Hi, I've got a question about the weapons (artillery, canons) and vehicles (tanks, support vehicles) used during the Battle of/in Berlin. Does anyone have a complete list or something similar which shows the complete garrison of the Soviet (including lent-lease) and German forces? I would like to have this, because I'm currently working on a series of drawings about this battle and I don't want to show incorrect units.
Quite frankly, I don't think anything close to a complete list ever existed or will exist, particularly for the Germans. There were just too many ad hoc units using whatever was available for such a list to exist. It should be more possible to do a Soviet list.
I agree with T.A.. It was so chaotic at the end to be able to keep detailed records of units and weapons for the Germans. In the end they used whatever then could get thier hands on for the defence. All kinds of odds and ends. Especially AFVs and vehices.
I understand. But do you know a few vehicles and/or weapons they most certainly have used? Like Königstigers and T34/85's?
And this is from my thread on WWI tanks in WWII, "I was perusing some material on the Fall of Berlin, and I came across a photo of a British MkV Rhomboid Tank that was used in the battle by the Germans. Upon further reading, it appears to be one of the tanks that the British gave to the "White" Russians during the revolution. At the outbreak of Barbarossa, the Soviets used at least 4 surviving MkV's in the defense of Estonia near Tallinn. The Berlin tank is most likely one of these." http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/22200-wwi-tanks-wwii.html
another example of an odd and end used. The Wilton-FijenoordAn experimental type. After satisfying trials two of these cars were shipped to the East Indies in 1934. Results there were less satisfactory, the vehicles being too heavy for the roads and the aircooled engines suffereing from overheating, forcing the use of airplane gas rather than the normal gasoline. The 2 cars thus were sold back to the firm and returned to the Netherlands. In February 1935 two vehicles were sold to Brazil. The third remained at the firm untill they managed to sell it to the army in return of a tax-reduction. June 1st 1938 the vehicle was issued to the Korps Rijdende Artillerie (Corps mobile Artillery), that already had the five Carden Lloyd tankettes and the three Morris armored cars. It however was never armed because of lack of money. Of course it wasn’t used in May 1940. The Germans re-activated it in April 1945 for the defence of Berlin, still unarmed. http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/hol/Wilton.jpg
do you have info's on the III. SS Schwere Panzer Abteilung equipped with the Königstiger which did great damage to the Soviet forces outside and in Berlin
Appendix 2: German Order of Battle for Operation Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 208 – 214) Those units directly involved with the defence of Berlin are shown in more detail. OKW RESERVE (later allocated to the LVI Panzer Corps, 9th Army) 18th Panzergrenadier Division (Maj Gen Josef Rauch) 30th & 51st Panzergrenadier Regts 118th Panzer Regt (part) 18th Artillery Regt ARMY GROUP ‘VISTULA’ (Col Gen Gotthard Heinrici) III SS ‘Germanic’ Panzer Corps (SS Lt Gen Felix Steiner) (divisions later allocated to the 9th Army) 11th SS ‘Nordland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Jurgen Ziegler / SS Maj Gen Dr Gustav Krukenburg) 23rd ‘Norge’ Panzergrenadier Regt 24th ‘Danmark’ Panzergrenadier Regt 11th SS ‘Hermann von Salza’ Panzer Btn 503rd SS Heavy Tank Btn 11th SS ‘Nordland’ Armoured Reconnaissance Btn 23rd SS ‘Nederland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Wagner) (divisions later allocated to the 3rd Panzer Army) 27th SS ‘Langemarck’ Grenadier Division 28th SS ‘Wallonien’ Grenadier Division 3rd Panzer Army (Gen Hasso von Manteuffel) ‘Swinemunde’ Corps (Lt Gen Ansat) 402nd & 2nd Naval Divisions XXXII Corps (Lt Gen Schack) ‘Voigt’ & 