Battle of Bautzen
The Battle of Bautzen , which took place from April 21 to April 26, 1945, is the name given to the extensive fighting between the German Wehrmacht on the one hand and Polish and Soviet units on the other in and around the city of Bautzen during World War II . The battle was primarily characterized by the last major German tank offensive as well as a house-to-house battle that lasted for days , which led to the complete recapture of Bautzen, but also affected the areas northeast of the city, especially on the Bautzen– Niesky line . In particular, the 2nd Polish Army suffered heavy losses during the fighting.
Course of the fighting
Like many German cities, especially on the Eastern Front , Bautzen was declared a fortress city in the last phase of the Second World War and built up as a “bulwark” against Allied troops.
The commander of the “ 1st Ukrainian Front ” of the Red Army , Marshal Ivan Stepanowitsch Konew , opened the advance to the west and the battle for Berlin with his major attack on April 16, 1945 . The 2nd Polish Army of the Polish People's Army under General Karol Świerczewski (also known as "General Walter") was supposed to secure the left southern flank of the planned advance on the Dresden- Bautzen-Niesky line as part of Operation Lausitz .
The German units had around 50,000 men in the Bautzen and Upper Lusatia area , including the " Parachute Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring " ( Note : the sister organization " Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring " was, contrary to the information, in parts of the literature not yet in the combat area at the time in question), the 20th and 21st Panzer Divisions and the 17th and 72nd Infantry Divisions . Some of these units were experienced in combat, but some were also filled with recruits . They had up to 300 tanks (mostly Pz.Kpfw. IV and a few Pz.Kpfw. V Panther ), around 450 armored combat vehicles ( Sd.Kfz. 234 , Sturmgeschütze III and IV , Jagdpanzer IV , Jagdpanzer 38 (t) and various others) and 600 artillery pieces . The 2nd Polish Army consisted of around 90,000 men and a large number of tanks supplied by the Soviet Union (mainly T-34/85 ), armored vehicles (including the SU-85 tank destroyer , some SU-152 assault tanks ) and various kinds of artillery Most of the soldiers had little combat experience.
Initially, the Polish offensive against the German defensive positions in and around Bautzen started successfully. In some places the German defense lines could be breached and the German troops cut off from one another. Bautzen was completely surrounded and partially occupied. However, members of the Wehrmacht, the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm were entrenched in the Ortenburg in particular . At times over 1200 German soldiers were trapped in the Bautzen Fortress.
From April 21, 1945, the last major and successful German tank offensive of the Second World War began on the Bautzen – Weißenberg line , between the Spree and Schwarzes Schöps in a north-northwest direction and reached its climax on April 26. The tank corps "Greater Germany" under General der Panzertruppe Jauer , consisting of the 20th and 21st Panzer Divisions under Major General Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski (since November 1944 commander of the 20th Pz.Div.), Could as a result with the 17th and 21st Panzer Divisions 72nd Infantry Division liberate the troops trapped in Bautzen despite less modern "Panther" tanks and later lack of fuel supplies from the hydrogenation works (ivF petrol ). The 1st Parachute Panzer Division "Hermann Göring" attacked the partially occupied Bautzen from the southwest and at the same time launched an attack west of the city along the Spree. The German tank attack with infantry support made rapid progress, especially east of the city, splitting the Polish army into two groups and partially cutting off their supply routes. In Förstgen the remains of 16 Polish Armored Brigade were wiped out. Most of the Polish tanks of Soviet design (over one hundred) were destroyed. Numerous vehicles could be captured. The 1st Parachute Panzer Division managed to smash the remnants of the 5th Polish Infantry Division north of Bautzen and to encircle part of the 9th Polish Infantry Division further to the northeast as it withdrew. The commander of the 5th Polish Infantry Division, General Aleksander Waszkiewicz , who was wounded in combat , was captured by German armored troops, tortured during interrogation according to Polish sources and then shot dead. The leadership of the 2nd Polish Army lost track of everything and issued contradicting orders several times. The German units managed to drive their opponents out of Bautzen again after several days of heavy house fighting . Only the fact that Konew withdrew Soviet units from his advance to the west and sent them to support the Polish units prevented their complete annihilation. But the Soviet troops, who were expecting a determined attack by the Wehrmacht, suffered heavy losses in the fighting that followed. In the following two days, the 1st Polish Division was destroyed by the 1st Parachute-Panzer Division near Koenigsbrück . The remaining Polish and Soviet soldiers, unless captured or perished, hurriedly retreated in a north-easterly direction, whereupon the fighting subsided and the situation slowly calmed down.
There were isolated clashes near Bautzen up to April 30th, but in the period up to the end of the war there were only a few individual skirmishes. A number of war crimes were committed on both sides in the course of the fighting . On April 22, 1945, in today's Bautzen district of Niederkaina, a barn in which around 200 people from the Volkssturm were located was burned down by Soviet and / or Polish soldiers. On the same day, German troops in Guttau , northeast of Bautzen, killed the entire staff and all the wounded and sick of a Polish field hospital . Bautzen itself was retaken by the tank offensive and remained in German hands until the end of the war. The city was only handed over to Soviet and Polish soldiers after the total surrender of the German armed forces on May 8, 1945.
Balance sheet
The 2nd Polish Army in particular suffered very heavy losses during the fighting in "Operation Lausitz" around Bautzen. According to official information, it recorded a total of 4,902 dead, 2,798 missing and 10,532 wounded. In a relatively short period of time, the Polish Army lost over 22 percent of its soldiers and 57 percent of its tanks and armored vehicles. According to the company, 27 percent of the total Polish military losses in the 20 months from October 1943 to May 1945 can be traced back to the Battle of Bautzen. Apart from the Warsaw Uprising of autumn 1944, there is not said to have been a single military operation in which more Poles were killed. The losses of the Soviet and German armies were also considerable. In and around the city of Bautzen itself, around 6,500 soldiers were killed on both sides and - according to partly contradicting information - around 350 German civilians were killed. In the fighting, around 10 percent of the houses and around 33 percent of the city's housing stock were destroyed. 18 bridges, 46 small businesses, 23 larger businesses and 35 public buildings were completely destroyed. Despite the severe destruction in World War II, Bautzen is still characterized today by a particularly rich historical building fabric.
Despite the military debacle , General Świerczewski was promoted to army general after the Battle of Bautzen . Polish propaganda also kept silent about the inglorious role played by the Polish staff during the fighting. Although the battle was described as extremely bloody, it was never described as a defeat for the Polish People's Army . The myth of the undefeated general was built around Świerczewski . In today's Poland it is viewed much more critically because of its dubious political and military role.
consequences
The last major success of the Wehrmacht had no significant effects on the course of the war and the near surrender of the German troops.
See also
literature
- Eberhard Berndt: The battles for Bautzen April 18-27, 1945. In: Kriegsschauplatz Sachsen 1945. Dates, facts, backgrounds , Altenburg / Leipzig 1995, pp. 53–67.
- Eberhard Berndt: The battles for Weißenberg and Bautzen in April 1945. Wölfersheim-Berstadt 1999.
- Arno Lehnert: Bautzen 1945. 110 documentary pictures of the destruction in the city of Bautzen at the end of the Second World War. Bautzen 1995.
- Rolf Hinze: heat, frost and powder steam . The fate of the 20th Panzer Division. Meerbusch 6th edition 1996