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Eisenhower's strategy had always favoured a broad front advance but there was a lack of decision on what would happen once the Allied forces had rejoined and created a unified front again, roughly in the area of Kassel, apart from a vague notion of making a "great thrust to the eastward". (Strawson, p. 104) The British had always viewed Berlin as the central objective and had envisaged that their forces, 21st Army Group, would be the ones to make the main thrust to the north and east. Indeed, Montgomery had already issued orders that after the encirclement of the Ruhr was complete, the British 2nd and US 9th Armies would advance with maximum speed to the River Elbe via Hamburg and Magdeburg while the Canadian 1st Army cleared Holland. Eisenhower effectively demolished this plan by continuing to plan for a broad front offensive with the US 9th Army reverting to Bradley's command in order to help conduct mopping up operations in the Ruhr and then advance eastwards to an Erfurt – Leipzig – Dresden line with Montgomery's 21st Army Group protecting the northern flank and General Jacob Devers' 6th Army Group protecting the southern flank. Eisenhower thus intended to concentrate the Western Allies' advance in the centre with Bradley in order to meet the Soviet advance around Dresden and cut Germany in two – as far as he was concerned, Berlin had become "nothing but a geographical location; I have never been interested in those. My purpose is to destroy the enemy forces and his power to resist." While it is easy to see Eisenhower's decision in light of the fact that at the time it was made, Montgomery's 21st Army Group was still 300 miles from Berlin and the Soviets, who had reached the River Oder, were less than 50 miles from the city; that Model's Army Group B in the Ruhr should be properly dealt with so that there was no chance of them breaking out and reforming a coherent defensive line in the centre; or that Hitler might retire to the 'National Redoubt' in the Bavarian and Austrian mountains that might require many months and the expenditure of large resources to reduce. What is not so easy to understand is that, given Eisenhower's insistence that military operations should be in pursuit of political aims (and therefore in line with Clausewitz's dictum of "war is the continuation of state policy by other means"), and given Berlin's enormous importance as a political objective, why he suddenly made a complete turnabout and pronounced it as having no significance, as well as it having the one military objective that would destroy the German will to resist with its capture or demise – Adolf Hitler.
The pleasure with which this change of mind was received (in a communication sent to Stalin, the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff on 28 March) in Moscow was equal to the consternation in London. The British Chiefs of Staff were upset as they thought that:
Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian Front attacked at 05.00 on the 16th April and Koniev's 1st Ukrainian Front at 06.15. Although Koniev's attack across the River Neisse went well, Zhuvok's forces soon ran into trouble. The battle just west of the River Oder proved to be no walkover as the Seelöw Heights were a critical defensive position in Army Group Vistula's sector, and the Germans, under no illusions as to what a Soviet breakthrough would mean, fought desperately. The Army Group had been under Col Gen G. Heinrici since the end of March after Hitler replaced Himmler with Heinrici, a veteran of the Eastern Front and expert on defensive tactics. He had pulled his men back from the forward positions just before the start of the attack and thus the artillery bombardment hit only empty positions while the searchlights merely lit up the Soviet tanks and infantry for the German gunners to rake with murderous fire. Stalin was furious at the delay, as well as Zhukov's attempt to overcome it – the deployment of his mobile reserves, the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies – that contravened Stavka's (the Soviet High Command) orders. After fierce fighting, Zhukov overcame the positions on the Seelöw Heights but because of German reinforcements (Col Gen Helmuth Weidling’s LVI Panzer Corps) still found the going tough. As a result, Stalin ordered Koniev to direct his armoured forces directly at Berlin with the result that two Soviet Fronts were advancing for the city.
All this proved too much for General Theodor Busse's 9th Army and by 20 April, the German forces defending the approaches to Berlin had been overrun or routed, with Zhukov having cracked the three defensive lines in the Oder-Neisse area and had taken the Seelöw Heights and Müncheberg. Rokossovsky's 2nd Byelorussian Front also started its attack westwards forcing General Hasso von Manteuffel’s 3rd Panzer Army into retreat. Koniev ordered his two tank armies (3rd and 4th Guards) to break into Berlin and both he and Zhukov tasked spearhead elements to continue westwards where contact was first made with American forces near Torgau on 25 April. Soviet long-range artillery had already started to pound what remained of Berlin to rubble, already heavily damaged by Anglo-American aerial bombardment, and, as the Soviets knew, rubble could make a formidable fortress. On 23 April, Stalin decreed that Zhukov had won the race and placed the front boundary line 150m west of the Reichstag, the main prize, placing it in 1st Byelorussian Front's sector. Berlin was completely encircled by the 25 April, as was Busse's 9th Army and elements of General F. Gräser's 4th Panzer Army, in the area between Lübben, Zossen and Beeskow. Hitler had sent an impassioned plea for assistance to Gen Wenck to disengage his 12th Army from the Elbe near Magdeburg and march to the relief of Berlin. It is to Wenck’s credit that not only did he attempt this manoeuvre but managed to reach Potsdam before encountering Soviet resistance that was just too strong. He picked up the Potsdam Garrison and over 30,000 survivors of the 9th Army and withdrew westwards, hoping to surrender to the Americans.