281st Infantry Divisions 549th Volksgrenadier Division Stettin Garrison ‘Oder’ Corps (SS Lt Gen von dem Bach / Gen Hörnlein) 610th & ‘Klossek’ Infantry Divisions XXXXVI Panzer Corps (Gen Martin Gareis) 547th Volksgrenadier Division 1st Naval Division 9th Army (Gen Theodor Busse) 156th Infantry Division 541st Volksgrenadier Division 404th Volks Artillery Corps 406th Volks Artillery Corps 408th Volks Artillery Corps CI Corps (Gen Wilhelm Berlin / Lt Gen Friedrich Sixt) 5th Light Infantry Division 606th Infantry Division 309th ‘Berlin’ Infantry Division 25th Panzergrenadier Division 111th SPG Training Bde ‘1001 Nights’ Combat Group LVI Panzer Corps (Gen Helmuth Weidling) 9th Fallschirmjäger Division (Gen Bruno Braüer / Col Harry Herrmann) 25th, 26th & 27th Fallschirmjäger Regts 9th Fallschirmjäger Artillery Regt 20th Panzergrenadier Division (Col / Maj Gen Georg Scholze) 76th & 90th Panzergrenadier Regts 8th Panzer Btn 20th Artillery Regt ‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Division (Maj Gen Werner Mummert) 1st & 2nd ‘Müncheberg’ Panzergrenadier Regts ‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Regt ‘Müncheburg’ Armoured Artillery Regt 920th SPG Training Bde XI SS Panzer Corps (SS Gen Mathias Kleinheisterkamp) 303rd ‘Döberitz’ Infantry Division 169th Infantry Division 712th Infantry Division ‘Kurmark’ Panzergrenadier Division 502nd SS Heavy Tank Btn Frankfurt an der Oder Garrison (Col / Maj Gen Ernst Biehler) V SS Mountain Corps (SS Gen Friedrich Jackeln) 286th Infantry Division 32nd SS ’30. Januar’ Volksgrenadier Division 391st Sy Division 561st SS Tank Hunting Btn ARMY GROUP CENTRE (Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner) 4th Panzer Army (Gen Fritz-Herbert Gräser) (later transferred to the 9th Army) V Corps (Lt Gen Wagner) 35th SS Police Grenadier Division 36th SS Grenadier Division 275th Infantry Division 342nd Infantry Division 21st Panzer Division 12th Army (Gen Walter Wenck) XX Corps (Gen Carl-Erik Koehler) ‘Theodor Körner’ RAD Division ‘Ulrich von Hutten’ Infantry Division ‘Ferdinand von Schill’ Infantry Division ‘Scharnhorst’ Infantry Division XXXIX Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Karl Arndt) (12 – 21 April 1945 under OKW with the following structure) ‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division ‘Schlageter’ RAD Division 84th Infantry Division (21 – 26 April 1945 under 12th Army with the following structure) ‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division 84th Infantry Division ‘Hamburg’ Reserve Infantry Division ‘Meyer’ Infantry Division XXXXI Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Holste</I>) ‘von Hake’ Infantry Division 199th Infantry Division ‘V-Weapons’ Infantry Division 1st HJ Tank Destroyer Bde ‘Hermann Göring’ Jagdpanzer Bde XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (Gen Maximillian Reichsherr von Edelscheim) 14th Flak Division ‘Leipzig’ Battle Group ‘Halle’ Battle Group Ungrouped Formations ‘Friedrich Ludwig Jahn’ RAD Division (Col Gerhard Klein / Col Franz Weller) ‘Potsdam’ Infantry Division (Col Erich Lorenz)" Antill, P., Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945, Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945
Appendix 1: Soviet Order of Battle for the Battle for Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 196 – 207) Units are listed as they were deployed from north to south on 16 April 1945, with those having assaulted the city in greater detail. 