The attacking 79th Rifle Corps later claimed to have taken 2,000 prisoners and counted 2,500 German dead in these assaults on the Reichstag, Diplomatic Quarter, Schlieffenufer, Moltke Bridge and Kroll Opera House, but these figures are wildly exaggerated, as I have shown. Their own war memorial built close to the site significantly contains the bodies of 2,200 soldiers presumably killed in this same action.
THE BREAK-OUT FROM FRIEDRICHSTRASSE
The one-armed lieutenant, followed by Kurt Abicht and his men, came down to see me. He said that both his guns were now useless scrap and he thought that we were finished. My mortars were also useless for lack of bombs, and our rockets had long since been used up. We were now just simple infantrymen. We still had our machine gun with six hundred rounds and plenty of ammunition for our sub-machine guns, but that was all.
Losses among my own men had been thankfully few. This may have been because I preferred to do things myself rather than endanger others, but I cannot be sure. One of the sergeants had been wounded when he was buried under debris, but he could move around easily enough and was back on light duties.
As usual I went up to our barricades on the upper level on the night of 1/2 May. We still had not organised a shock troop, as we had been ordered from above, but fortunately we were spared this, and now we had been reinforced in our positions by the one-armed lieutenant and his men. Though they were not armed for close combat like ourselves, we now numbered about sixty in all. Claiming that he was no infantryman, the lieutenant handed over command to me.
I converted a former ticket office cabin into a quiet corner for myself and settled down there to doze. Suddenly a runner appeared with orders for the lieutenant and myself to report to the battalion commander. The lieutenant took along his battery sergeant major Kurt Abicht, and I took two of my Hitler Youths as runners. As usual they were as keen as mustard.
When we got to the command post on the lower level we found the battalion commander and his staff sitting there in the former platform guard’s office with faces that looked pale and distraught in the candlelight. Schäfer said to his adjutant: ‘Right, SS-Lieutenant Krönke, we are all here, you can begin.’
When I asked about the missing company commanders, Schäfer said; ‘We don’t need them at the moment. SS-Lieutenant Krönke has just returned from an order group with SS-Brigadier Mohnke at the Reichs Chancellery.’
Krönke read out what he said were the Führer’s last orders. We were thanked for our loyalty to the Führer and released from our oath to him. We were then informed about the new government that was to be formed, of which still in Berlin were Dr Josef Goebbels, the new Reichs Chancellor, and Martin Bormann, the Party Minister. Anyone could now go if they so wished.
However, SS-Brigadier Mohnke had cancelled the latter statement with written orders for a break-out of all Waffen-SS troops under his command to go north from Friedrichstrasse. General Weidling’s Army troops would break out to the west to join up with General Wenck’s forces. SS-General Steiner would thrust toward us with his divisions and take us on to join our friends the Americans.
(This sounded odd to me, for I had never heard of such ‘friends’ before. Only six months before these ‘friends’ had killed my parents with a direct hit by a bomb on their country home.) Mohnke would lead the break-out from Friedrichstrasse himself, according to these orders.
It was only then that it sunk in that Hitler had already been dead thirty hours. It had been kept secret, the adjutant told us, so that the front would not collapse. Goebbels had wanted to negotiate a ceasefire with the Soviets. When I asked about Goebbels, I was told that he had had SS-Colonel Rattenhuber shoot his wife and himself.
I then asked about Martin Bormann, and was told that Bormann was now the highest ranking party official in Berlin and had nominated Mohnke to lead the break-out.
Now Schäfer issued his orders. We were to go through the S-Bahn tunnels as far as was possible, which would be partly under enemy lines. As the tunnels did not run directly to Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn Station, we would climb up a certain emergency exit and continue above ground to the station, where we would wait for Mohnke to issue further orders.
I now asked about our companies up forward. ‘They will follow on later, but will first have to cover our withdrawal,’ Schäfer said. ‘You and the lieutenant can come with us, but your men will have to stay and cover our rear, or the Russians will get us from behind.’
I did not like the idea of leaving without my men, and neither did the lieutenant, so I said to the battalion commander: ‘You alone are answerable for your companies, but I will not go one step from here without my men.’
The lieutenant said the same.
I went on: ‘So I will stay here until you have gone. No Russians will get you from behind.’
‘Oh no!’ said Schäfer, ‘I need you for your close combat experience in the break-out!’
‘And with whom am I going to break out, if not with my men?’ I asked. ‘With a crowd like this, virtually unknown to me, it will not work. They would run round me like a flock of sheep!’
‘I had not thought of it like that,’ said Schäfer. ‘As far as I am concerned, do as you like. As usual you have the last word!’
I then gave orders to my Hitler Youths, who were standing there with their mouths wide open at this discussion. One of them was told to blow up the two remaining mortars immediately with hand grenades and to return as quickly as possible with the gunners. The lieutenant nodded his approval.
The other one was told to go to our S-Bahn carriages and, if any of our men were there, to get them out with some excuse and send them back here. I used this ruse to avoid having the women and Volkssturm joining us in the break-out.
Kurt Abicht explained to these Volkssturm men what we intended doing. They should discard their armbands and caps and become proper civilians again. I also persuaded my Hitler Youths to go back home. At least they would be held in their mothers’ arms once more, even if the mothers of those that had been killed cursed me.
Then I thrust aside the quartermaster standing distraught outside his S-Bahn wagon loaded with supplies and forced my way in. I sought and found boxes of ‘Schokolada’ and threw them on to the platform, where some burst open, sending the cans rolling around. I looked for some schnapps and found some cases of ‘Aqua-Witt’, a brand sometimes issued to the common soldier as part of his rations, and placed two of them on the platform. Meanwhile my men had gathered round wondering what was happening. ‘Don’t ask too many questions,’ I said. ‘Take as much ‘Schokolada’ as you can, as it will be the only nourishment you get during the next few days. Then everyone take a bottle of schnapps, but only one! You can all take one gulp, but keep the rest in case someone is wounded, when it will help ease the pain.’
They eagerly did what I said, as did the gunners. Then we set off. I led with my men. The torch batteries had all been exhausted, so I held a burning tallow candle in my hand.
We found the right emergency exit from the tunnel and we climbed up into the open air without having taken a step in the wrong direction. We then went across to Friedrichstrasse Station, where thousands of people had gathered. Instead of just Waffen-SS as had been planned, there were soldiers of all arms of the service standing around waiting for the breakthrough to start, even women. Some were secretaries from government offices with their chiefs, but there were also officers with their wives on their arms, which would handicap them in any fighting.