The bridge on the Potsdamerstrasse was seized on the 28th and in the face of fierce opposition from the SS 'Anhalt' Regiment, the attack began on the Tiergarten (Zoo). Maj Gen S. I. Perevertkin prepared his 79th Rifle Corps (comprising the 150th, 171st and 207th Rifle Divisions) to storm the Reichstag, but first the Soviets would have to overcome some serious obstacles. In front of the Reichstag lay Königsplatz, across which there lay a water-filled antitank ditch and behind this numerous gun pits, artillery emplacements and trenches connected to the Reichstag itself. Additional mortars and artillery pieces were sited in the Tiergarten and the whole area was mined. As with every other building in the area, the Reichstag itself had been heavily fortified with the lower storeys being reinforced with steel rails and concrete and the doors and windows bricked up to provide loopholes. It also had street-level cellar windows, which proved to be natural gun embrasures and the construction site for the abandoned U-Bahn (Underground) tunnel nearby was readily incorporated into the defence system. The area was defended by between 5 and 6,000 German troops of all kinds, including Army regulars, SS, Allgemeine-SS (defending the Ministry of the Interior), Volkssturm and 250 sailors from the 'Grossadmiral Dönitz' Naval Battalion, reinforced with large numbers of stragglers and some tanks from the 11th 'Herman von Salza' Tank Battalion, the majority of whom were in the Reichstag itself.
At 14.25, Maj Gen V. M. Shatilov (Commander, 150th Rifle Division) reported that he thought he had seen a Red Flag over the steps of the Reichstag near the right-hand column. As the leading battalions contained a number of groups eager to have a go at planting a flag on the Reichstag, including a group of volunteers from Corps Headquarters under his aide, Major M. M. Bondar with the 380th Rifle Regiment and some gunners under Captain V. N. Makov with the 756th, this report did not seem too unlikely. The wild enthusiasm with which the report was sent resulted in Zhukov issuing Operation Order No. 6 of that that read "Units of the 3rd Shock Army . . . having broken the resistance of the enemy, have captured the Reichstag and hoisted our Soviet Flag on it today, April 30th, 1945, at 14.25 hours." (Le Tissier, p. 168) This false report was sent to Moscow and abroad but when war correspondents converged on the Reichstag, they found Soviet infantry had only advanced halfway across Königsplatz. Aware of his error, Shatilov ordered his division to raise a flag or pennant on the building, whatever the cost.
The attack was renewed at 18.00 with the support of armour and artillery and after heavy casualties, Soviet infantry managed to make it to the front steps of the building with its still intact bricked-up doorways. Fortunately, they carried two light mortars with them and so managed to blast a small hole in the brickwork allowing them in. What followed was desperate hand-to-hand fighting as the Soviets sought to expand the bridgehead. By the time they had established telephone communications with regimental headquarters, they had managed to fight their regimental and battalion standards up to the second floor. As more and more Soviet troops broke in, close quarters fighting spread out over the whole building with the Germans putting up very stiff resistance, using every weapon they could lay their hands on and the Soviets trying to find their way in the darkened, unfamiliar rooms. Finally, the special banner party with Red Banner No. 5 containing Sergeants M. A. Yegorov and M. V. Kantaria managed to find their way around to the rear of the building where there was a stairway up to the roof. Finding a mounted statue, they wedged the staff of their banner into a convenient crevice and thus the Red Flag, at 22.50 on 30 April 1945, finally flew over the Reichstag (Red Army Target No. 105), and therefore Berlin. Bitter German resistance continued however, and it would not be until the morning of 2 May that fighting finally ceased in the Reichstag, with the remaining 2,500 defenders surrendering to Soviet forces.
