The Last Counter Strike | The Road To Berlin Part V

[Music] all our issues in the east can be traced to treachery nothing else but treachery steiner steiner and his troops are to attack immediately from their positions in the ebersvalde on the flank of montreufel's third panzer army it had been decided at the furore's conference to turn general bank's 12th army away from its positions on the western front bank will launch an attack toward the east and berlin relieving the pressure for ninth army you cannot sacrifice these children for a cause that is already lost i will not use them and i want you to cancel this order steiner does not have the strength to make such an attack i reject this order i insist on the witch role of the ninth army now i tell you if this final request is not approved then i must demand to be released from my post can i have an appointment with the fjord to discuss the situation [Music] [Music] so [Music] the heavy fighting on the oda in april 1945 was the last german strategic engagement on the eastern front and it literally resulted in the opening of the road to berlin for the red army in the last episode we detailed the difficulties encountered by zhukov's first beyond front to break through the german lines at zelo and his subsequent decision to commit the tank armies ahead of time in order to bulldoze his way to berlin although this decision was criticized by many including stalin it nevertheless achieved its objective the german defense at zillow began to crumble away now let's investigate this key event from the german perspective we already know about hitler's belief that the main soviet offensive was aimed at prague not at berlin and for this reason he refused to provide heinrichy with the strategic reserves he requested for the older front we've also learned that buses ninth army could only hold its positions and resist the soviet onslaught for three days before finally collapsing let's detail these three days as seen from a german point of view with a particular focus on the pinza divisions that played a key role in this final stage of the war for ninth army the first day of fighting was already hard two important issues arose at once the premature commitment of almost all its reserves and the very high losses suffered by the infantry units yet busa resisted the first assault and zhukov ended up extremely disappointed he fell into the trap set by heiressi he wasted his artillery barrage on almost empty positions his spotlight idea was a fiasco his losses were appalling in men and tanks so that if the first day was a hard one for the germans it was a disaster for the soviets both sides feverishly regrouped forces for what was to come next facing this difficult situation the okw was forced to release from reserve the 18th and 25th panzer grenadier divisions which left in the evening for mitchenberg to join general veidling's 56 panzer corps heinrichy wanted to use these forces to counter-attack the russians ahead of munchenberg hitler decided otherwise and directed the first towards zillow and the second to world writzen but even more important than infantry were the armored units busa desperately called for panzers to counter the looming soviet breakthrough initially reluctant hitler eventually agreed to give all he had left the ss panzer grenadier divisions nederland and nordland along with the tank destroyer brigades pirate and dawn in addition around 10 alarm battalions comprising 50 of hitler youth teenagers were transported by bus from berlin to the munchenberg region on the night of the 18th of april the two ss divisions began to head south there were no more than 60 kilometers to cover on small roads but the destroyed bridges the intense traffic and the lack of fuel explained the piecemeal arrival of the ss near mitchenburg only in the morning of these two units the nodland division led by griffenfield ziegler although badly mauled in pomerania was the most able or rather the less weak it had three thousand men twenty-four stern geschutz and ten jagdpanzer four but its best asset was the heavy battalion 503 the unit which possesses the highest number of hits per day of the entire war despite its recent creation only four months ago its leader stumban fiore herzig had 12 koenigs tiggers at his disposal covered by half a dozen verbal wind with quadruple 20 millimeter flat guns these two weapons each in their category were unparalleled in the armies of the time as for the netherland division it was actually a kampf group of a thousand men made from general zifat's 48th ss panzer grenadier regiment with its heavy weapons sturm kashuta and yagpunzers at 56 panzer corps headquarters general vitaling was bewildered the reinforcements he had expected did not show up during the night in early morning one man from the nordland division did show up the commander major general ziegler he announced calmly that his division was still miles away he had run out of fuel vitaling was delivered every panzer division carried reserves for such emergencies but ziegler who disliked fighting under vermont officers apparently did not consider his division's arrival urgent now 20 precious hours had been lost in refueling and ziegler was not in position and the setbacks continued the 18th panzer grenadier division which should have reached vitaling the day before on the 17th had just arrived the counter-attacks that had been planned for this force would not take place the division had arrived just in time to retreat but the greatest disaster was linked to goring's ninth parachute division this unit had worried heinrichsi even before the fighting and when shukoff's columns surged out from zelo heights goring's paratroopers panicked and broke as the russian tanks guns