wutachtalstrasse - which had been used uninterruptedly by German troops in the direction of Fützen since the previous week - began after the artillery bombardment in the night from Sunday to Monday on April 23, 9 a.m. with the occupation of the Wutachupwards located Aselfingen. "White flags on the school building [...] capture of the German guards in the direction of Wutachmühle". The German rearguard secured the direction of Fützen from Achdorf. Achdorf was occupied around 11 am: “Looting, hunting for small cattle, large feasts by the French in all houses, […] delivery of cameras, radios, maps.” Also on the next day: “Great arrogance and arbitrariness, but harassment of women can be be fended off. [...] In the evening around 6 o'clock the whole ghost disappears again. [...] Apparently one receives news of the approach of larger German troop contingents. The population in great fear of the terror of civil workers. ”(Report from Pastor Franz Beugel, Achdorf. In: Riedel, 361 f.). This action in the Wutachtal was obviously undertaken as a flank protection of the advance to the border:

Riedböhringen was occupied early in the morning [April 23]. In the direction of the customs house, armored units advanced “and attacked the German positions between the Eichberg and Steinberg at the northern works. The defenders make short and violent defense, but must surrender in view of the superiority of the opponent. ”(Trendle, 63). From 12:30 p.m. tanks arrived along the road (today's B 27) in front of Zollhaus-Blumberg : “The German soldiers lying in the district were posted everywhere on the corners of the houses. A fierce firefight developed in which tanks, artillery and, above all, small arms were involved and which lasted until about 4 p.m. "

After an infantry attack combined with tanks, the German combat group (customs border guard, Wehrmacht and Volkssturm) gave up the customs house at around 4 p.m. and withdrew towards Randen. (Trendle, 63). The French moved into the village and soon drove towards Randendorf.

Another department occupied Blumberg branching off to the west :

On Monday (April 23rd), “around half past three o'clock, the enemy combat troops penetrated the town. Two people were seriously injured and shot through the front door because it was not opened immediately. [...] Rapes have also occurred. Given the peculiar composition of Blumberg, nothing can be said about the number. […] On Wednesday evening (April 25th) the French withdrew to Zollhaus. "

The Germans returning from Zollhaus camped briefly in Randen, but withdrew even further. A French troop from Riedöschingen arrived in the village and at around 5 pm “a tank unit from Zollhaus also marched into Randen . The whole village could be occupied without resistance. [...] A French unit of roughly company strength remained in Randen, while further troops advanced towards Kommingen, Neuhaus and Nordhalden. "

After that, units went up to the Swiss border and thus in the evening the encirclement “of the German combat units standing on the Upper Rhine” was completed. The French troop grouping "(is supposed to) cordon off all roads running west-east in the area bounded north by the course of the Danube and south by the Swiss border", was divided into: The 4th Moroccan Spahi Regiment (tournament ), as well as “the III. Battalion of the 6th Moroccan Rifle Regiment [Hüfingen – Behla], the 8th Dragoons [Panzer], the 1st Battalion of the 64th Alger. Artillery regiment and a division of pioneers. ”(Diary of the 9th Colon. Inf.-Div., April 24th. In: Riedel, 127).

Weakening of the barrier to the border
Although the significance of the process is formulated in the diary of the 1st Panzer Division: "The last line of retreat in the east of the Black Forest is cut off from the enemy", it is noted: "The commanding general of the 1st Army Corps then takes the 4th Army Corps Moroccan Spahi Regiment and Colonel Lebel's 8th Dragoons and makes them available on the spot to the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division, which has the task of sealing off all access roads from the eastern Black Forest [...]. The remaining Lebel group is advancing in an easterly direction towards Konstanz. ”(Diary 1. Pz-Div., April 23rd. In: Riedel, 152).

Presumably in ignorance of the situation, the French army command withdrew half of the units positioned by Behla as far as the Swiss border (and changed the subordination, a process that initially blocked the ability to act), so that the decisive part of the bar remained relatively weak. The original order of the Lebel group was called 'Advance towards Constance' and this has not been changed.

Only on the following day, April 24th, did the diary of the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division take on the new task of sealing off the Swiss border, but according to the information on April 25th, the leadership had apparently the German attack on Behla surprised - some of the newly subordinated troops withdrew to Behla. (Diary 4th Moroccan Geb-Div. In: Riedel, 126 f.).

One of the reporters in Randendorf was surprised that early on April 24th “the French (prepared) for departure - and we were already pleased that everything went so smoothly. But we were happy too soon. At 9 o'clock an order came to the troops and [only] the combat troops stayed. ”With that, however, Randen was only weakly manned.

In his memoirs General de Lattre describes as a consequence of the rapid advance: “During the 22nd and 23rd April, the 4th Moroccan Mountain Div. in the Black Forest only strengthen their battle structure; this was strongly torn apart and extended further to the south by the action of the Lebel group [which was subordinate to another division, the 1st Pz-Div]. had to stop, to break through and thus to reach the Swiss border. ”De Lattre calls the stop by the German anti-tank defense on the Behlaer Höhe as“ a fixed, well-chosen position ”, having“ thwarted every advance despite several attempts to overflight. "

"Only after the necessary resources, namely artillery, had been brought together to form a regulated attack, did Lebel succeed in first breaking the Döggingen – Fürstenberg line, then breaking the extreme resistance in Zollhaus."

The resulting "extension of the defensive belt to the border" caused Colonel Lebel to leave behind "the 4th Spahis (Colonel Lt. Tournament) and the 8th Dragoons (Commandant Bonichon)": "With the rest of his group he branches off immediately - on In the evening he is in Riedheim - towards the east, towards Constance. "

However, this did not change the fact that this 'surrender of troops' to another division caused a delay in action and that the line at this 'interface' with Switzerland remained less manned. De Lattre admits: “Nothing or almost nothing gives us any information about the preparations that the XVIII. SS corps undertakes. ”(Quotes: De Lattre: Rhin et Danube. In: Riedel, 167 f.).

Arrival of the XVIII. SS Army Corps

On the night of April 21st to April 22nd, Keppler had taken the corps back from the Rhine plain to the Black Forest, the staff moved from Waldkirch to St. Trudpert and on the morning of April 23rd to Hammereisenbach. The commander has been informed of the advance of the Americans and French in the northern Black Forest towards Stuttgart and Freudenstadt - while in Waldkirch (April 21) he was aware of the encirclement east of the Black Forest:

Location of Hammereisenbach on the former railway line

"When it became more and more apparent that French troops were advancing east of the Black Forest from Freudenstadt and [...] the [Hoch-] Rhine plain to the XVIII. To include SS-AK, the commanding General Keppler summoned the division and brigade commanders to a discussion of the military situation and the countermeasures to be taken on Monday, April 23, 1945 in Hammereisenbach. ”(Riedel, 62 f.).

Commanders meeting

"[... The decision was made to break through the enemy ring at three points in a night attack to the south in order to join the armies operating in the Allgäu."

The attacks were due to begin in the evening of April 24; In the civil area, the [NS] district leaders of the corps area were instructed by Keppler “to refrain from any fighting or destruction on their part or by the werewolf or to prevent it by all means. General Keppler left no doubt that in the event of violations, he would immediately bring those responsible to a court martial. ”(Riedel, 63).

"Since the troop units assembled in the Furtwangen-Hammereisenbach area amounted to around 20,000 men [...], one can assume that each [attack] group comprised around 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers. So the troop strength in Achdorf and the surrounding area was around 6,000 to 7,000 men. "

On the evening of April 23, the groups were reduced from three to two: “Northern breakthrough group under the leadership of Lieutenant General Seeger with the start of the attack on April 14th at 7 pm. Southern Breakthrough Group under Major General Bazing. Starting on April 24th from Eisenbach at 6:45 p.m. The attack started at 9 p.m. Corps staff at the southern group. ”(Georg Keppler, diary. In: Riedel, 64).