By then, German resistance in the city as a whole was crumbling with elements of the 5th Shock Army, 8th Guards Army and 1st Guards Tank Army approaching the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker having crossed Potsdamer Strasser and reached Potsdam Station to the southwest, crossed Kopenicker Strasse and the Landwehr Canal to the southeast and having crossed Lanberger Strasse to the east, were advancing down the Unter Den Linden. With no possibility of relief, Hitler had vowed to take his own life, rather than be captured by the Soviets. He named Admiral Dönitz his successor and stripped Göring and Himmler of their offices, the former for trying to take power, the latter for putting out peace feelers. After dictating his will and political testament, Hitler and Eva Braun, his wife for one day, retired to their quarters in the Führerbunker and committed suicide. The exact manner of their deaths and what happened immediately afterwards has always been something historians have argued over, but the general consensus being that Hitler shot himself and Eva Braun took poison, their bodies being hastily cremated just outside the bunker. Goebbels followed suit on the 1 May and Weidling drafted an order for the remainder of the garrison to lay down its arms on the morning of 2 May 1945, and signalled such to Col Gen V. I. Chuikov. A number of refugee groups, including both civilian and military personnel managed to break out and flee westwards, but at 15.00 the Soviet artillery stopped firing, the sudden silence as they say, was deafening. The Battle for Berlin was over.
Although the time between the various signings was short, hundreds of thousands of German troops managed to make their way west to surrender to the Western Allies, and the Kriegsmarine evacuated its Baltic positions. The Allied armies had exercised their 'right of pursuit' and followed the retreating German forces well past the demarcation line as set out in the Yalta Agreement, Montgomery by about forty-five miles and Bradley by about 125 miles. The day after the signing of the official surrenders, Stalin insisted on the implementation of the undertakings given at Yalta. Had he kept his own promises though? Clearly the Soviet NKVD were in the process of eliminating any possible opposition to the setting up of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, particularly in respect of Poland, where the commission set up in the Kremlin after Yalta to oversee the reorganisation of the Government was paralysed by Molotov's obstruction. In these circumstances, Churchill wrote on 4 June to the new US President, Harry Truman, indicating that the retreat of the Western Allied armies to their demarcation lines should not be undertaken without having a number of these outstanding issues between the Great Powers resolved. The behaviour of the Soviet occupation authorities in Austria and the interference with the missions of the Western Powers caused Churchill to write again on 9 June. Truman ignored these arguments and decided that the US Army would start withdrawing on 21 June while the military chiefs would sort out the quadripartite occupation of Berlin and the access to it by road, rail and air. On 15 July 1945 when the Potsdam conference had begun, the Red Army had already taken up its advanced positions thirty miles from the centre of Hamburg, within artillery range of Kassel and less than eighty miles from Mainz on the Rhine. Churchill wrote "It was a fateful decision". (Bauer, p. 618)
2ND BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky)
2nd Shock Army (Col Gen I. I. Fedyurinsky)
108th & 116th Rifle Corps
65th Army (Col Gen P. I. Batov)
18th, 46th & 105th Rifle Corps
70th Army (Col Gen V. S. Popov)
47th, 96th & 114th Rifle Corps
49th Army (Col Gen I. T. Grishin)
70th & 121st Rifle Corps
191st, 200th & 330th Rifle Divisions
19th Army
40th Guards, 132nd & 134th Rifle Corps
5th Guards Tank Army
