On a motorcycle with a sidecar, I drive along the shores of Lake Tegel to Heiligensee.
Current image of Tegeler see
The anti-tank barrier we placed there has already been removed.....
We can see Russians in the town square. We hurried back undetected.
Shortly after, the attack on our hill begins. Faced with our resistance, the Russians initially stopped their actions. A fierce exchange of fire causes the first deaths on our side. Some Volkssturm men clearly show fear and the beginnings of panic. I give the order to withdraw.
Despite constant artillery fire, on the way to Tegel we repeatedly met women serving us coffee and other drinks. We spent the night in the basement of an apartment building. I receive by radio the order from the regimental command post: "Report to your unit commanders at the Spandau citadel."
The historic building, with its imposing and steep walls, its embrasures and bastions in front, dominated by the Juliusturm, seems to be our last refuge. In any case, here we will find protection against grenades and bombs. And we no longer need to walk aimlessly through the maze of Berlin streets with their confusing facades, where Russian soldiers or tanks can appear behind every house and behind every wall....
We informed the commander, a colonel who probably lived through the First World War. It turns out that there are only a few soldiers left in the citadel. We learned that parts of a military gas protection laboratory are located here. In addition to Wehrmacht officials, many civilians from nearby Spandau are in the catacombs.
We are running out of time. When the report of "Russian tanks coming from Haselhorst" comes in, I am ordered to stop and repel the enemy tanks on Zitadellenstraße with other officers and some men from the Volkssturm. Armed only with a few carbines and rocket-propelled grenades, we emerged through the large entrance gate toward a low wall on the Citadel Road.
After a short preparation, we can already hear the squeaking of the tank chains. The tank shells explode, a tank appears and quickly heads towards the access road to the citadel, its long cannon pointed at the citadel gate. Some Russian infantrymen are running behind.
When we defend ourselves with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, they retreat just as quickly. Soon, another tank appears from another direction and stops nearby.
In a desperate situation, we decided to withdraw. As the direct route seems too dangerous, we detour and swim across the Citadel canal and then in the afternoon cross Eiswerder Island and the Citadel lock and return to the Citadel through a door in one of the side bastionsa (a back entrance)...
Once again, extremely interesting! My grandfather and both his brothers were at the Kaserne of the 5. Garde Regiment zu Fuss in 1914, and my great-great-great grandfather is buried at Schloss Tegel, so this history is something dear to my heart.
Thanks for your explanation and comment Vince. I hope to finish uploading it tonight.
Regards
Santi
The next day begins with a briefing with the commander. The desperate situation only allows us to wait and see. At least the massive walls of the citadel offer some protection. Around noon, shells suddenly fell in the courtyard of the citadel. Heavy fire from Russian grenade launchers.
There are not enough resources for effective resistance. It is better to leave the Russians in the dark about their lack of strength and hope that they do not want to risk much more. The calculation seems to work: we remain calm. On the other side too.
The next day, April 28, we heard announcements that a Russian propaganda truck had arrived. Attention attention! - German officers, listen - the battle for Berlin is over. The war is over! The citadel is surrounded. Give up!
Image from the film "I Was Nineteen".1968 East German film directed by Konrad Wolf for the DEFA studio
Next to the car is a Luftwaffe officer in a leather coat. He also grabs the microphone: "I am the last commander of Gatow. The war is over. Resistance no longer makes sense."
The garrison of the citadel listens with great attention. It is probably now entering the decisive phase. The surrender request is ignored. Despite the obvious hopelessness, you feel obligated to fulfill your soldier's oath. Therefore, the motto in the citadel is: "Wait until the situation finally becomes clear."
He remains silent. In the city you can only hear the thunder of gunshots.
The next day it is announced again over the loudspeaker. This time German civilians ask for surrender. We continue to persist. How will the city center be? Will there continue to be resistance? Is there a command structure that works? There are no answers.
Image of film "I Was Nineteen"
On the afternoon of April 30, two Russian parliamentarians appeared at the gate of the citadel. A major and a captain. The captain carries a white flag.
Image of film "I Was Nineteen"
In front of the barricaded door, a rope ladder is descended. The two parliamentarians easily climb to the balcony above the door and enter the hall behind it. Both sides greet each other militarily. Some German officers give the Hitler salute.
The interpreter, Captain Gall, translates the desperate situation of the citadel garrison, which Major Grischin has enthusiastically presented, and clearly calls for surrender. The last date for the delivery of the citadel is May 1 at 10 a.m.
Our commander hesitates. But all of us are clear: this is the end!