2ND BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky) 2nd Shock Army (Col Gen I. I. Fedyurinsky) 108th & 116th Rifle Corps 65th Army (Col Gen P. I. Batov) 18th, 46th & 105th Rifle Corps 70th Army (Col Gen V. S. Popov) 47th, 96th & 114th Rifle Corps 49th Army (Col Gen I. T. Grishin) 70th & 121st Rifle Corps 191st, 200th & 330th Rifle Divisions 19th Army 40th Guards, 132nd & 134th Rifle Corps 5th Guards Tank Army 29th Tank Corps 1st Tank & 4th Mechanised Bdes 4th Air Army (Col Gen K. A. Vershinin) 4th Air Assault, 5th Air Bomber and 8th Air Fighter Corps 1ST BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal G. K. Zhukov) 61st Army (Col Gen P. A. Belov) 9th Guards, 80th & 89th Rifle Corps 1st Polish Army (Lt Gen S. G. Poplowski) 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th Polish Infantry Divisions 1st Polish Cavalry Bde 4th Polish Heavy Tank Bde 13th Polish SP Assault Artillery Bde 7th Polish Assault Artillery Btn 47th Army (Lt Gen F. I. Perkhorovitch) 77th, 125th & 129th Rifle Corps 70th Guards Independent Tank Regt 334th, 1204th, 1416th, 1825th & 1892nd SP Assault Artillery Regts 3rd Shock Army (Col Gen V. I. Kutznetsov) 7th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Christov / Col Gen Y. T. Chyervichenko) 146th, 265th & 364th Rifle Divisions 12th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen A. F. Kazanin / Maj Gen A. A. Filatov) 23rd Guards, 52nd Guards & 33rd Rifle Divisions 79th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen S. I. Perevertkin) 150th Rifle Division (Maj Gen V. M. Shatilov) 469th, 674th & 756th Rifle Regts 171st Rifle Division (Col A. P. Negoda) 380th, 525th & 783rd Rifle Regts 207th Rifle Division (Col V. M. Asafov) 594th, 597th & 598th Rifle Regts 9th Tank Corps (Lt Gen I. F. Kirichenko) 23rd, 95th & 108th Tank Bdes 8th Motorised Rifle Regt 1455th & 1508th SP Assault Artillery Regts 5th Shock Army (Gen / Col Gen N. E. Berzarin) 9th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen / Lt Gen I. P. Rossly) 230th, 248th & 301st Rife Divisions 26th Guards Corps (Maj Gen P. A. Firsov) 89th Guards, 94th Guards & 266th Rifle Divisions 32nd Rifle Corps (Lt Gen D. S. Zherebin) 60th Guards, 295th & 416th Rifle Divisions 11th, 67th Guards & 220th Tank Bdes 92nd Independent Tank Regt 396th Guards & 1504th SP Assault Artillery Regts 8th Guards Army (Col Gen V. I. Chuikov) 4th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. A. Glazonov) 35th Guards, 47th Guards & 57th Guards Rifle Divisions 28th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. M. Shugeyev) 39th Guards, 79th Guards & 88th Guards Rifle Divisions 29th Guards Rifle Corps (Maj Gen P. I. Zalizyuk) 27th Guards, 74th Guards & 82nd Guards Rifle Divisions 7th Guards Tank Bde 84th Guards, 65th & 259th Independent Tank Regts 371st, 374th Guards, 694th, 1026th, 1061st, 1087th & 1200th SP Assault Artillery Regts 69th Army (Col Gen V. Y. Kolpakchi) 25th, 61st & 91st Rifle Corps 117th & 283rd Rifle Divisions 68th Tank Bde 12th SP Assault Artillery Bde 344th Guards, 1205th, 1206th & 1221st SP Assault Artillery Regts 33rd Army (Col Gen V. D. Svotaev) 16th, 38th & 62nd Rifle Corps 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps 95th Rifle Division 257th Independent Tank Regt 360th & 361st SP Assault Artillery Regts 16th Air Army (Col Gen S. I. Rudenko) 6th & 9th Air Assault Corps 3rd & 6th Air Bomber Corps 1st Guards, 3rd, 6th & 13th Air Fighter Corps 1st Guards, 240th, 282nd & 286th Air Fighter Divisions 2nd & 11th Guards Air Assault Divisions 113th, 183rd, 188th & 221st Air Bomber Divisions 9th Guards & 242nd Air Night Bomber Divisions 16th & 72nd Air Reconnaissance Regts 93rd & 98th Air Observation Regts 176th Guards Air Fighter Regt 226th Air Transport Regt 18th Air Army (AVM A. Y. Golovanov) 1st Guards, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Air Bomber Corps 45th Air Bomber Division 56th Air Fighter Division 742nd Air Reconnaissance Regt 1st Guards Tank Army (Col Gen M. Y. Katukov) 8th Guards Mechanised Corps (Maj Gen I. F. Drygemov) 19th, 20th & 21st Guards Mechanised Bdes 1st Guards Tank Bde 48th Guards Tank Regt 353rd & 400th Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts 8th Guards M/C Btn 11th Guards Tank Corps (Col A. H. Babadshanian) 40th, 44th & 45th Guards Tank Bdes 27th Guards Mechanised Bde 362nd, 399th Guards & 1454 SP Assault Artillery Regts 9th Guards M/C Btn 11th Tank Corps (Maj Gen I. I. Jushuk) 20th, 36th & 65th Tank Bdes 12th Motorised Rifle Bde 50th Guards Tank Regt 1461st & 1493rd