Chaotic Last Stand: French Fighters in Hitler's Berlin Stronghold
- Author: Gernot Kramper
- Approx. Reading Time: 6 Minutes
Traitors and French citizens: fortifying Hitler's final stronghold - Deserters and Frenchmen - They Fortified Hitler's Final Stronghold
After the Soviet forces surrounded Berlin, SS commander Wilhelm Mohnke was tasked with defending the government district. Mohnke, a die-hard Nazi, was determined to hold every inch until the last man. Fighting from massive buildings, wide avenues, and numerous waterways, it was evident that the situation was a lost cause - even Mohnke knew this. In the final battle, it was only a matter of delaying the inevitable by a few days. Militarily, the operation was absurd; Mohnke, a Brigadeführer from the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler," merely bought Hitler time to prepare his own demise.
Scattered Band of Warriors
His soldiers were an unlikely group. Comprising remnants of the Leibstandarte, regular units, the Volkssturm, and penal battalions, this fighting force was far from ready for the intense urban combat of inner-city Berlin. Additional formations joined them, but the enthusiastic Volkssturm was woefully unprepared for the unique challenges of a major city battle. Penal battalion members, not particularly eager to become heroes for the "Führer," left a distinct demoralized undertone within the group.
However, among the elite fighters were some noteworthy individuals such as Georg Diers, who participated in the battles with two massive King Tiger tanks - numbers 314 and 100. These tanks, possibly belonging to the heavy SS Panzer Battalion 503, saw action on Schönhauser Allee and Tiergarten Ost. Foreign volunteers were key supporters, joining various SS units during the war and facing their own destruction as the Third Reich crumbled. The SS Division "Nordland," positioned in the Tiergarten, played a significant role. Unexpectedly, the Frenchmen took a unique position. They defended the Reichstag building, the current home of the German parliament.
The Reichstag held a significant place in the Battle of Berlin. For Stalin and the Soviets, the parliamentary building was symbolically the heart of the Third Reich. Although architecturally, this perspective made sense, in Hitler's regime, the parliament played at most a minor role and became entirely insignificant following the start of the war. Hitler's command center remained hidden from the Red Army, with no special efforts made to capture it. Conversely, the politically insignificant Reichstag became a top priority. The capture of the Moltke Bridge was crucial for the Soviet advance, granting them access to the government district. On April 28, 1945, approximately 5,000 defenders, including parts of the Mohnke combat group, offered stiff resistance and partially destroyed the bridge at significant cost.
Fierce Battles and Ultimate Symbolism
The battle's military purpose was futile, yet it held immense symbolic value for both the defenders and the Soviets. After storming the Seelow Heights at the Oder and surrounding Berlin, the Soviets could have driven the Germans out of the sprawling suburbs and besieged them in the city center. With their overwhelming superiority in artillery and airpower, the Wehrmacht's supplies would have soon depleted, guaranteeing victory for the Red Army. Berlin's civilians were already experiencing catastrophic conditions: no electricity, minimal water, and wrecked streets. However, this approach would have lasted several weeks, a timeline Stalin was unwilling to accept.
The Frenchmen had a vital role to play during these chaotic final days. Although an insignificant part of the SS Division "Charlemagne," they doggedly defended the Reichstag building, embodying a resolute commitment to their beliefs, not Germany itself. They fought with panzerfausts, destroying numerous Soviet tanks, and used subway tunnels and cellars as ambush sites. Despite being poorly equipped and outnumbered, the French soldiers fought ferociously, foreshadowing the agony to come.
Fighting to the End
One teenager named Günter Debski was conscripted in 1945 at 16 but had been hiding from the authorities. However, he was eventually discovered and sentenced to death. Instead of execution, Debski was sent to the notorious Penal Battalion 999. After surviving the brutal Battle of Seelower Heights, he ended up in Berlin. As a working-class youth opposed to Nazism, he was ordered to defend Hitler's final stronghold. In a 2022 interview with the "Zeitzeugen-Portal," he said, "We received the order to defend the southern side of the Reichstag. [...] An SS unit of Frenchmen was already inside the Reichstag." The sheer madness of the final days was beyond description.
On April 28, 1945, Debski was supposed to go to the Soviets as a delegate - not for negotiations, but for ordering them to lay down their arms. "That's impossible, I said, Herr Leutnant. They'll shoot us. Everything's shooting here. We can't go over there with a white flag and discuss their surrender," he recounted.
The SS unit within the Reichstag that Debski mentioned consisted of Frenchmen. Far from a division, only around 300 to 350 members made it to Berlin. By May 2, 1945, when Berlin surrendered, only around 30 Frenchmen were still alive. In the final hours, Mohnke organized escape attempts to the north, trying to avoid Soviet captivity. Most failed in Berlin's devastated streets.
Christian de La Mazière, an aristocrat, was a royalist and unlikely collaborator. After the fall of Paris in 1944, he joined the SS, fighting against the tide of the war. He was the lone survivor of Charlemagne. In an interview, the intellectual described the mood of the fighters in the war's final days: "The city was burning. Walls, buildings, everything was collapsing. The smoke of the fires, the dust of buildings - sometimes we couldn't breathe. We didn't know where we were. We couldn't tell night from day. During breaks, we heard the screams of women. It was horrible. The sky was falling on us. There was nothing. We were jumping into nothingness. Hopeless, a total void. A great grinding. We were nothing. Life had no more meaning. We didn't care about our own lives."
Sources:
- "Le Chagrin et la Pitié" (1971) - Documentary
- Eyewitness Portal
- Adolf Hitler
- Endkampf.
- The final battle involving Adolf Hitler's Berlin stronghold was defended fiercely by SS commander Wilhelm Mohnke, a die-hard Nazi determined to hold every inch until the last man.
- Mohnke's forces included remnants of the Leibstandarte, regular units, the Volkssturm, and penal battalions, many of whom were unprepared for the intense urban combat of inner-city Berlin.
- Among the elite fighters were Georg Diers, who participated in the battles with two massive King Tiger tanks possibly belonging to the heavy SS Panzer Battalion 503.
- The Reichstag building, a significant place in the Battle of Berlin, symbolized the heart of the Third Reich for the Soviets, although insignificant in Hitler's regime following the start of the war.
- The Frenchmen, part of the SS Division "Charlemagne," doggedly defended the Reichstag building, embodying a resolute commitment to their beliefs, not Germany itself.
- Christian de La Mazière, an aristocrat and lone survivor of Charlemagne, described the mood of the fighters in the war's final days as "hopeless, a total void. We didn't care about our own lives."
- The final battle held symbolic value for both the defenders and the Soviets, with the capture of the Moltke Bridge being crucial for the Soviet advance into the government district.
