Following the loss of so many Panther turrets even before going into action, we later received two German 37mm antitank guns and a captured Russian 45mm anti-tank gun.[6]
Another new arrival was Officer Cadet Alfred Kraus:
Having been born in 1926, I was conscripted into Infantry Regiment 29 at Züllichau on the 23rd May 1944. After 14 days of basic training, we were sent to Denmark, from where I returned in November to join an officer-cadet company in Küstrin, where my field post address was ‘Officer-Cadet Company Küstrin, Stülpnagel Barracks’, counterstamped with ‘Panzergrenadier Replacement Battalion 50, HQ Company’.
On the 29th January 1945 runners called us back from a night exercise to our barrack huts in the Stülpnagel Barracks. Next day I received a visit from my mother, who returned to Berlin that night. As we were not allowed to leave the barrack grounds, I could only escort her to the barrack gate. This was a farewell forever, for both she and my father were killed in an air raid on Berlin in April 1945.
If I remember correctly, on the morning of the 31st January we moved to a country road south of Reichsstrasse 1 and northwest of the Warnick position. The east side of the road was lined with tall poplars. We had to dig a hole for a tank behind one of the trees with our field spades. As the ground was frozen rock hard, we could not get down deeper than 10 centimetres. Our platoon and company commanders were not with us. Towards noon a Russian officer, whose battalion was fighting on the German side, appeared with an interpreter and threatened to have us shot if we did not complete our task. When he checked us later, he found that none of us had done so.
For hours disorderly groups of soldiers were streaming along the nearby Reichsstrasse 1 from Landsberg towards Küstrin. They said we were crazy waiting to take on the Russians on open fields with only 1898 carbines and machine guns. That evening we heard that the Russians had forced their way into that part of Küstrin on the right bank of the Warthe.[7]
Fifteen-year-old Hitler Youth Hans Dalbkermeyer and his fellow schoolboy Manni Roeder eventually arrived in Küstrin early that morning:
Duty-bound we reported to the collecting point in one of the two barracks in the Neustadt. Which one it was I can no longer recall. I remember, however, an Army officer taking us in a Volkswagen Jeep with a great 180 degree skid in the snow to a canteen in the Potato Meal Factory in the Neustadt. As we were the first from Birnbaum, we were to wait here for our comrades and orders. For once we felt safe. It was heated and there was food to eat. The whole building had been organised as a reception centre for members of the Wehrmacht and other soldiers. As part of the ‘full pension’ was naturally included the Führer’s speech on the 12th anniversary of his assumption of power on the 30th January 1933.
We both listened reverently, convinced we must give everything asked of us by the Führer and Fatherland. As the only youngsters among the many soldiers we remained exactly like the others after the speech, only our thoughts following a different path. I still believed in final victory, which for me had never been in question.[8]
Fortunately for the Germans, the 25th Panzergrenadier and 21st Panzer Divisions had already been extracted from the fighting against the Americans and French in Alsace in preparation for switching to the Eastern Front, and the 25th Panzergrenadiers were actually on their way to Küstrin by rail with the intention of blocking the Soviet advance before it reached the Oder. Orders for the 21st Panzer Division in the Southern Pfalz to entrain for the same destination were issued at 1835 hours on 31 January. These latter orders, however, would take twenty-seven trains and another four to six days to fulfil.[9]
Orders too were given for the formation near the town of that name of the ‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Division from the remnants of experienced units, under the command of the highly decorated Major General Werner Mummert. Considerable priority was given to the equipping and manning of this new division, and later to the replacement of its casualties in vehicles and manpower, but, unlike the other deployed divisions, the ‘Müncheberg’ was kept intact in reserve on the main approach route to Berlin until the beginning of March before being committed to action.[10]
Chapter Four
The Russians Are Here!
Streams of vehicles wound their way through Küstrin on the morning of 31 January, coming along the three main roads from the east, their speed being determined by over-laden farm wagons and horse-drawn sledges taking up the whole width of the roads and giving others no chance of overtaking. The snow that had first been packed by thousands of wheels and horses’ hooves had since been churned into dirty, ankle-deep mush, which dampened down the noise of their passage.
Even on the bridges there was no drumming, no stamping, only pushing and shoving. Whenever a driver blocked the road through exhaustion or clumsiness, it evoked loud abuse. The passengers required neither special attention nor accommodation. The refugee camp quickly emptied, its inhabitants scattering to the railway station or to the main street, looking out for a wagon or truck driver to persuade with money and the right words to take them along.
All had only one goaclass="underline" to cross the Oder! The dream of finding some respite from the war at last resulted in many men running straight into the arms of the waiting officers of the Feldgendarmerie or SS. Himmler’s appeal was stuck on all the advertising pillars: ‘Show no pity to all those shirkers who attach themselves to evacuation treks! Chase these brazen cowards to the front with your dishcloths!’ Those caught at the Oder crossings by these groups found that their release papers, leave passes, doctors’ certificates and other documents were of no account. They would be examined later to see if they were really unfit or otherwise incapacitated–or so it was said. Any soldier taken from the columns in civilian clothes was not detained for the moment, but special notice was taken of such men and they would not be forgotten, they were strongly assured; meanwhile they were ‘warned’.
It had long been clear that all organised resistance had collapsed between Küstrin and the Soviets advancing from north of the Warthe. Even the ‘Woldenberg’ Division at Landsberg could no longer pose a serious obstacle. Then at noon came the not so surprising news of enemy tanks approaching Neudamm, only 20 kilometres away. Orders were given for the bridges to be prepared for demolition, and the police and fire brigade were put on alert. Their vehicles had been closely guarded ever since the town omnibus, which had been reserved by a senior member of the town administration for his own flight, vanished without trace with its driver and his family.
The crowds at the railway station were dangerously crushed together, the people not knowing whether there would be any more trains. The railway police withdrew to the goods station, where a so-called evacuation train for the railway personnel waited under steam. The train moved off, although it was hardly full by current standards, and passed the waiting crowds. Then soldiers appeared with Panzerfausts on the railway premises as the last train rolled in from the east, packed to the running boards.
Apart from traffic on the main road, the village of Drewitz was virtually undisturbed by the comings and goings in the nearby town. The village NSDAP chief’s telephone rang at about 1400 hours and an acquaintance in Neumühl some 10 kilometres away reported that Soviet tanks had just rolled through towards Drewitz and Küstrin without stopping. The NSDAP chief was struck speechless with disbelief. Eventually he calmed down the caller, saying he would ask the Küstrin authorities for an explanation. He had just put down the telephone receiver when the first Soviet tank came down the village street. He grabbed his emergency pack and ran through the garden into the woods.