April 24, 1945
While the French were regrouping in the Blumberg area on that day, 'converting' themselves to occupied towns or expanding positions, the German breakthrough groups were on the march. On the German side, it is also known that a fast, armored combat group is now moving along the Hochrheinstrasse:

This 3rd combat group , which belonged to the 1st Panzer Division and still occupied Freiburg on April 22nd, "cleaned up" the area there on April 23rd, became the 4th Moroccan Mountain Div. incorporated, which is also responsible for the 'Blumberg Line'. As a result of de Lattre's sudden rescheduling, all three French divisions are confused about the assignment of the unit - the 9th Colon. Infantry Division writes on April 24th: “The 3rd Combat Group comes down from Freiburg, moves through Kandern, overtakes the 23rd Colon. Infantry Regiment in Loerrach; [...] reaches Wieslet and Fahrnau; stops at the end of the day in Wehr. ”(Riedel, 152). The group moves ahead regardless of a higher-level leadership.

In the Blumberg area, the French arranged their troops without suspecting the impending danger.

Keppler, Diary: “The meeting of the two breakthrough groups takes place smoothly in the afternoon. Enemy air activity is negligible. Both breakthrough groups start the attack as planned at the times ordered and full of hope. Enemy resistance only low. ”(Riedel, 65).

The 9th colon. Inf.-Div. describes the process: “On the night of April 24th to 25th, the enemy, supported by tanks, broke out of the Black Forest with full force. Three columns, each with several thousand soldiers, artillery and vehicles of all kinds attack our bases in Marbach and Klengen on, flooding them and are advancing towards the east, where they go Bad Durrheim seize [...] While the North column their way to the Danube at Immendingen continues , the southern column advancing on the Bad Dürrheim- Aasen-Geisingen axis encounters the 1st Battalion of the 1st Moroccan Rifle Regiment in Aasen, which is solidly entrenched in the village and vigorously resisted all attacks. […] A third column attacks Behla. ”(Diary, in: Riedel, 127).

Fight for Behla

As the advance department, the German "II. AWS (Jäg. Ers. Btl. 56) in the night the places Bräunlingen , Döggingen and Mundelfingen for the passage I. and II. Btl. AWS to attack Behla. "

Assuming a relatively weak French security in the village, a German combat group began on the evening of April 24th with a "fire strike" on Behla, which was answered by numerous tanks, so that the attack ended with a "number of wounded and dead" had to become. (Major R. Altstadt in: Riedel, 70 f).

"The resistance in the burning Behla is increasing, so that further actions are postponed until the night." (Captain Fritz Hockenjos, advisor to General Keppler, in: Riedel, 64).

Attack “at around 3 o'clock” at night on Behla: “Our vanguard with armored vehicles encountered heavy enemy resistance. Tough fighting broke out, burning houses rose like torches into the morning sky. "

The night battle for Behla from the perspective of the French defenders:

“The Germans continue to exert pressure and manage to gain a foothold in a trench near the first houses. They set these houses on fire with bazookas in order to blind the defenders and make them retreat. The Germans succeeded in doing this, advancing to the intersection in the middle of the village, which was occupied by the French until 4:30 a.m. The latter attempt counter attacks, but are pushed back by machine guns . Hand-to-hand fighting occurs on the edge of the main street. But around 6 a.m. the French, who have run out of ammunition, withdraw. The commander of the unit wants to avoid the continued encirclement east and west of the village. […] At 6:30 am, however, a train of light tanks came from the neighboring village of Fürstenberg. He goes over to the counterattack, and at 6:45 am Behla is totally taken again. "

- General de France report, 6th Moroccan Rifle Rgt, on the events in Behla. In: Riedel, p. 172.

Report from the village:

“On the night of April 24th to 25th, German units, coming from the Black Forest, advanced eastwards from Döggingen and Hausen before Wald towards Behla. They attacked the strong garrison there in order to be able to break through to the east. There was fierce fighting for the place in a four-hour night battle. 15 German soldiers were killed in the process, […] More than 30 German soldiers were wounded in this fight, after the first medical help they spent the following day in the rectory at Hausen vor Wald. They were then taken to the main dressing station in Döggingen and from there to the hospital in Donaueschingen. Behla civilians were also hit by projectiles; some of them died soon after their wounds, the others died after a few weeks of suffering as a result of their injuries. Seven stately houses with extensive economy were destroyed in the battle by incendiary grenades [...] During the several hours of fighting, the residents had endured terrible hardship. The crew had herded her into the basement and locked her there. Meanwhile the houses burned overhead. [...] In the early hours of the morning, enemy chariots intervened. As a result, the complete storming and occupation of the place failed. The German troops were driven out of the place and withdrew again westwards to Hausen am Wald. […] Seven German soldiers and three local residents were taken hostage, several men, among them very old people, were brutally mistreated under untrue accusations, several women and girls had to endure the most brutal rape by Moroccan troops. "

- Pastor Gebhard Läufer, Archbishop. Pfarramt Hausen vor Wald, in: Riedel, 322 f.

In the Behla report . History of a Baar village in the context of the landscape by Dr. Alfred Hall, issue 13 of the series of publications of the district of Donaueschingen (in Hermann Riedel, pp. 324 to 330), the night of the fight is recorded in great detail, the dead and injured are named, and the abuse is described. "It was not until around 3 pm [on April 25] that a French officer ordered the abuses to stop," and a rapist was shot in front of the town hall. "32 black soldiers" had fallen.

Chronicle April 25, 1945

The battle for Behla was the bloody prelude to the southern attempt at breakthrough. General Keppler and Major General Bazing (89th Inf.-Div.) Also arrived in Hausen vor Wald on the night of April 25; It was decided to stop the attack on Behla and to withdraw the units involved in the fight via Hausen-Mundelfingen and Sacrifice-Eschach into the Achdorfer Valley. During the day, the units withdrawn from Behla remain in reasonably safe cover in and around the mentioned localities, only to move on via Achdorf under cover of night. Airplanes are often circling over the area, but there is still no fire through them. However, the troops are beginning to disintegrate.

In the Achdorf Valley early in the morning of April 25, the situation was calm and the reporter, Lieutenant Huber of the Security Battalion 56, discovered with a reconnaissance party that Blumberg had not yet been occupied by the French again. However, it became clear that the trail from Achdorf could not be taken by the train (horse and cart). In the vicinity, Hausen vor Wald was massively taken under artillery fire, Mundelfingen, as well as sacrificial things and Eschach were spared. Fützen had been under fire since the evening of April 22nd - in preparation for the French wedge advance to the border: “The bombardment lasted four nights and 70 houses were damaged in some cases. Many people had already fled from the village to the surrounding settlements on the Swiss border at this point in time. ”(Lieutenant Hans Huber, in: Riedel, 76 f.)

Units of the 89th Infantry Division had already marched through the valley via Aselfingen and Achdorf since April 24th, and were to attack Zollhaus-Blumberg on the morning of the 25th:

“On Wednesday, April 25th at 5 am the [German] Artlfire intensifies. The French occupation forces in the village were alerted. Soon afterwards a strong fire of all weapons developed, which lasted all morning and in the course of which the wounded and dead were constantly brought in. […] The number of French killed in the Zollhaus district is likely to have been around 15. […] In the course of the afternoon the French troops succeeded in repelling the counterattack of the German troops in the district of Zollhaus-Blumberg and pushing them south and to the Swiss border. At around 4 p.m., the fighting subsided. [...] No personal injuries occurred among the civilian population during the fighting "

- Report architect Martin, Zollhaus-Blumberg. In: Riedel, 406.