The next morning is clear. Lieutenant Ebbinghaus and I are sent as parliamentarians to the Russian side. The Russian soldiers greet us with joy. "Woina kaput, Hitler kaput, domoi!" they shout, "The war is over, Hitler is defeated, we are going Home!'
They take us to a nearby house that is surrounded by a large garden, in the garden and in front of the house there are soldiers with weapons on their shoulders.
They take us to the house and we recognize the two Russians officers we already knew. The older man expresses his displeasure. He had expected an immediate surrender. And now two parliamentarians come and want to put everything in writing. Typical German! However, he realizes that we are not the authors of this condition and invites us to dinner. Meanwhile, a Russian colonel appears with other officers and explains the situation to them. Lieutenant Ebbinghaus and I also stood up and remained silent.
Below, the Russian surrender negotiating couple
Major Grishin, the commanding officer.
Capt. Vladimir Gall, the translator.
He asks us about the conditions of the surrender. I call for the free withdrawal of all civilians and a surrender of soldiers according to the standards of the Geneva Convention. He guarantees it and has a document drawn up about it and gives it to us.
We agreed to hand over the citadel at 2:00 p.m. At the end they smoke cigars and cigarettes. On the way back to the citadel two soldiers accompany us....
Die Zitadelle kapituliert
For the final act we now follow the memoirs of the Soviet translator officer:
At one minute to three, a soldier shouts:
- Comrade Captain! The Germans come! The Germans Come!
I ordered everyone to remain in their places, and I myself came out of the trench and went to meet him. At exactly 3:00 p.m., with German precision, "our old friends" – a colonel and a lieutenant colonel – stood in front of me. The Colonel said in a deadly voice:
- Herr. Captain, we have come to inform you of our decision.
Overcoming his emotion, he said:
— Die Zitadelle kapituliert (The Citadel Capitulates).
Having agreed on the terms of surrender, the major and I reached the citadel and stood before the barricaded gates, through which our machine gunners led the German soldiers and officers. The officers walked past us and glared at us angrily. We were approached by a lieutenant colonel who spoke very little during the negotiations. He said in the purest Russian:
- Gentlemen officers, we would like to say goodbye to you. "Seeing our astonished faces, he, as if answering our unasked question, said, 'Yes, yes, I speak a little Russian.'" He was obviously modest, because he spoke as well as the older man and I." "I lived for 25 years in St. Petersburg, in old St. Petersburg.
He was reportedly a military attaché and intelligence officer at the former embassy of the German Empire.
They said goodbye and left. We saw the huge courtyard of the citadel and hundreds of civilians. In his eyes was a question: "What awaits us: the execution or Siberia?"
I asked the general if it was possible to inform the population that they could go and he allowed me. And I said through a megaphone:
- Civilians can go home!
A flood of jubilant people ushered us through the door. They walked with such joy!
A young woman approached us with a child in her arms. On his head he wore a turban-shaped scarf (it was fashionable then). She said:
"We know that neither of us was afraid to walk up the stairs to our officers and convince them to surrender." By doing this, you saved their lives, ours, and those of our children.
...We end with the final paragraphs of the memoirs of Lieutenant Josef Brettschneider....
The captivity we feared so much is now imminent. In the yard we stacked rifles and Panzerfaust and buried pistols and bolts. Beams and stones are removed from the door. We lined up separately, civilians and soldiers.
The door is open. We see Russian soldiers with machine guns pointed at us. For me, the uncertain path begins until I become a prisoner of war.
Josef Brettschneider spent his time as a prisoner of war in a camp at the Rybinsk Reservoir, north of Moscow. Brettschneider suffered from pleurisy due to suspected pulmonary tuberculosis. Then he was released from Soviet captivity in September 1946, he was able to return to his hometown of Düsseldorf and a few years later completed his training as a primary school teacher.
Commemorative plaque inside the Spandau Fortress Museum.
It is shocking to see the Captain Gall first and below him his commander, Major Grischin...
The truth is that in the popular culture of the former USSR and GDR, greater importance was given to the role played by the translator, compared to his superior and commander of the unit.
But what is truly important is that on those April 30 and May 1, 1945, the skill and agreement between the Russians and the Germans prevented the loss of lives of hundreds of refugees and German defenders and Soviet attackers, in what would have been a meaningless fight.
That is why anyone who visits Berlin and nearby Spandau today can see the citadel intact....
Gruss aus Spandau!
Last edited by TabsTabs1964; 03-30-2024 at 09:41 AM.
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