29th Tank Corps
1st Tank & 4th Mechanised Bdes
4th Air Army (Col Gen K. A. Vershinin)
4th Air Assault, 5th Air Bomber and 8th Air Fighter Corps
1ST BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal G. K. Zhukov)
61st Army (Col Gen P. A. Belov)
9th Guards, 80th & 89th Rifle Corps
1st Polish Army (Lt Gen S. G. Poplowski)
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th Polish Infantry Divisions
1st Polish Cavalry Bde
4th Polish Heavy Tank Bde
13th Polish SP Assault Artillery Bde
7th Polish Assault Artillery Btn
47th Army (Lt Gen F. I. Perkhorovitch)
77th, 125th & 129th Rifle Corps
70th Guards Independent Tank Regt
334th, 1204th, 1416th, 1825th & 1892nd SP Assault Artillery Regts
3rd Shock Army (Col Gen V. I. Kutznetsov)
7th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Christov / Col Gen Y. T. Chyervichenko)
146th, 265th & 364th Rifle Divisions
12th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen A. F. Kazanin / Maj Gen A. A. Filatov)
23rd Guards, 52nd Guards & 33rd Rifle Divisions
79th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen S. I. Perevertkin)
150th Rifle Division (Maj Gen V. M. Shatilov)
469th, 674th & 756th Rifle Regts
171st Rifle Division (Col A. P. Negoda)
380th, 525th & 783rd Rifle Regts
207th Rifle Division (Col V. M. Asafov)
594th, 597th & 598th Rifle Regts
9th Tank Corps (Lt Gen I. F. Kirichenko)
23rd, 95th & 108th Tank Bdes
8th Motorised Rifle Regt
1455th & 1508th SP Assault Artillery Regts
5th Shock Army (Gen / Col Gen N. E. Berzarin)
9th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen / Lt Gen I. P. Rossly)
230th, 248th & 301st Rife Divisions
26th Guards Corps (Maj Gen P. A. Firsov)
89th Guards, 94th Guards & 266th Rifle Divisions
32nd Rifle Corps (Lt Gen D. S. Zherebin)
60th Guards, 295th & 416th Rifle Divisions
11th, 67th Guards & 220th Tank Bdes
92nd Independent Tank Regt
396th Guards & 1504th SP Assault Artillery Regts
8th Guards Army (Col Gen V. I. Chuikov)
4th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. A. Glazonov)
35th Guards, 47th Guards & 57th Guards Rifle Divisions
28th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. M. Shugeyev)
39th Guards, 79th Guards & 88th Guards Rifle Divisions
29th Guards Rifle Corps (Maj Gen P. I. Zalizyuk)
27th Guards, 74th Guards & 82nd Guards Rifle Divisions
7th Guards Tank Bde
84th Guards, 65th & 259th Independent Tank Regts
371st, 374th Guards, 694th, 1026th, 1061st, 1087th & 1200th SP Assault Artillery Regts
69th Army (Col Gen V. Y. Kolpakchi)
25th, 61st & 91st Rifle Corps
117th & 283rd Rifle Divisions
68th Tank Bde
12th SP Assault Artillery Bde
344th Guards, 1205th, 1206th & 1221st SP Assault Artillery Regts
33rd Army (Col Gen V. D. Svotaev)
16th, 38th & 62nd Rifle Corps
2nd Guards Cavalry Corps
95th Rifle Division
257th Independent Tank Regt
360th & 361st SP Assault Artillery Regts
16th Air Army (Col Gen S. I. Rudenko)
6th & 9th Air Assault Corps
3rd & 6th Air Bomber Corps
1st Guards, 3rd, 6th & 13th Air Fighter Corps
1st Guards, 240th, 282nd & 286th Air Fighter Divisions
2nd & 11th Guards Air Assault Divisions
113th, 183rd, 188th & 221st Air Bomber Divisions
9th Guards & 242nd Air Night Bomber Divisions
16th & 72nd Air Reconnaissance Regts
93rd & 98th Air Observation Regts
176th Guards Air Fighter Regt
226th Air Transport Regt
18th Air Army (AVM A. Y. Golovanov)
1st Guards, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Air Bomber Corps
45th Air Bomber Division
56th Air Fighter Division
742nd Air Reconnaissance Regt
1st Guards Tank Army (Col Gen M. Y. Katukov)
8th Guards Mechanised Corps (Maj Gen I. F. Drygemov)
19th, 20th & 21st Guards Mechanised Bdes
1st Guards Tank Bde
48th Guards Tank Regt
353rd & 400th Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts
8th Guards M/C Btn
11th Guards Tank Corps (Col A. H. Babadshanian)
40th, 44th & 45th Guards Tank Bdes
27th Guards Mechanised Bde
362nd, 399th Guards & 1454 SP Assault Artillery Regts
9th Guards M/C Btn
