Thursday, February 19, 2015

Festungs Schneidemühl redux

Festung Schneidemühl was formally constituted on 12 Oct 1944 with the appointment of a Festungs-Kommandant, but not much was done to prepare the defenses of the small city until the Soviet winter offensive began on 12 January. By 8 Feb 1945 the fortress garrison consisted of four static regiments made up of mostly Volkssturm, Alarm and "Gneisenau" formations, two fortress machine gun battalions, 8 battalions of school and miscellaneous troops, a recon battalion, a naval infantry battalion, an artillery battalion and an assault gun battalion. These are all identified in Tessin, volume XIV, p.226.

The battle for Schneidemühl began on 10 February when 1st Belorussian Front launched a powerful drive through eastern Pomerania toward the Baltic. Schneidemühl was astride the east-west and north-south lines of communication and had to be quickly taken. By 14 February the majority of the garrison had been overrun and destroyed, although a few small pockets held out until 17 February. “Festung” Schneidemühl fell after only a few days of fighting because the garrison consisted of overage and poorly equipped emergency units and school troops who were expected to hold out against an assault by a vastly superior force of combat-hardened Soviet tank units and accompanying infantry. German losses were high but I have never seen a listing of the numbers.

I do not believe there are any detailed English language accounts of the defense of Schneidemühl, but there are several in German and Russian

Festung Schneidemühl (per Tessin)
The Festungs-Kommandant was established on 12.10.1944. By 25.1.1945, the existing 4 Gneisenau-, 2 Alarm-, and 2 Volkssturm-Battalions were organized; and were then used to create the following units as part of the 11th Army on 8.2.1945:
Regiment Mentz I-II.
Regiment Bonin I-IV.
Regiment Möring I-II.,
Compare with the units mentioned by author Murawski in "Die Eroberung Pommerns":
4 Stellungs-Regiments: Bonin, Obermeier, Schwarzmeier and Sann.
Engaged according to the FpU:
Festungs-MG-Abteilung Schneidemühl I
Festungs-MG-Abteilung Schneidemühl II.
Also engaged (according to Murawski):
Bataillon (Heeresunteroffizierschulen) Kolberg, Eutin, Treptow
Bataillon Belgard, Anklam, Schneidemühl, Hannover, Feldherrnhalle
Aufklärungs-Abteilung Stolp
Marine-Bataillon (23. Schiffs-Stamm Abteilung) Deutsch - Krone
I./Artillerie-Lehr-Regiment 5 (Groß-Born)
Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung Graf Dohna (Wespe, Hummel).

Photos: Festung Breslau - 1945

Hitler Youth defend Festung Breslau

LINK

The city was besieged as part of the Lower Silesian Offensive Operation (8–24 February 1945) on 13 February by the 6th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front commanded by Marshal Ivan Koniev, and the encirclement of Breslau was completed the following day. The 1st Ukrainian Front forces besieged the city with the 22nd and 74th Rifle Corps, and the 77th Fortified Region, as well as other smaller units. Even approximate estimates vary greatly concerning the number of German troops trapped in Breslau. Some sources claim that there were as many as 150,000 defenders, some 80,000 and some 50,000. The Siege of Breslau consisted of destructive house-to-house street fighting. The city was bombarded to ruin by artillery of the Soviet 6th Army, as well as the Soviet 2nd Air Army and the Soviet 18th Air Army. During the siege, both sides resorted to setting entire districts of the city on fire.

On 15 February, the German Luftwaffe started an airlift to aid the besieged garrison. For 76 days, until 1 May, the Luftwaffe made more than 2000 sorties with supplies and food. More than 1,638 short tons (1,486 t) of supplies were delivered.

On 22 February, the 6th Army occupied three suburbs of Breslau, and during the next day, the 6th Army troops were in the southern precincts of the city itself.

By 31 March, there was heavy artillery fire into the north, south, and west of Breslau suburbs. The 6th Army witnesses noted that much of the city was in flames.

On 20 April, where possible, General Niehoff had chocolates distributed to the troops in honor of Hitler's 56th birthday.

On 4 May, the clergy of Breslau — Pastor Hornig, Dr. Konrad, Bishop Ferche, and Canon Kramer — demanded that Niehoff surrender the town. Niehoff dismissed the clergy without a definitive answer. In the afternoon of the same day, Pastor Hornig repeated his demand in an address to the troop commanders. Hanke ordered Niehoff not to have any further dealings with the clergy.

Deutscher Volkssturm

Of all the measures taken to mobilize speed the last manpower resources of the German nation, the most extreme was the creation of the Volkssturm designed to supplement the defense of the homeland. The Deutscher Volkssturm was constituted in September 1944. The organization may be considered a territorial militia which was formed and called to arms only for training purposes or for employment whenever a local area was threatened by the enemy. It was used to reinforce the Wehrmacht by "total commitment of all German people," as the constitution decree dictated. Although formation and training to the Volkssturm was not under the responsibility of the Wehrmacht, but rather under the auspices of the NAZI Party (NSDAP), for employment in combat all Volkssturm units came under the full operational command and control of the army. Under the status of forces as determined by the Geneva Convention, the Volkssturm was a legal irregular defense force that was neither part of the Wehrmacht nor the army, but rather an independent fighting force controlled by the Party.

Hitler Jugend

Few historical subjects are so emotional as the Nazi Third Reich, few have stimulated so much general interest, and few have been subjected to such close scrutiny. Adolf Hitler continues to fascinate and to horrify, and his barbaric regime still defies imagination. The Nazi regime is fortunately dead and buried, but the questions raised by its terrible history continue to demand explanations. Countless books have been written on the Nazi period, including many about the Hitler Youth, some of which have now become classics of their kind. In 1979, the historian James P. O’Donnell remarked that the British Library and the Library of Congress listed over 55,000 items on Hitler and World War II. Even the superficial student of that period of history is aware of why Hitler attached so much importance to the German youth, and the process of indoctrination leading to full-scale militarization is now well known