Blumberg outside the combat zone
Since the Steige from Achdorf from the Wutach valley could not be mastered by the German troops with heavy weapons and supply wagons, it was not occupied by the Germans and there was no reason for the French to be present here. The constant bombardment of the town was 'enough': “The artillery fired on Blumberg on Thursday (April 26th) the day and the following night. Many houses were damaged, e.g. Sometimes very difficult. 5 houses are uninhabitable. "

“On Friday, April 27th, the French came back to the village without a fight. The population was happy about it, otherwise Blumberg would have been a victim of the aviators. Most of the combat units came up from Achdorf, even with the heaviest tanks. "

Process at the northern group
"Wednesday, April 25, 1945: breakthrough group Seeger (north) reports reaching the Danube by radio at noon and preparing to cross the river." (Companion of Keppler, Hptm. Fritz Hockenjos: "The combat group north succeeds until Immendingen to advance and there to form a bridgehead over the Danube. ”In: Riedel, 64).

The French leadership had reacted to the fighting for Aasen: “Our artillery goes into action and causes great devastation in the enemy columns; then the air force intervenes early in the morning and covers the streets used by the Germans with machine gun fire. ”(4th Moroccan Geb.-Div. Riedel, 128).

It is probable that the air force operations on April 25 were mainly aimed at the seemingly dangerous northern breakthrough group and - according to the unusually well-informed pastor Franz Beugel from Achdorf - took place in the Furtwangen – Bad Dürrheim – Immendingen area.

Location on the night of April 25th

The German army corps was originally divided into three groups on April 24th, which were supposed to break through to the Swabian Alb and the Hegau. However, the narrow paths and the breakthrough blocked at Behla meant that afterwards there were only two directions of attack. The northern advance remained at Immendingen, the middle one had been pushed from Behla to the southern one into the Wutach valley near Achdorf. The attack on Zollhaus was also repulsed on April 25, but the French units were considerably weakened. Under cover of night, the German units withdrawn from Behla marched from the positions around Mundelfingen to Achdorf and further into the boiler.

Chronicle April 26, 1945

Already before midnight on April 25th until early morning on the 26th, the strong influx of German troops from Mundelfingen could be observed from Ewattingen - the Wutach Bridge was blown up here, so that the columns all turned to Achdorf. The road up to Blumberg, however, was too steep for heavy weapons and transport vehicles and the "corrugated iron path" in the Fützener Kessel was a narrow bottleneck:

Air raids near Achdorf
Thursday, April 26th: When morning dawned, vehicle after vehicle could be seen in the long road through the valley. There was no more forward or backward. As usual, the two reconnaissance planes and soon a squadron of fighter-bombers came and fired with heavy gunfire at the long columns in the valley. [...] The number of dead in the bombardment of the German troops was, thank God, exceptionally low. 17 soldiers are buried in the Achdorf cemetery.

Reporter Lieutenant Huber:

“With the cracking of the projectiles, the detonations of the grenades lying on the ammunition wagons mixed up. […] The Jabos continued their orbits and plunged into the inferno again and again. [...] From the direction of Überachen, enemy tank spikes had already come up and were shooting at us with machine gun fire. […] Over 180 horse carcasses were counted that day. About 800 horses were picked up in the following days. […] We had a total of 18 deaths. Countless wounded lay in the houses, which were makeshiftly prepared for bandage places. We should have lamented far more dead and wounded soldiers and villagers if the surrounding forests and houses had not offered such good protection. The villagers had scattered in all directions before the attack. Torrential rain towards evening calms the situation down. The remnants of the units collected. "

- Lieutenant Hans Huber, Jäg- Ers. Btl. 56. In: H. Riedel, 78-84

Battle for Überachen
On the other side of the Wutach near Achdorf, which the German troops could not cross because of the blown bridge, a Jäg unit was lying during the air raids on the northern side of the valley in the village of Überachen. Ers. Btl. 56 “and as rearguard secures the passage of the remains of 89th ID […] (surprisingly) 3 French. Tanks with mounted infantrymen at the command post of the battalion in Überachen. Parts of the staff are temporarily imprisoned. However, supported by two quadruple anti-
aircraft guns and a raiding party from the Btl. Staff, it succeeds in destroying the broken-in tanks in close combat and freeing the prisoners [...] again. "

The attackers on roofs were units of the 3rd Combat Group , which had advanced here via Weizen and Ewattingen in order to “push into the flank of the remaining German division. [...] A fierce battle began that lasted over two hours. [...] Street and house fighting while people are still in the middle of town, in the rooms, cellars, on the street or in the open field. […] There is a bitter close combat between German and French infantry […] German infantry come up the mountain from Aselfingen and, together with the Überachen security troops, throw back the French. [...] Apparently about 10 are cut off and result. […] The return of the French tanks takes place around 2:30 pm. […] What is certain is that all in all three tanks and one armored car were destroyed during the battle in Überachen. ”Three German soldiers were killed and two wounded died on the same day. “There are nine dead French soldiers on the battlefield.” They were able to take the wounded with them. The German troops gather and withdraw from Überachen. Civilians are not harmed. In the event that the complete withdrawal of all combat-capable German units from the valley would not have taken place, - according to the reporter Pastor Beugel, according to a French major - “100 aircraft were ordered and ready for a bomb attack on Aselfingen and Achdorf.” Partly heavy artillery fire followed through into the night on various areas of the terrain and routes of retreat, especially the route to Fützen.

After the 'flying weather' became unfavorable in the afternoon and the German combat troops had withdrawn, soldiers from the battle ropes, supply columns and rear guards marched through the Wutach Valley until dusk, 5 to 7:30 p.m. The road to Fützen remained permanently under fire, so that there was ultimately no way through; Loners, large and small troops looked for their escape routes in all directions: "11 o'clock in the evening: quiet in Achdorf". French tanks felt cautious, but withdrew again. The valley towns were not occupied until around 11 a.m. the next morning, on April 27th.

However, the reporter, Pastor Beugel, missed the fact that a major German troop march took place on the night of April 27th. The columns “shot together” the day before belonged to the convoy of the “preparatory group” or to the originally formed “medium breakthrough group”, for which there was no way through at Behla and which were then for the most part diverted towards the Wutach valley - via Hausen before Wald and Döggingen to Mundelfingen and into the valley near Aselfingen and via Opferdingen and Eschach to Achdorf. It was only after the inferno of April 26th that the actual southern breakthrough group arrived there and was able to march through slowly but relatively undisturbed at night.

After the chaos caused by the air raids near Achdorf during the day, it was then possible in the night of April 27 to bring further troops (observers write from the actual "Black Forest Army") over the corrugated iron path above the Wutach Gorge into the Kessel.

It can be assumed that Keppler became aware of the advance of the French along the High Rhine in the course of April 25th - also or because on that one day it led from Lörrach to Grimmelshofen. Due to the often determined attitude of the population, defending units were forced to withdraw quickly and this either led to the Black Forest without a clear goal or ended in the Fützen / Epfenhofen basin. Up to Fützen there was nowhere else to build up a defense:

Speed ​​advance on the Upper Rhine

In the planning of the French army, originally only the advances to the south along the Upper Rhine to the Swiss border near Basel and in the Baar via Donaueschingen to the territory around Schaffhausen were planned. De Lattre did not consider it necessary to occupy the line on the Swiss border from Basel to Schaffhausen along the High Rhine, as this section was protected by the river (with only a few bridges) and sealed off by the Swiss border troops. An encroachment of German troops into Switzerland de Lattre considered unlikely here. The French also considered the route to be rather arduous due to numerous bottlenecks along the river, and the situation on April 23rd indicated that the closure in the east was sufficient.

However, on April 23, a delegation of Swiss officers was able to convince de Lattre of the sense of such an advance: The Swiss were not sure about Keppler's passive attitude towards their border and asked for an advance north along the river, also with reference to the objective to grab the opponent in the Blumberg area in the back. Perhaps at this point they were over the intentions of the XVIII. AK better informed than de Lattre. He took up the suggestion and immediately ordered the 3rd Combat Group of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division from the Freiburg area to make a quick advance along the High Rhine via Lörrach-Waldshut and the Wutach Valley to the Swiss border near Blumberg.

