Guderian secured at least twelve Panzer divisions, by Christmas 1944, to take the shock of the Russian spearheads. Three further divisions were transferred from railheads, two at the Western Front and one in Italy to the OstFront. German Chief of Staff, Guderian toured the OstFront during the first week of January.
The Russian Offensive
On 12th January Koniev began his attack from the Baranov bridgehead. Guderian's strongest reserve consisted of the Hermann Goering division and Gross Deutschland under General von Saucken in East Prussia. The 110km long German front, was pushed back by Zhukov's tanks. Hohensalza, the first German town captured, was ravaged by the Russians over three days. 24th Panzer Division and Gross Deutschland retained contact with Reinhardt's fourteen divisions of Army Group A, under Harpe, through a series of mobile encirclement battles. Fortunately, on 22 January, the Russians turned north. Russians left the desolation of Poland and found a richer Silesia and Pomerania, they never experienced such abundance before. Civilians were shot down casually for even a wrist watch. The brutalities of the Russian armies were not so much intended as incidental.
The German Defence
Guderian detected Russian units that had just recently fought in Finland and Rumania, confirming the Red Army was under strain. The Red Army had committed its entire strategic reserve. Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army was to be concentrated in the centre with General von Weichs in command. Hitler fumed and 'treur Heinrich' (Himmler) was placed in command. Guderian was aghast.
The Russian Offensive
111th Panzer of Armee Gruppe Vistula reported the start of the Russian attack on 26th January at 04.35hrs. Himmler's staff officers were incapable of communicating with front line units. Proper communication would have established that Rokossovski was determined to isolate German forces in East Prussia. Himmler's order to retreat ensured the bulk of German forces in East Prussia could not be extracted. The Russians were now in the neck of land between the Oder and Warthe, a position similar to the Germans, at the River Don bend, as they attacked Stalingrad.
6th Panzer Army Diverted to Budapest
Guderian turned to Speer, Reich Armaments Minister, who drafted a report entitled 'The War is Lost' and handed it to Hitler, in the presence of Guderian. Hitler's inertia at this stage of the battle was unfortunate because Zhukov's forces were under severe mechanical strain. The German 1st Panzer and Seventeenth Army resisted the Russian onslaughts very effectively, Breslau remained a strong German bridgehead on the River Oder.
'Wenn wir diesen Krieg verlieren, dann moge uns der Himmel gnadig sein.'
'If we lose the war - then God help us.' Guderian launched an attack on Zhukov's forces from the north taking 3,000 prisoners on 16th February. Overwhelming Red Army tank forces forced a German retreat, ending the last German offensive of the war. One million German infantry delayed several Red Army tank armies for one week, at the Seelow Heights, only to be swept aside by the Russian juggernaut.
Bitva pod Berlin
During the Battle for Berlin, SS Viking units, mostly foreign volunteers, knowing their fate on capture, fought a dogged defence of Berlin incurring 50,000 casualties to 135,000 Red Army casualties. German General Krebs, a Russian speaker, called on General Chuikov, the hero of Stalingrad and immediately surrendered German forces on 1st May 1945.
The Russians suffered seven million dead, half their country devastated and evidence mounted daily of the unspeakable barbarity with which the Germans had treated Soviet captives and civilians.
So ended the most murderous war in the history of mankind.
Sources
- Hitler's war Directives 1939-45 by H. Trevor-Roper Pan Books, 1973
- Panzer Leader by Colonel General Heinz Guderian, Futura Publications, 1979
- Barbarossa by Alan Clark, Macmillan & Co., 1991
- Flucht-German Flight Westwards1945-47
Michael Manning - ' The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity' W.B.Yeats