11th Tank Corps (Maj Gen I. I. Jushuk)
20th, 36th & 65th Tank Bdes
12th Motorised Rifle Bde
50th Guards Tank Regt
1461st & 1493rd SP Assault Artillery Regts
64th Guards Tank Bde
19th SP Assault Artillery Bde
11th Guards Independent Tank Regt
12th Guards M/C Btn
2nd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen S. I. Bogdanov)
1st Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen S. I. Krivosheina)
19th, 35th & 37th Mechanised Bdes
219th Tank Bde
347th Guards, 75th & 1822nd SP Assault Artillery Regts
57th M/C Btn
9th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen A. F. Popov)
47th, 50th & 65th Guards Tank Bdes
33rd Guards Mechanised Bde
341st, 369th & 386th Guards SP Assault artillery Regts
17th Guards M/C Btn
12th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen M. K. Teltakov / Col A. T. Shevchenko)
48th, 49th & 66th Guards Tank Bdes
34th Guards Mechanised Bde
79th Guards Tank Regt
387th & 393rd Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts
6th Guards Independent Tank Regt
5th Guards M/C Regt
16th Guards M/C Btn
3rd Army (Col Gen A. V. Gorbatov)
35th, 40th & 41st Rifle Corps
1812th, 1888th & 1901st SP Assault Artillery Regts
2nd, 3rd & 7th Guards Cavalry Corps
3rd & 8th Guards Tank Corps
244th Independent Tank Regt
31st, 39th, 51st & 55th Independent Armoured Train Btns
1ST UKRAINIAN FRONT (Marshal I. S. Koniev)
3rd Guards Army (Col Gen V. N. Gordov)
21st, 76th & 120th Rifle Corps
25th Tank Corps
389th Rifle Division
87th Guards Independent Tank Regt
938th SP Assault Artillery Regt
13th Army (Col Gen N. P. Phukov)
24th, 27th & 102nd Rifle Corps
88th Independent Tank Regt
327th, 372nd Guards, 768th & 1228th SP Assault Artillery Regts
5th Guards Army (Col Gen A. S. Zhadov)
32nd, 33rd & 34th Guards Rifle Corps
4th Guards Tank Corps
2nd Polish Army (Lt Gen K. K. Swiersczewski)
5th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th Polish Infantry Divisions
1st Polish Tank Corps
16th Polish Tank Bde
5th Polish Independent Tank Regt
28th polish SP Assault Artillery Regt
52nd Army (Col Gen K. A. Koroteyev)
48th, 73rd & 78th Rifle Corps
7th Guards Mechanised Corps
213th Rifle Division
8th SP Assault Artillery Bde
124th Independent Tank Regt
1198th SP Assault Artillery Regt
2nd Air Army (Col Gen S. A. Krasovsky)
1st Guards, 2nd Guards & 3rd Air Assault Corps
4th & 6th Guards Air Bomber Corps
2nd, 5th & 6th Air Fighter Corps
208th Air Night Bomber Division
98th & 193rd Guards Air Reconnaissance Regts
222nd Air Transport Regt
3rd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen P. S. Rybalko)
6th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Mitrofanov)
51st, 52nd & 53rd Guards Tank Bdes
22nd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde
385th Guards, 1893rd & 1894th SP Assault Artillery Regts
3rd Guards M/C Btn
7th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. V. Novikov)
54th, 55th & 56th Guards Tank Bdes
23rd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde
384th Guards, 702nd & 1977th SP Assault Artillery Regts
4th Guards M/C Btn
9th Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen I. P. Suchov)
69th, 70th & 71st Mechanised Bdes
91st Tank Bde
383rd Guards, 1507th & 1978th SP Assault Artillery Regts
100th M/C Btn
16th SP Assault Artillery Bde
57th Guards & 90th Independent Tank Regts
50th M/C Regt
4th Guards Tank Army (Col Gen D. D. Lelyushenko)
5th & 6th Guards Mechanised Corps
10th Guards Tank Corps
68th Guards Tank Bde
70th Guards SP Assault Artillery Bde
13th & 119th Guards Independent Tank Regts
7th Guards M/C Regt
28th Army (Lt Gen A. A. Luchinsky)
20th, 38th Guards & 128th Rifle Corps
31st Army
1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lt Gen V. K. Baranov)
152nd Tank Bde
98th Independent Tank Regt
368th Guards, 416th & 1976th SP Assault Artillery Regts
21st, 45th, 49th & 58th Independent Armoured Train Btns
OKW RESERVE (later allocated to the LVI Panzer Corps, 9th Army)