On April 24th, the French entered Weil am Rhein without a fight . On April 25, in the morning at 10 a.m., French armored troops marched through the town of Lörrach without resistance ; on April 25, at 1 p.m., Albbruck was occupied - at the tank ditch at the exit of the town there was a brief battle involving six German soldiers and a civilian perished. Shortly afterwards, Dogern was occupied and at 1.30 p.m. on April 25th, Waldshut was handed over. As flak had fired above the city the day before, “(was) the result on the evening of April 24th a bomb attack which, in addition to property damage, caused the death of 10 people and took several other people off their feet for life. [...] The looting, rape and other acts of violence that began immediately after the invasion of the enemy troops continued for a long time. (Riedel, 227 ff. And 344 to 351). The city had been handed over by a group of citizens around Hermann Dietsche , who intervened with unusual consistency as acting mayor against the excesses among officers and the commandant's office.

In Tiengen , “the chief bigwigs of the Nazi party” (Mayor Wilhelm Gutmann ) were able to prevail against the votes from the population - after two “inquiry pilots” had not seen any white flags, “around six Jabos, light fighter planes, came and dropped around a dozen lighter bombs on the city and disappeared. Effect: eight dead, some injured, post office badly damaged by two hits. […] Now the decision was made to hand over, because otherwise the bombers would have advanced, […] shortly afterwards the enemy tanks rolled up and occupied without a shot being fired. ”The Nazis disappeared.

“The next nights were terrible, because the enemy exercised the right of robbery: there were also 35-40 rapes.” It was only on May 1st that the pastor and a newly arrived French captain “managed to stop the attacks and see to it that soon a command office was set up here, which then happened within a week. ”(Report by Pastor Josef Luem from the Catholic parish of Tiengen / Upper Rhine, March 27, 1946. In: Riedel, 352). The events were not the responsibility of the 3rd Combat Group, which hardly lingered on their advance, but were the responsibility of units advancing.

Continuation of the advance along the Wutach
On April 25th, with the help of a French engineer who was compulsorily employed by the Lauffenmühle company, Unter- and Oberlauchringen - with white flags - got off lightly: “In Oberlauchringen the French tanks thundered past the station on the B 314 into the Wutachtal. One department, however, left the train station through the village [...] up into the Klettgau . "

The Occupation of Wheat took place on April 26th without combat. Stühlingen: “On Thursday, April 26, 1945, at noon after 12 noon, the armored vehicles came from Weizen on the country road to the village, which had been flagged in white early. There was no fighting. The handover took place peacefully without resistance. Looting, rape, abnormal difficulties - none. ”(Riedel, 399 f.). After the occupation of Grimmelshofen, the French combat troops ( 3rd Combat Group Caldairou ) encountered massive resistance in front of Fützen. The group establishes contact with the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division operating in the Blumberg area and comes under their command.

The diary of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division recorded the following information on April 26th: “The Caldairou group (3rd combat group) [...] in the afternoon [25. April] she moves from Waldshut, along the border, conquers Ofteringen, Grimmelshofen (28 km north of Waldshut), overrun several enemy troops, gets into a violent battle in Fützen (3 km south of Blumberg) and in Überachen (6 km west of Blumberg) ) into a zone that the enemy stubbornly defends in order to secure his retreat. ”With that, the French stood around the basin of Fützen and Epfenhofen.

Location in the Fützen valley basin

South-eastern corner of the valley basin (mountain on Swiss territory) with the Epfenhofen Viaduct (center). Foreground hill towards Buchberg (Blumberg)

Taking all circumstances into account, the valley basin around the villages of Fützen and Epfenhofen, surrounded by wooded mountain ridges with steep slopes and partly delimited by gorges, was a place to gather troops. The area was spacious enough not to offer any targets for artillery (this was concentrated on Fützen) and was protected from air attacks by the border with Switzerland running along the south side. Since the Swiss army had moved its units directly to the border in order to repel German attacks or evasive maneuvers if necessary, the French could not risk incidents there by fire. This was particularly true for Epfenhofen, so that Keppler also set up his command post here. Nevertheless, the area would not have had this value as a natural area if the route of the Strategic Railway with its facilities, leading in several loops over three viaducts and through a tunnel, had not offered optimal military conditions - railway embankments as defensive lines, tracks for the rapid shifting of combat groups.

From the west, the Rhine Valley, the village of Fützen blocked the only access and the advance of the French 3rd Combat Group advancing from Stühlingen was stopped there. In Überachen, (on the opposite side of the river from Achdorf), the north-westerly access to the basin was secured against the French advancing in the Wutach Valley, and to the east, in the run-up to the serpentine road to the top of the pass at Zollhaus, the French who were in the village were attacked Kept in check. The enemy cordoning off led from Zollhaus along the Randenhöhe to the Swiss border. The breakthrough was planned there, via the central village of Randen.

The endangered point from the German point of view was the road access in the west through Fützen. The tactical importance of the location was also clear to the French, who systematically explored the area with reconnaissance planes. That is why it was caught under fire at an early stage, especially since German columns of all types and affiliations retreating back through it days before the High Rhine advance.

Chronicle of the battles for Fützen
Fützen was not the focus of military action until April 26th:

“On Friday, April 20, […] a [German] motorized medical department came to our place with all their vehicles. Soon the reconnaissance planes were approaching from all sides. [...] In the meantime, they respected the Red Cross until the withdrawal on April 21, 1945. “The Higa, who had fought near Behla and then had to withdraw,“ (established) with departments south and south-east of the village [... ] On Sunday, April 22nd, in the evening at half past eight, the first shell rushed into the village and claimed 2 lives. The batteries were with Behla. The village and its fields lay uninterruptedly under the French interference fire. Grenades until Wednesday (evening), on April 25th […] Day and night the cracking of the projectiles and the striking of the grenades. "

“During the course of Monday, April 23, many residents, probably over 500, moved with wagons and cattle and household effects, some of them to the Swiss border, into the high forest or into the Achdorf tunnel. The pastor stayed in the parish cellar with around 70 people, mostly elderly people, the sick, children, women and Poles. ”With parts of the Higa there were 120 people there instead of the 32 planned people.

“On Wednesday, April 25th, in the evening, the Higa disbanded and released its soldiers (mostly East Prussia). Individual departments tried to plunder in the village, but this could be stopped immediately by the 5 gendarmes who were also lying in the parish cellar. "

Fützen (2016). Street on the left approach path French, background (center): Buchberg, behind Blumberg; (right): Randenhöhe near Epfenhofen

Attack 3rd Combat Group (Caldairou)
On the morning of April 26th, Keppler's units occupied the village, as only the 3rd Combat Group could now be expected: “At ½ 10 am there was a French advance. Tanks from the south [… and] at half past eleven, about 30 planes attacked the fight with bombs [… which] outside the village (fell). ”After the tank fight until half past three in the afternoon, the tanks went back and fired from outside into the village. “After the church had already been badly damaged by direct hits, the church tower was torn open by several direct hits (15, including 7 duds) at ½ 7 o'clock in the evening. When night came, about 20 houses were on fire, including the town hall and school building next to the rectory. "

The detailed report - straight from the village - comes from Brunhilde Wild (née Gleichauf), who experienced the fighting as a 9-year-old girl: "The memories of the days of fighting that have engraved themselves in my memory," she wrote 50 years ago End of war down. With only minor deviations, she confirms the pastor's statements.