blazing smashed into their lines colonel verlamann vitaling's artillery commander witnessed the route that followed everywhere soldiers were running away like mad men drawing my pistol did not help stems a tide i found the division's commander utterly alone and completely downcast by the flight of his men trying to hold back whatever there was left to hold back eventually the headlong flight was contained but these much wanted paratroopers remain a threat to the rest of the fighting as for heinrichy when he heard the news he rang directly he said acidly i have something to tell you those casino troops of yours those famous paratroopers well they have run away although veidling tried desperately to stem the russian armored assaults his front could not hold his chief of staff fonduffing reported the russians are beginning to force us back by applying terrific pressure in a kind of horseshoe-like maneuver hitting us from both sides then encircling us again and again the car is also subjected to heavy aviation attacks veiling had lost communication with buses headquarters at night four the leader of the hitler youth arthur arksman arrived he bought news he was sure would please vitaling his youngsters he announced were ready to fight and were even now manning the roads in 56 pounds accords rear area my youngsters are ready to fight right now they're already manning the roads in the rear of 56 panzer corps veiling's reaction to the news was not what oxman had expected he was so enraged that for a moment he was almost inarticulate then using extremely coarse language he said angrily you cannot sacrifice these children for a cause that is already lost i will not use them and i want you to cancel this order the pudgy axeman hurriedly gave vitaling his word that the order would be counterminded now that we've seen the details of the red army's breakthrough on the order from april 16 to 19 let's develop the three days that followed from april 20 to 23 the troops of the first bial russian front and the first ukrainian front managed to encircle the german forces of army group vistala southeast of berlin we'll see what desperate measures the german high command took to try and save the situation we'll hear the names of steiner and venk during a famous hitler conference then in the next episode we'll concentrate on the capture of berlin itself in the last days of april and the 1st of may thus completing our series the 20th of april as the other front was ripped apart goebbels propaganda ministry could not ignore the threat any longer the nazi party newspaper worker shabir bhakta said a new and heavy trial perhaps the heaviest of all is before us each square meter of territory which the enemy has to fight for its soviet tank which a grenadier a walk strong man or a hitler lad destroys bears more weight today than at any other time in this war the word for today is clench your teeth fight like the devil do not give up one foot of soil easily the hour of decision demands the last the greatest effort on the afternoon of the 18th general raymond chief of the berlin garrison received an order from the reich's council eye later confirmed by a personal call from goebbels that all forces available including folksterm have been requested by the ninth army to hold the second line positions in other words the city was to be stripped to man the outer defenses reinman was astounded hurriedly ten folk storm battalions were rounded up along with a regiment of anti-aircraft defense units of the gros deutschland guard regiment after hours of search and requisition a miscellaneous collection of vehicles was assembled and the force headed east as he watched them go raymond turned to goebbel's deputy tell gobbles that it is no longer possible to defend the right capital the inhabitants are defenseless under the present circumstances heinrich knew berlin could not be defended he had no intention of allowing his armies to fall back into the city tanks would not be able to maneuver there because of the buildings artillery could not be used they would have no field of fire at all costs heinrichy hoped to avoid the horror of block to block street to street fighting his main concern at the moment was busa's army he was sure that if he was not pulled back quickly it will be encircled after a visit to the front this same day he notified krebs at the german high command i have driven all over the front signs of disintegration are everywhere roads are covered with the vehicles of refugees often with military transport among them for the first time i ran into troops who were obviously retreating on the way to ebersvalde i didn't find one soldier who didn't claim to have orders to get munitions fuel or something else from the rear it was appalling south of ebersfalde the road was jammed with civilians and soldiers i had to order the ncos who turned their men around at shunholz i saw younger officers inactive and just looking around they had to be energetically ordered to build a line and catch scattered troops the forest between there and trampe are filled with groups of soldiers either resting or retreating no one claimed to have any orders or assignments in another area there was a tank renaissance section resting next to its parked vehicles i ordered the unit to move on bees and pile at once and recapture this critical crossroads there was so much confusion around ebersvalde that no one could tell me if a front existed at all i cannot accept responsibility or direct this situation if puss's army is not withdrawn immediately i'm asking you to tell that to the viewer 21st of april in the fiora bunker hitler's nightly military conference broke up at 0 300 hours during the meeting hitler had blamed the fourth army that had been