Americans in the Battle of Berlin - The Untold Story

[Music] the battle of berlin that savage danuman to world war ii in europe was a gigantic clash between the forces of nazi germany and the soviet union the other allies were not involved well that is what we have been led to believe the british americans and canadians had largely halted their push east at the line of the river elba in germany as per agreements made between the allied leaders the closest u.s forces to berlin from the final battle were some 80 miles west of the german capital u.s and soviet forces had met at the elba on the 25th of april 1945 cutting germany in half and a week into the battle of berlin soviet forces having reached the city's eastern suburbs on the 20th of april hitler's 56th and last birthday the meetings at the elba which i have dealt with in a previous video were well covered by allied journalists at torgau the meetings were carefully reenacted for the cameras and an american and red army officer shown in a comradely embrace but the battle raged on in berlin much to the frustration of allied journalists who could not cover it the meeting at torgau was the impetus for two of them to launch an unauthorized mission to berlin in an extraordinary and dashing exercise two american reporters and one gi protecting them would rush 80 miles through soviet territory to berlin and be in the city reporting on the fighting three full days before hitler's death and even more incredibly another party of war correspondence would reach berlin the day after the german city's surrender to witness the very last fighting in berlin between soviet and die-hard german forces two months before any of the western allies were to officially take up residence in the german capital both groups of war correspondents would be punished for these unauthorized missions to berlin not by the soviets but by the u.s high command war correspondents had been with allied troops since the beginning of the war u.s correspondents fell into two basic categories they were either government employees at the department of defense who work for official publications like stars and stripes or newspaper columnists who work for famous dailies like the new york times the chicago daily news or many smaller regional newspapers they wore a style of military uniform their non-combatant status clearly marked by sewn on patches giving their job title war correspondent but in all other regards looked like regular u.s officers without any rank insignia they were expressly forbidden from carrying firearms which would violate their non-combatant status they were both men and women indeed some of the most famous world war ii war correspondents were female among them former vogue fashion model lee miller and the chicago daily news helen kirkpatrick sharing all the same dangers and privations as male reporters many war correspondents of both sexes were killed or wounded in action as they were usually to be found at the very front it was a female correspondent that initiated the dash to berlin 36 year old virginia irwin of the saint louis post-dispatch had been one of the reporters covering the u.s soviet link-up at gal she was discussing the military situation with fellow reporter andrew tully of the boston traveler and lamenting she couldn't be where the most important action was taking place berlin tully mentioned that he had a jeep and a driver the two reporters made the decision on the spur of the moment they would drive the 80 miles to berlin through soviet lines just after lunch on the 27th of april erwin and tully piled aboard the jeep which was loaded with a couple of spare jerry cans of fuel and some rations behind the wheel was sergeant johnny wilson of the 26th infantry regiment as an actual us soldier he was armed with a colt 45 pistol and an m1 carbine getting to berlin was not straightforward they crossed over to the east bank of the elba and started off all along the route the soviets had removed the german road signs and replaced them with ones written in cyrillic which erwin's party couldn't read flying from the jeep was a crudely made stars and stripes flag every few miles the party was recognized by soviet troops who crowded around the jeep shaking hands with the americans and shouting emerikanski amerikanski at 8 pm the jeep reached the outskirts of berlin where fierce fighting rumbled in the distance like summer thunder the situation in berlin on the 27th of april 1945 was dire for the germans hitler had been attempting to organize a relief of the city by german forces fighting outside but the troops and the will simply didn't exist any longer to the south of berlin the german ninth army was attempting to try and break out of its pocket and retreat west in central berlin german forces had been pushed back street fighting was intense with heavy soviet casualties irwin tully and wilson were taken to a soviet command post and treated to a candlelit supper in makeshift surroundings in a requisitioned house plenty of vodka flowed into the evening just a few blocks away the correspondents could hear intense street fighting raging the house shaking as nearby soviet artillery was constantly fired the americans thought the scene completely unreal after dinner there was dancing until at one am on the 28th the americans managed to get away to sleep the next morning the soviets fed them a hearty breakfast a veal and potatoes washed down with hot milk and vodka apparently the soviets thought the americans mad for having come into the hell that was berlin irwin and her companions moved up to the front line several times they tried to move through the shattered streets swept by german and soviet fire to reach the famous unterden linden in the city center but gave it up as it would have been suicide as erwin wrote in the field dispatch the whole day was like