At the beginning of the fighting on April 26th in the late morning, she was with her parents and siblings in cellars in the front line, after which there was a break in the fight:

"... around 3 p.m. [...] saw (we) French tanks and many vehicles approaching us. My mother quickly took a white linen cloth and father swung it on the front door as a sign that we surrender. So we all stood with our hands raised as many tanks drove past us. One of them drove into our yard, the French jumped down, came to us and asked in broken German: Are there German soldiers in the house? We said no, but still they ran into the house with their rifles at the ready and searched every room. We held our breath. Thank God no soldiers were hiding on our haystack without our knowledge, otherwise it would have been bad for us. "

- Brunhilde Wild: Fützen 1945 , p. 17, Reimer archive

“A Red Cross car was also among the French vehicles. They ran around with stretchers and picked up the wounded French and German soldiers. ”But the fighting was not over yet, because:“ German soldiers who were still hiding all over the village began to shoot again bitterly, like that that the French finally withdrew. […] It was around 7 p.m. when there was a ceasefire ”. New vehicle noise led the mother and the children to flee to the embankment, but behind it "a huge army" had positioned itself "that surrounded our village." The refugees were locked in the ice-cold cellar of the customs building. There was another fierce battle, but then the Germans finally withdrew during the night.

Pastor Waibel, Fützen: "At half past two at night, the German soldiers cleared the village."

The French 3rd Combat Group was thus held up into the night for the whole of April 26th, so that the units standing around Epfenhofen in front of Randen could attempt their breakthrough to the east without the enemy behind them.

The north-western access to the boiler was unsuitable for larger movements and the "corrugated iron path" from Achdorf to Fützen between Schlucht and Buchberg was also blocked after the disaster of the baggage train, but also had to be defended against advancing French with few men. However, the majority of the German troops had to pass through here at night.

Location Wutachschlucht / Achdorf
On the night of April 25th to 26th, 1945 there were heavy rains and strong thunderstorms, which definitely prevented forests from catching fire, especially in the Wutach Valley:

“Thursday, April 26th, 1945: The further action of the group south is greatly delayed by the onset of rain, which softens the paths in the heavily mountainous terrain north of Fützen and makes them impassable. The 8.8 anti-aircraft guns can no longer be led up the slippery, steep mountain paths despite the leader of three and four tractors or up to 24 horses. Almost all heavy vehicles break down. Ammunition and supplies are running out, the heavy weapons are no longer there or no longer ready for use. […] The enemy air force is focusing on our vehicle columns and all possible targets to a greater extent and ultimately on rolling basis and is causing confusion. The situation is becoming hopeless. ”(Riedel, 65 f.).

Breakthrough in beets

According to the various, even different, situation reports, Keppler has to find an appropriate solution. It cannot just be about an abstract, 'strategic' view of hopelessness with the consequence of a 'general surrender'; every solution must be made possible through communication channels. And it must take into account the reactions of all those affected.

Keppler: “All division and brigade commanders ordered to see me [in Epfenhofen]. Orders: The fight is stopped. Everything makes its way in groups or individually towards the east or Allgäu. In order to make this possible, a battalion still strong to the north of Zollhaus-Blumberg struck a wide breach in the enemy embrace with strong shielding of the two flanks in order to allow the mass of the breakthrough group south to flow out of the pocket. The war is over for us today. ”(Keppler-Tagebuch, Riedel, 66).

Background
The problem for the German leadership, which was later confronted with the question of a `` timely '' surrender, was that at the moment of realizing the pointlessness of continuing the attempt to break out, a central control or end of the fighting, which was scattered in many places, as a result of the disorganization the means of communication could in fact not be used. Three days earlier (meeting in Hammereisenbach) a breakthrough still seemed promising and only here the decision to surrender could have been made in an 'orderly' manner. "This assessment in Hammereisenbach" - whether an outbreak was feasible - "(Keppler) demanded, and none of the division commanders did not trust the troops to perform."

In addition to the psychology of this situation - as Gerber suggests - it was also known how the colonial troops had raged unchecked by their French leaders in Freudenstadt - it seemed impossible to meet combat-ready men in front of a soldier who had just raped hundreds of women to surrender: “We knew exactly what the French were doing. The 'Freudenstadt' case played a major role in the corps meeting in Hammereisenbach. It made the issue of surrender so difficult for the troops. "

Epfenhofen (2005) Berg: Randenhöhe, was the direction of attack Randen

On April 26th, Keppler had no more connections with the northern group; the decision to carry out an attack in his immediate area in the Fützen-Epfenhofen basin was obviously determined by the consideration of a possible outbreak, a 'liberation strike', because he knew that the French bolt on the Randenhöhe was only relatively was weakly occupied. On the other hand, he did not have to know that the eastern hinterland in the depths down to the Lake Constance area was already largely occupied by the French army. According to statements from German soldiers, they assumed that the French had only driven a front wedge to the Swiss border.

The approach routes to Randen were covered by forest and the French did not expect an attack there:

"At 5:30 pm the Randen regiment attacks [...] I (have) to secure the road against the customs house during the attack [...] I then attacked with the company through the forest." After a "fire attack on an enemy position [ ...] around 50 French soldiers were captured by us. Since there were also some Alsatians among the prisoners, communication did not cause any difficulties. The mood was by no means hostile, because we knew that this was our last fighting. "

Witness report from the place:

Then "a German machine-gun troop managed to sneak into the village [...] These soldiers opened fire around 5:00 p.m. [... and] the German soldiers now attacked the French from all sides from the woods. . […] After about three hours of firefighting, the French withdrew towards the Swiss border and around 50 French were temporarily taken prisoner by Germany. Two French tanks and several armored vehicles were destroyed, some tanks, several armored vehicles and a lot of war material were left behind by the French. ”(Report Adolf Schmid, in Riedel, 406 f.).

This process is confirmed by Paul Rothmund: “Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon the attack of the German troops in 3 assault columns on our district began. [...] The population had taken refuge in the cellars of the houses and was anxiously awaiting the outcome of the fight. At the beginning of the fight, some houses were on fire, more and more followed, and finally 12 houses were on fire. As darkness fell, the first German soldiers penetrated the place from the north, while the French cleared the place. […] During the night the German soldiers left our place. ”(Rothmund report, in Riedel, 411.).

In 10 days in April Trendle wrote - probably after Lieutenant Burget's report - that “at 4:45 p.m. the German grenadier regiment 1055, under the command of a major, attacked Randen from the direction of Epfenhofen.” After “almost two hours of fighting [ …] (Succeeds) through a hasty escape leaving behind all the material, the scattered [French] heap to retreat behind the Swiss border near Neuhaus. […] Already half an hour after the end of the fighting, tired and filthy German columns of the 89th Infantry Division, […] only equipped with hand weapons and the bare essentials, are marching through the village ”(Trendle, 133 f.).

“April 27, 45 (midnight) Meeting of the regimental command post in Randen. New order: The unit fights its way into the Allgäu in groups […] 0.30 - march off with the company team. ”(Burget, in Riedel, 85).

Keppler noted:

“The battalion's attack was successful. At 6 p.m. a wide breach was made in the enemy front, through which individual troops are now ceaselessly withdrawing to the east. The withdrawal movement is made much easier by the pouring rain and succeeds completely and unhindered by the enemy, who no longer dared to venture into the darkness that has now fallen. "The general with his staff also moves through the gap:" The enemy had in the meantime felt again, yes we also managed to make our way through the enemy lines under cover of darkness and the still pouring rain. "

- Georg Keppler: Diary. In: H. Riedel, Halt! Swiss border! , P. 66.

General de Lattre de Tassigny wrote of the opponents: “When everything seemed lost, they suddenly turned east. Then that night they put everything on one card to make a final push against the Randen post. The fierce battle lasted two hours. Due to a lack of ammunition, after having lost almost all of their vehicles, the defenders are finally forced to retreat to the south of the village, where 3,000 to 4,000 Germans pour in. ”(Riedel, 170).

While the beginning of the fighting in the late afternoon appears to be guaranteed, as does the French withdrawal before midnight, the information about the process the next morning falls apart:

The entry in the diary of the 4th Moroccan Infantry Division is obviously incorrect:

“On the morning of April 27th, heavily attacked by the enemy who was breaking out in the west, the 4th Squadron of the 4th Moroccan Spahi Regiment had to give up the Randen base and retreat to Neuhaus after a very fierce battle. At 7:10 am Randen will be occupied again. ”(Riedel, 129).