crushed by konov's attack in the very first day of his offensive for all the problems that had since arisen he accused the army of treason the attendees were taken back krebs asked my fuhrer do you really believe that the command committed treason hitler looked at him with pitying eyes as if only a fool could ask such a stupid question all our issues in the east can be traced to treachery nothing else but treachery his fingers stabbing the map he shouted steiner steiner steiner for hitler the answer to this situation was obvious ss general felix steiner steiner and his troops are to attack immediately from their positions in the ebersvalde on the flank of mantriple's third panzer army then they are to heads out cutting off the russians drive on berlin steiner's attack will close the gap that had opened on the northern flank of pussy's army on hitler's map it appeared a brilliant move zhukov's drive now looked like an arrowhead it's based on the oda its tip pointing directly at berlin along zhukov's northern flank was the little flag that said group steiner hitler was confident once more steiner's attack would re-establish contact between the third and ninth armies there was only one thing wrong with the furore scheme steiner had virtually no men earlier heinrichy had decided to place under steiner the ninth army troops that had been shoved to the north by the russian drive unfortunately the widespread confusion at the front and the lack of time had made it impossible to gather sufficient forces to make the group steiner operational in effect there was no group stoner but the name had stuck and so had the little flag on hitler's map now hitler phone steiner the general remembered his exact words steiner are you aware that the reich's marshall has a private army at karen hall this is to be disbanded at once and sent into battle whilst steiner tried to figure out what that was supposed to mean hitler continued every available man between berlin and the baltic sea after stretton and hamburg is to be drawn into this attack i have ordered steiner vainly tried to protest saying that the troops at his disposal were inexperienced and when asked precisely where the attack was to take place hitler gave him no answer he simply ended the conversation steiner then called krebs telling he had no idea where or when or with what he was to attack but when he began to explain that his troops were totally inexperienced and without heavy weapons hitler suddenly cut in on the conversation you will see steiner you will see so russians will suffer their greatest defeat before the gates of berlin shortly thereafter steiner received the official order to attack the last paragraph read it is expressly forbidden to fall back to sevest officers who do not comply unconditionally with this order are to be shot right away you steiner are liable with your head for the execution of this order the fate of the right capital depends on the success of your mission this was signed adolf hitler after his conversation with steiner hitler called the luftwaffe's chief of staff general kola and said threateningly all air force personnel in the northern zone who can be made available are to be placed at the disposal of steiner and brought to him any commanding officer who keeps back personnel will be shot she must be told of this you yourself will guarantee with your own head that absolutely every man is employed caller was dumbfounded it was the first he had heard of group steiner he called krebs and asked where steiner was the chief of staff cryptically answered i can't tell you at this moment but i promise to find out as quickly as possible [Music] [Music] throughout this frantic period heinrichy knew nothing at all about the scheme when he finally heard he called krebs at once steiner does not have the strength to make such an attack i reject this order i insist on the witch role of the ninth army otherwise krebs the only troop unit still in position to defend hitler and berlin will be lost now i tell you if this final request is not approved then i must demand to be released from my post can i have an appointment with a fiora to discuss the situation it's just not possible the fuhrer is overworked i appeal to the highest officials to bear in mind the responsibilities they bought to the troops that responsibility is borne by the fuhrer you need to know that ninth army would be split into several parts by nightfall don't worry sherna would write the situation by driving north to link up with bruce it will take scherner several days to mount an attack by sand the ninth will no longer exist you nail my forces down while you tell me that i must do all i can to avoid the shame of the few have been encircled in berlin against my will in spite of my request to be relieved of my duties i am being prevented from pulling out the only forces that can be used for the protection of the fiora and berlin it is my conviction that this is the last moment to withdraw the ninth army it had been decided at the furore's conference to turn general bank's 12th army away from its positions on the western front bank will launch an attack toward the east and berlin relieving the pressure for ninth army they will be most welcome just told me that army venk is to turn around and march in your direction you should pull out your strongest division break such a russians and head west to meet venk but that would lose me the bulk of my forces no arguing this is the order for ninth army pull out one division and get it underway to join with wink [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Armageddon

Views: 199,265

Keywords: Berlin 1945, Downfall

Id: mWr2T5wUaaU

Length: 20min 37sec (1237 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021