being transported to another and strange world i felt as though i'd been caught in a giant whirlpool of destruction there was such an air of unreality about the whole of the battle for berlin that i thought at times i had lost my reason and was only imagining the strange and unearthly sights during fighting on the 28th of april the soviets actually caught sight of their ultimate prize the reichstag parliament building of the distance the reichstag area was exceptionally heavily defended by mostly ss troops and taking it would be a very costly affair for the red army also on the evening of the 28th of april hitler learned of reichsfuhrer ss heinrich himmler's betrayal him having been secretly negotiating a german surrender with the western allies hitler ordered himmler's arrest the end was fast approaching for hitler now trapped in his bunker beneath the ruined reich chancellery irwin tully and wilson were the only americans to witness first hand some of the combat in the city center and the huge amount of destruction and death being wrought by the fighting berlin was by now a heap of burning ruins with the german defenders fought resolutely on in fear of capture by the soviets not wishing to spend another night in the maelstrom of berlin the three americans decided to drive back to u.s lines on the elba arriving on the east bank a few hours later the soviets refused to allow them to cross erwin could see u.s troops on the west bank and she stood and shouted across i am american woman come and get me away from these russians a short time later the three intrepid americans were rescued by u.s assault boats and brought over to the west side of the river sadly erwin and tully's risky journey had been for nothing as punishment for disappearing on their unauthorized trip to berlin their stories would not be filed until after the complete germans surrender on the 8th of may 1945 however they bore the unique dateline berlin germany april 27th a few days later erwin and tully were officially discredited by general eisenhower's headquarters shafe meaning that they were no longer official war correspondents both were sent back to the states another group of u.s correspondents would also be discredited for sneaking into berlin without permission in a similar fashion to erwin and tully's drive from the elba to berlin two more u.s correspondents attempted the same on the 3rd of may 1945 the day after berlin had officially surrendered john groth was a combat artist and correspondent for the american legion magazine and he was joined by seymour frieden of the new york herald tribune the second jeep contained two u.s army photographers ernie liza of stars and stripes and mack morris of yank magazine all wore us army uniform with appropriate war correspondent markings and all were unarmed just after lunch the reporters were stopped at a soviet checkpoint on the edge of berlin fried in converse with the red army captain in broken yiddish and the jeeps were eventually permitted to pass driving in the rain past templehof airport its formerly neat white buildings fire blackened and the airfield covered with the wrecks of german aircraft as they drove deeper into the city they saw plenty of dead germans burned out tanks and masses of german equipment strewn about the shattered streets the stench of decomposing corpses was everywhere reaching wilhelm strasse in the central government district the great buildings were partially ruined fire blackened and peppered with small arms and artillery marks the little convoy drove up to the reich chancellery on which the recently victorious soviets had mounted a large black and white photograph of stalin the americans stopped and climbed down from their jeeps to explore the reich chancellery the whole edifice was badly damaged it's once grand interiors wrecked and looted driving further down the unter den linden towards the brandenburg gate red banners fluttering atop this iconic german landmark passed the gutted adlon hotel the jeeps were stopped and the americans got out and clambered over a barrier the germans had built beneath the gate and started down into the tiergarten where there was frenetic soviet activity heavy firing indicated that not all the germans had surrendered on the 2nd of may the tiergarten once an elegant city park now resembled a denuded forested battlefield full of trenches and shell holes bodies and destroyed military vehicles the journalists crawled forward to take cover behind a large statue of german field marshal von mulker removing their m1 helmets lest the shape led them to be mistaken for german soldiers by the red army artillery machine gun and rifle fire was intense as the soviets rubbed out a last pocket of ss troops who refused to surrender friardin noted that it was 308 pm when the firing stopped picking themselves up from the mud the american journalist made a few more observations in the city center before driving back to u.s lines to file their stories however they were to meet the same fate as erwin and tully fryden and groth were both discredited for violating safe orders to halt of the elba and were sent back stateside while liza and morris as u.s army employees could not be discredited but they were instead both suspended as punishment western allied forces officially entered berlin to take over their allotted occupation sectors on the 4th of july 1945. two months after the plucky journalists and photographers had bluffed their way east to witness in person the last death rows of nazi germany thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 571,849

Rating: 4.9597588 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton, Battle of Berlin, War Correspondent, Torgau

Id: 4-zL9Axp_Cc

Length: 13min 4sec (784 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 13 2021

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