The attack took place in the late afternoon of April 26th, the return of the French only on April 27th around noon:

Chronicle, April 27, 1945

After the firefight began, the civilian population fled into the cellar, so that the people at first didn't even notice that the houses were on fire. […] The full extent of the destruction could only be determined the next morning, on April 27th. The place was still occupied by German troops until dawn, but between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. new French troops came from the direction of the customs house, and soon afterwards the French, who had fled to the Swiss border, came back again. Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., the entire civilian population was rounded up by Randen. Three men were to be shot "because they had resisted as civilians during the fighting and shot at French soldiers." In response to the testimony of a Soviet prisoner of war and a Soviet civilian worker, two men were released, one resident was shot dead, his discharge by other residents was not rated. “During the fighting from April 25 to April 26, 16 German soldiers were killed in Randen, most of whom could not be identified. [...] How many French died in the fighting could not be determined, but there were several, these were transported away. […] On Sunday, April 29th, German soldiers [prisoners of war] marched through Randen for about 4-5 hours. An estimated 5000 to 6000 men were involved here. "

A second reporter describes the struggle for Randen with only minor variations and the same process - 12 houses were burned down - “half the village […] Two women were seriously injured by the civilian population. These two got caught in machine gun fire while leaving their burning houses. A girl stepped on a mine and was killed in the process. In addition, 80 heads of cattle and 20 pigs were killed during the fight. "

Dissolution of German units

The local reporter Huber is now commissioned to lead his unit via Fützen to Leipferdingen. The troops marched through Epfenhofen early in the morning on April 26th, saved Randendorf and the already occupied Leipferdingen, disbanded and on April 27th they were largely captured at Haslerhof near Engen .

The soldiers tried “to break away across the Swiss border, or those who lived nearby to make their way home, but for the most part they did not succeed.” Only a few were interned in Switzerland, “almost all of them got into French captivity, most of them in the Wiechs am Randen area . ”(A. Schmid, 409).

The reports of civilians - often the local pastors - and also individual soldiers about the time after the outbreak are detailed, but also localized. An overview beyond this is seldom or is based on subsequent 'hearsay'. Obviously, however, many smaller and larger groups got beyond the Randenhöhe (a group with about 1000 men as far as the Tengen area) and only then were mostly captured in the Hegau. That an outbreak - d. In other words, from April 26th to April 27th, it was possible to get through the containment ring and through the already enemy-occupied hinterland, is shown by General Keppler's further path:

The staff group with the general also succeeded in making their way through the enemy lines “under cover of darkness and the still pouring rain.” The group was able to - also with the help of the population - through the enemy-occupied area (on Monday, April 30th). advance to the southwest of Pfullendorf . (End of diary). The general managed to get through to his family, who lived on the Chiemsee , and did not go into American captivity until May 22, 1945. Keppler died on June 16, 1966 in Hamburg. The commander of 89 ID, Major General Richard Bazing, managed to reach the Swiss border with his staff at Singen . The group was interned in Switzerland. After crossing the border, Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Gerber was able to negotiate with the Swiss and French: “I surrendered on Saturday, April 28, 1945, in Wiechs a. R. with 25 officers and 1,140 NCOs and soldiers. ”(Chief of Staff K. Gerber, Sigmaringen. In: Riedel, 69 f.).

The fact that Keppler himself took part in the outbreak and did not attempt to surrender in an orderly manner at the border with larger units in cooperation with the Swiss military was due to the fact that - according to Gerber - “Switzerland refuses to negotiate with an SS leader. This was the reason why he gave me powers of attorney and became self-employed. ”(Riedel, 110).

Thousands of soldiers, mostly in small groups, were turned away at the Swiss border and almost all of them were taken prisoner; only a few succeeded in internment at the border. Sooner or later many were captured in the rapidly expanding area of ​​attack by the French to the east.

Swiss border

Commemorative plaque of refugees crossing Switzerland, Schleitheim 1945

Knowing the chronology of the events, the memorial plaque at the Germany-Switzerland border crossing between Stühlingen and Schleitheim can be assessed: The naming of the more than 5000 refugees and refugees according to their countries of origin dates from April 21 to 25, 1945, the period of the imminent and then On April 25, French troops marched along the High Rhine to Stühlingen. After that, the border was immediately sealed off by Switzerland. Until then, 764 Germans had asked to be admitted, the majority of the other people were foreign and forced laborers (including Western Europeans). In addition, there were some foreigners living in middle-class Germany.

After the border crossing at Schleitheim was closed, a closed column of forced laborers from the direction of Wutöschingen arrived who could no longer gain access and were sent on.

In the course of time, the interception of the individually and in groups attempted passage of German soldiers to Switzerland east of the Schaffhausen border ledge was decisive for the Swiss troops. There was also a problem in the Jestetten area with dispersed troops who had got into the 'dead end' there (the so-called Jestetter Zipfel ). After the attempt by the French military administration in May 1945 to create a five-kilometer-wide zone along the entire Upper Rhine border to Lake Constance , but failed due to local resistance, the church organization and finally the Western Allied headquarters in Paris, the The extremely confusing 'Jestetter Zipfel' cleared from the border .

Losses and destruction

Stone for a German soldier who died on April 26, 1945 in the fighting in the Blumberg area

In the literature and the archives there are numerous reports from contemporary witnesses - mostly from pastors or members of the parish offices - according to which around 100 German and probably a similar number of French soldiers lost their lives in the Blumberg area; in addition there were around 20 civilian deaths and a large number of wounded and injured.

The population in the area was massively affected in numerous places - first by artillery fire, then also by close-range and house-to-house fighting and, after the occupation by the French, by acts of violence and many rape. The fact that the death toll in the civilian population appears to be relatively low was due to the massive construction of the farmhouses with the old vaulted cellars, which were only abandoned when the buildings burned down. The vaults of churches and parishes also offered protection to residents who were not favored by property or the numerous evacuees from cities. The farmers lost large numbers of animals.

Behla was almost completely destroyed; 50 to 70 percent of the buildings were destroyed in the pillars, roofs and edges. During the Jabo massacre in the Wutach valley around Achdorf, the German soldiers were mostly able to take cover (17 dead), but over 800 (baggage) horses were killed.

The question of surrender

In addition to the reasons already mentioned, an important factor in the delaying and breakout struggle of the German troops was the knowledge of the conditions in the French prisoner-of-war camps, which made a - also personal - breakthrough in the home area seem sensible. Gerber gives further reasons and motives of the participants in the meeting: hope of internment in Switzerland, knowledge of excesses by French troops against the population, the possibility of eliminating the resistance of fanatics, such as "Werewolf actions [...:] They were militarily meaningless, meant but a great danger for the population, as the French had left no doubt about reprisals. "

Gerber mentions the fact that “the corps was operating in an area that had been prepared for defense by a“ defense commissioner ”[Gauleiter Robert Wagner ], but which had no connections and no longer any responsibility. The lower authorities acted on their own responsibility. [...] The local party organs had to have their authority to issue orders withdrawn. This succeeded only after the elimination of the Gauleitung [... Keppler], as the SS leader, was the only one who had an impact on the party organizations. […] Very many prepared blastings were not carried out […] Blasting of the Schwarzenbachtalsperre in the northern Black Forest. ”(Gerber, 108 f.).

Review

Grave of the German fallen at the Evangelical Church in Blumberg

The band stop! Swiss border! (1985) is a comprehensive collection of documents that the author Hermann Riedel had prepared with smaller publications. The focus is on what is happening in the Upper Rhine region, the Swiss neighborhood and in the Blumberg area. Riedel also succeed in reflections in the form of short summaries of military aspects. The second work, 10 Days in April (2003) by Fred Trendle, supplements the depictions in the Blumberg area and brings in the processes in the wider Baar area. Trendle also brings in summaries of the situation (even about Berlin), but these are heavily interspersed with personal comments, which certainly have their truth content, but produce permanent 'blurring'. His representations are based on literature, which he gives as a list, but not cited or assigned by footnotes. In contrast to Riedle, who created a collection of sources, Trendle's work is to be seen as “secondary literature”, the sources of which would have to be traced back again.