18th Panzergrenadier Division (Maj Gen Josef Rauch)
30th & 51st Panzergrenadier Regts
118th Panzer Regt (part)
18th Artillery Regt
ARMY GROUP ‘VISTULA’ (Col Gen Gotthard Heinrici)
III SS ‘Germanic’ Panzer Corps (SS Lt Gen Felix Steiner)
(divisions later allocated to the 9th Army)
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Jurgen Ziegler / SS Maj Gen Dr Gustav Krukenburg)
23rd ‘Norge’ Panzergrenadier Regt
24th ‘Danmark’ Panzergrenadier Regt
11th SS ‘Hermann von Salza’ Panzer Btn
503rd SS Heavy Tank Btn
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Armoured Reconnaissance Btn
23rd SS ‘Nederland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Wagner)
(divisions later allocated to the 3rd Panzer Army)
27th SS ‘Langemarck’ Grenadier Division
28th SS ‘Wallonien’ Grenadier Division
3rd Panzer Army (Gen Hasso von Manteuffel)
‘Swinemunde’ Corps (Lt Gen Ansat)
402nd & 2nd Naval Divisions
XXXII Corps (Lt Gen Schack)
‘Voigt’ & 281st Infantry Divisions
549th Volksgrenadier Division
Stettin Garrison
‘Oder’ Corps (SS Lt Gen von dem Bach / Gen Hörnlein)
610th & ‘Klossek’ Infantry Divisions
XXXXVI Panzer Corps (Gen Martin Gareis)
547th Volksgrenadier Division
1st Naval Division
9th Army (Gen Theodor Busse)
156th Infantry Division
541st Volksgrenadier Division
404th Volks Artillery Corps
406th Volks Artillery Corps
408th Volks Artillery Corps
CI Corps (Gen Wilhelm Berlin / Lt Gen Friedrich Sixt)
5th Light Infantry Division
606th Infantry Division
309th ‘Berlin’ Infantry Division
25th Panzergrenadier Division
111th SPG Training Bde
‘1001 Nights’ Combat Group
LVI Panzer Corps (Gen Helmuth Weidling)
9th Fallschirmjäger Division (Gen Bruno Braüer / Col Harry Herrmann)
25th, 26th & 27th Fallschirmjäger Regts
9th Fallschirmjäger Artillery Regt
20th Panzergrenadier Division (Col / Maj Gen Georg Scholze)
76th & 90th Panzergrenadier Regts
8th Panzer Btn
20th Artillery Regt
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Division (Maj Gen Werner Mummert)
1st & 2nd ‘Müncheberg’ Panzergrenadier Regts
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Regt
‘Müncheburg’ Armoured Artillery Regt
920th SPG Training Bde
XI SS Panzer Corps (SS Gen Mathias Kleinheisterkamp)
303rd ‘Döberitz’ Infantry Division
169th Infantry Division
712th Infantry Division
‘Kurmark’ Panzergrenadier Division
502nd SS Heavy Tank Btn
Frankfurt an der Oder Garrison (Col / Maj Gen Ernst Biehler)
V SS Mountain Corps (SS Gen Friedrich Jackeln)
286th Infantry Division
32nd SS ’30. Januar’ Volksgrenadier Division
391st Sy Division
561st SS Tank Hunting Btn
ARMY GROUP CENTRE (Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner)
4th Panzer Army (Gen Fritz-Herbert Gräser)
(later transferred to the 9th Army)
V Corps (Lt Gen Wagner)
35th SS Police Grenadier Division
36th SS Grenadier Division
275th Infantry Division
342nd Infantry Division
21st Panzer Division
12th Army (Gen Walter Wenck)
XX Corps (Gen Carl-Erik Koehler)
‘Theodor Körner’ RAD Division
‘Ulrich von Hutten’ Infantry Division
‘Ferdinand von Schill’ Infantry Division
‘Scharnhorst’ Infantry Division
XXXIX Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Karl Arndt)
(12 – 21 April 1945 under OKW with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
‘Schlageter’ RAD Division
84th Infantry Division
(21 – 26 April 1945 under 12th Army with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
84th Infantry Division
‘Hamburg’ Reserve Infantry Division
‘Meyer’ Infantry Division
XXXXI Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Holste)
‘von Hake’ Infantry Division
199th Infantry Division
‘V-Weapons’ Infantry Division
1st HJ Tank Destroyer Bde
‘Hermann Göring’ Jagdpanzer Bde
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (Gen Maximillian Reichsherr von Edelscheim)
14th Flak Division
‘Leipzig’ Battle Group
‘Halle’ Battle Group
Ungrouped Formations
‘Friedrich Ludwig Jahn’ RAD Division (Col Gerhard Klein / Col Franz Weller)
‘Potsdam’ Infantry Division (Col Erich Lorenz)