Nevertheless, both works stand out far from the incomprehension of later authors, who obviously judge across the board without precise knowledge:

Ulrich Müller, Wutachtalbahn (1978), judged even before the publication of Riedle's volume:

"In the last days of April, remnants of scattered SS and Wehrmacht units tried to bring about the final victory between Wutach and Randen on the orders of insane officers ."

This established an assessment that was then followed through regional comments and also the literature on the Wutach Valley Railway in the post-war period. The first corrections were made at the end of the 50th anniversary of the war in 1995.

Broadcast by TV Eichberg on May 23, 1995
  • In 1995, the Klettgau local broadcaster TV Eichberg documented the events (based on Riedel's work) in a more neutral manner, including interviews with contemporary witnesses and a slide presentation by a former Swiss officer. The program also emphasizes the evacuation of the population in the Jestetten area by the French occupying forces and the successful prevention of the evacuation of a 5-kilometer zone along the High Rhine in May / June 1945.
  • At the same time, 50 years after the end of the war at the end of April 1995, commemorative events, an exhibition and various meetings on the events of April 26 and 27, 1945 were held in the village of Randen. In the service, Pastor Harald Klein also addressed the cause of the war:

“In his question of guilt, the clergyman did not look for the side or a person who could be held responsible for this act. Rather, he appealed to each and every one of them to refrain from 'acts of war in everyday life' in accordance with Christian teaching and to respect and respect people. "

Roger Munck from France, who “as a 20-year-old soldier was on the verge of this April 26, 1945, also contributed to the prudence and objectivity in remembering. He was already in the village during the day, looked at former battlefields and had conversations with some of the residents. ”The conciliatory tone, free of blame, was also retained in all other press reports. “On Sunday morning on May 8, 1995, almost three dozen guests gathered on the Randen to plant a memorial in the form of a linden tree on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. [...] Roger Munck, who was a French frontline soldier [and interpreter] at the time, also (attended) this event. "

A sign of the fighting over Fützen that is still visible today is damage caused by a Jabo attack : “The western stone pillar of the Fützener Bridge was damaged. During the restoration a few years ago, these areas were deliberately left standing as a 'memorial'. "

Remarks

  1. The documents are arranged according to parties - military from both sides, Swiss border guards and civilian reporters, and the latter according to their localities. A chronological sequence, a chronicle of the events is missing there. This was also missing in the later processing (press articles, anniversaries). A number of general assumptions have been corrected.
  2. While H. Riedel primarily compiled a collection of documents, troop diaries from both sides and witness reports, Fred Trendle, who was able to fall back on Riedel's volume in 2003, succeeded in describing the connections between troop movements and battlefields more precisely, but reduced it through numerous emotional and rhetorical submissions add to the value of its portrayal. The assignment of his information to the literature used is also missing. Also significant is his compilation of the air raids in the Baar from late 1943 to April 1945, as well as the collection of illustrations that has been expanded compared to Riedel. In order not to additionally dramatize the description in quotations, the past tense was chosen for the presence of the Trendles quotations in the connecting text parts. In the interest of legibility and in order not to unnecessarily overload the record keeping system, the frequently used sources (Riedel, Trendle) have been put in brackets in the running text.
  3. Riedel mentions an SS news and propaganda unit, a dog squadron and the SS Perner group : “Of these SS units, the SS group Perner was only part of the 89th Infantry Division War days among other things in St. Trudpert assaults allowed, the retreat from the Rhine plain to the Swiss border with. The members of the SS Perner group were French who were agents in the service of the German Wehrmacht, wore Wehrmacht uniforms and withdrew with the Wehrmacht across the Rhine onto German soil. ”(Riedel, 29).
  4. On August 1, 1943, the General Staff of the Army set up four levels for “assessment of the combat value” of troop units “regarding status reports”. The lowest, combat value IV , meant: 'Conditionally suitable for defense'. (Riedel, 114).
  5. Keppler had the I. SS Panzer Corps in Normandy and finally (until February 4, 1945) on the Eastern Front the III. SS Panzer Corps led . In January 1945 he was promoted to commanding general of the XVIII. Appointed SS Army Corps, took command on February 8th, but was then acting leader of the 19th Army for three weeks. (Report Lieutenant General Willy Seeger, Commander of Division No. 405. In Riedel, 21.) After the war, the Allies did not accuse Keppler of any violations of military conventions, not even brutal warfare.
  6. (Keppler's diary, April 21, 1945 in: Riedel, 56). Lieutenant Colonel i. G. Kurt Gerber, from April 19th Chief of Staff of the XVIII. SS-AK, added:
    Schwarzenbachtalsperre 2014
    “It was possible to prevent the Schwarzenbach dam in the northern Black Forest from being blown up [...] For him [Keppler] it was important to first shut down the Gauleitung. Gauleiter Robert Wagner could cause him difficulties as Reich Defense Commissioner . This only succeeded through the […] demarche to Simonswald after the Gauleiter had fled. ”Keppler withdrew the authority of local party organs and consistently suppressed werewolf actions . “In Hammereisenbach, and most recently in Epfenhofen, the last troops were disbanded.” The French had left no doubt about retaliatory actions: “The Freudenstadt case played a major role in the corps briefing in Hammereisenbach. This made the question of surrender so difficult for the troops. ”(Kurt Gerber in: Riedel, 108 f.)
  7. Trendle names 14 fallen German soldiers. Trendle, 112, describes the events afterwards in detail: It was not until after 3 p.m., towards evening, that the worst excesses began: “How electrified the whipped Soldateska attacks the women in the village. Some girls fear losing their minds. When the colonial soldiers turned away, they raped around sixty women of all ages. [...] More Moroccans (turn) house by house upside down and plunder. "The soldier was only" shot in front of the burning town hall on the evening after a brief court martial [...]. "
  8. In his memoirs, Huber dates this report to April 25; he is wrong here, however, that day was relatively calm in the valley and his description concerns April 26th.
  9. It is known in research that children often prove themselves as contemporary witnesses, as they perceive events with emotions, but more “unideologically” and can even do justice to both sides - thus describe neutrally or truthfully, while adults tend to do so evaluate partiality and also allow later knowledge to flow retrospectively into their original memories.
  10. The designation of origin " Annam " probably relates to the " Indian Legion " stationed in the south-west of Germany , whose members were not considered fit for combat and were only used for "construction missions". When the French approached, the groups were disbanded. At that time - presumably also officially - all Asian-looking people who could not be identified as Japanese and Chinese were called "Indians". However, since there were also Indochinese among the French colonial troops (can be proven with a photo), it could also have been a deserted French unit. Rushing ahead of the French army and especially following the combat troops, marauding, motorized and armed army members ("deserters") who had broken away from the regular army for the purpose of looting and rape and who spread fear and terror among the population acted in advance of the French army.

literature

  • Hermann Riedel: Stop! Swiss border! The end of the Second World War in the southern Black Forest and on the Upper Rhine in documentary reports by German, French and Swiss participants and those affected. Südkurier Verlag, Konstanz 1983. ISBN 3-87799-023-1 .
  • Fred Trendle: Ten days in April. The end of the war on the Baar and the upper Danube in April 1945. Self-published, Kirchen-Hausen 2003, ISBN 3-00-010705-3 .
  • Jean de Lattre de Tassigny : Histoire de la 1ère army française - Rhin et Danube. Paris 1949.
  • Brunhilde Wild b. Tied: Fützen. Contemporary witnesses remember. Without date, Reimer archive.
  • Randen 1945. With a contemporary witness contribution from the volume 10 days in April and newspaper reports at the end of April 1995. Numerous photos. Reimer archive.
  • Hinterzarten community, Ortschronik working group (ed.): “We didn't know what was coming”. The end of World War II in the Upper Black Forest in reports from contemporary witnesses, Denzlingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-019192-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. Hermann Riedel: Stop! Swiss border! Verlag des Südkurier , Konstanz 1983, p. 15.
  2. Report Lieutenant General Willy Seeger, Commander of Division No. 405. In: Hermann Riedel: Halt! Swiss border! , P. 21. In January and February 1945, Seeger led the XVIII. SS-AK The last German troops left the bridgehead on February 9th.
  3. Fred Trendle: 10 days in April. The end of the war in the Baar and on the upper Danube in April 1945. Self-published, Kirchen-Hausen 2003.
  4. Hermann Riedel: Stop! Swiss border! The end of the Second World War in the southern Black Forest and on the Upper Rhine in documentary reports by German, French and Swiss participants and those affected. Südkurier Verlag, Konstanz 1983. ISBN 3-87799-023-1 .
  5. 1.) Brunhilde Wild born. Tied: Fützen. Contemporary witnesses remember. Without date, Reimer archive; 2.) Eleonore Jermann: childhood memories of the Zollhaus train station. 2000, in: Dietrich Reimer: Schweigener Zeuge Quoted from: Die Sauschwänzlebahn in: Writings of the Association for History and Natural History of the Baar, Volume 59, April 2016, p. 63 f .; 3.) Randen 1945. With a contemporary witness contribution from a publication 10 days in April and newspaper reports at the end of April 1995. Numerous photos. Reimer archive.
  6. Report Lieutenant General Willy Seeger, Commander of Division No. 405. In: Riedel, 21 f.
  7. Georg Keppler: Diary, April 16, 1945. In: Riedel, 39.
  8. Report Captain Kurt Schaff Maier, Regts. Adj. To the Grenadier Reg.8 "Upper Rhine" (Gren.Reg. 1063). In: Riedel, 47 and 59.
  9. ^ Diary of Chief Paymaster Dr. Rudolf Pechhold, Grenadier Reg. 7 "Upper Rhine" (Gren. Reg. 1056). In: Riedel, 58.
  10. ^ Report of Sergeant Julius Bach, Volkssturm at Grenadier Reg. 8. In: Riedel, 60.
  11. Diary entries ("Historiques succinets") of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division from April 15 to May 6, 1945. In Riedel, 149.
  12. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny : Histoire de la 1re Armée française - Rhin et Danube. Paris 1949. Excerpted 19. – 30. April in Riedel, 165.
  13. ^ Lattre de Tassigny: Histoire de la 1re Armée française. 1949, in Riedel, 165 f.
  14. Detailed details on the situation and what was going on in the towns before the French arrived at: Fred Trendle: 10 days in April , 2003, pp. 6 to 19.
  15. diary ( Historiques succinets ) 1st Panzer Division from April 21 to April 28, 1945. Riedel, 132nd
  16. August Vetter: The history of the city of Fürstenberg. Issue 9 of the series of publications of the district of Donaueschingen. In: Riedel, 330.
  17. ^ Report by Pastor Julius Lamp, Archbishopric. Parish office Mundelfingen, January 16, 1946 in: Riedel, 331 f.
  18. Report by Pastor Franz Beugel, Achdorf: The fighting in the Wutachtal. (7.6.1945) in: Riedel, 359.
  19. ^ Parish vicar Albert Wik from the Catholic parish office of Blumberg, eyewitness report in: Riedel, 402 ff.
  20. ^ Report on the occupation by French troops on April 23, 1945 by architect Martin, Zollhaus Blumberg. In: Riedel, 405.
  21. ^ Report by Parish Vicar Albert Wik. Catholic parish office Blumberg. In: Riedel, 403.
  22. Adolf Schmid, Blumberg: Report on the last days of the war in Randen. In: Riedel, 406.
  23. ^ Paul Rothmund, Randendorf: Report on the occupation by French troops on April 23, 1945 (January 26, 1946). In: Riedel, 410.
  24. ^ Reporter Leutnant Hans Huber, leader of a company of the Jäger-Ersatz-Batl. 56 in Villingen. In: Riedel, 84.
  25. ^ Report to Captain Fritz Widmaier, Hheilbronn, Commander of the Jäger-Ersatz-Btl. 56: End of the war in 1945. In: Riedel, 51.
  26. ^ Lieutenant Hans Huber, Company Commander Jäg. Ers. Btl. 56. Riedel, 76 f.
  27. Blumberg report from parish vicar Albert Wik (Kath. Pfarramt Blumberg). In: Riedel, p. 403 f.
  28. ^ Report of Pastor August Ganter, Ewattingen, July 31, 1945 (Catholic parish office Ewattingen). In: Riedel, p. 318 f.
  29. ^ Report to Captain Fritz Widmaier, commander of the Jäger-Ersatz-Btl. 56. In: Riedel, 51. Also involved in the fighting was "1 Air Force Regiment, Army Air Force School AOK 19, Furtwangen [... and] a Pak from Aselfingen." (Fritz Beugel in: Riedel, 371).
  30. ^ Detailed report (damage to houses, names, multiple occurrences) by Pastor Fritz Beugel, Achdorf (June 7, 1945). In: Riedel, 373 ff.
  31. The approaching process can only be imagined as long, initially meaningful columns that use available roads and then, if one is blocked, try to move to the next door that is already being used by columns. This is where the need to deploy officers who are as experienced as possible becomes clear.
  32. Brigitte Matt-Willmatt, Karl-Friedricht Hoggenmüller: Lauchringen - Chronik einer Gemeinde , Ed .: Gemeinde Lauchringen, Lauchringen 1985, pp. 578/580.
  33. diary entries ( "Historiques succinets") of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division, April 15 to May 6, 1945. In: Riedel, 157th
  34. ^ Report by Pastor Geistl. Council Waibel from the Archbishop. Parish office in Fützen. In Riedel, 392 ff.
  35. Lieutenant Colonel i. G. Kurt Gerber (most recently Major General in the Bundeswehr): Final consideration. In: Riedel, 109 f. Major General Kurt Gerber was commander of the 10th Panzer Division of the German Armed Forces from January 1, 1965 to October 1, 1968 .
  36. Kurt Gerber: final consideration. In: Riedel, 109.
  37. Report of Lieutenant Alois Burget, Grenadier Regiment. 6 Upper Rhine (Gren. Rgt. 1055), in: Riedel, 84 f.
  38. Adolf Schmid, Blumberg: Report on the last days of the war in Randen. In: Riedel, 407 ff.
  39. ^ Paul Rothmund, Randendorf (January 20, 1946). In: Riedel, 412.
  40. General of the Waffen-SS Georg Keppler: The retreat to the Südbaar with enemy contact on the border of the canton of Schaffhausen and the dissolution of the combat group 89th Infantry Division in the Randen and Wutach area. In: Riedel, 65 ff.
  41. Information from Hermann Riedel: Stop! Swiss border! Südkurier publishing house, Konstanz 1983. ISBN 3-87799-023-1 .
  42. ^ Ulrich Müller: Die Wutachtalbahn , Schneider-Verlag Grenzach-Wyhlen, 1978/1990, p. 42. (without ISBN).
  43. (Author) disc: To renounce acts of war in everyday life , Südkurier, April 28, 1945, document sheet 9, as well as disc: Linde as a symbol for peace , Südkurier, May 9, 1945, document sheet 49. In: Documentation Randen 1945 ( Reimer archive).
  44. ^ Dietrich Reimer: The Sauschwänzlebahn - from the strategic bypass railway to the tourist museum railway. In: Writings of the Association for History and Natural History of the Baar, Volume 59, April 2016, p. 63.