SP Assault Artillery Regts 64th Guards Tank Bde 19th SP Assault Artillery Bde 11th Guards Independent Tank Regt 12th Guards M/C Btn 2nd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen S. I. Bogdanov) 1st Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen S. I. Krivosheina) 19th, 35th & 37th Mechanised Bdes 219th Tank Bde 347th Guards, 75th & 1822nd SP Assault Artillery Regts 57th M/C Btn 9th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen A. F. Popov) 47th, 50th & 65th Guards Tank Bdes 33rd Guards Mechanised Bde 341st, 369th & 386th Guards SP Assault artillery Regts 17th Guards M/C Btn 12th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen M. K. Teltakov / Col A. T. Shevchenko) 48th, 49th & 66th Guards Tank Bdes 34th Guards Mechanised Bde 79th Guards Tank Regt 387th & 393rd Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts 6th Guards Independent Tank Regt 5th Guards M/C Regt 16th Guards M/C Btn 3rd Army (Col Gen A. V. Gorbatov) 35th, 40th & 41st Rifle Corps 1812th, 1888th & 1901st SP Assault Artillery Regts 2nd, 3rd & 7th Guards Cavalry Corps 3rd & 8th Guards Tank Corps 244th Independent Tank Regt 31st, 39th, 51st & 55th Independent Armoured Train Btns 1ST UKRAINIAN FRONT (Marshal I. S. Koniev) 3rd Guards Army (Col Gen V. N. Gordov) 21st, 76th & 120th Rifle Corps 25th Tank Corps 389th Rifle Division 87th Guards Independent Tank Regt 938th SP Assault Artillery Regt 13th Army (Col Gen N. P. Phukov) 24th, 27th & 102nd Rifle Corps 88th Independent Tank Regt 327th, 372nd Guards, 768th & 1228th SP Assault Artillery Regts 5th Guards Army (Col Gen A. S. Zhadov) 32nd, 33rd & 34th Guards Rifle Corps 4th Guards Tank Corps 2nd Polish Army (Lt Gen K. K. Swiersczewski) 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th Polish Infantry Divisions 1st Polish Tank Corps 16th Polish Tank Bde 5th Polish Independent Tank Regt 28th polish SP Assault Artillery Regt 52nd Army (Col Gen K. A. Koroteyev) 48th, 73rd & 78th Rifle Corps 7th Guards Mechanised Corps 213th Rifle Division 8th SP Assault Artillery Bde 124th Independent Tank Regt 1198th SP Assault Artillery Regt 2nd Air Army (Col Gen S. A. Krasovsky) 1st Guards, 2nd Guards & 3rd Air Assault Corps 4th & 6th Guards Air Bomber Corps 2nd, 5th & 6th Air Fighter Corps 208th Air Night Bomber Division 98th & 193rd Guards Air Reconnaissance Regts 222nd Air Transport Regt 3rd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen P. S. Rybalko) 6th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Mitrofanov) 51st, 52nd & 53rd Guards Tank Bdes 22nd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde 385th Guards, 1893rd & 1894th SP Assault Artillery Regts 3rd Guards M/C Btn 7th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. V. Novikov) 54th, 55th & 56th Guards Tank Bdes 23rd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde 384th Guards, 702nd & 1977th SP Assault Artillery Regts 4th Guards M/C Btn 9th Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen I. P. Suchov) 69th, 70th & 71st Mechanised Bdes 91st Tank Bde 383rd Guards, 1507th & 1978th SP Assault Artillery Regts 100th M/C Btn 16th SP Assault Artillery Bde 57th Guards & 90th Independent Tank Regts 50th M/C Regt 4th Guards Tank Army (Col Gen D. D. Lelyushenko) 5th & 6th Guards Mechanised Corps 10th Guards Tank Corps 68th Guards Tank Bde 70th Guards SP Assault Artillery Bde 13th & 119th Guards Independent Tank Regts 7th Guards M/C Regt 28th Army (Lt Gen A. A. Luchinsky) 20th, 38th Guards & 128th Rifle Corps 31st Army 1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lt Gen V. K. Baranov) 152nd Tank Bde 98th Independent Tank Regt 368th Guards, 416th & 1976th SP Assault Artillery Regts 21st, 45th, 49th & 58th Independent Armoured Train Btns
Das Ende Zwischen Oder Und Elbe Der Kampf Um Berlin 1945. JC several of the German named units had nothing to do with Berlin except the fact they were fighting east of the big city and retreated not within as for some but to the north and south not to be entrapped by the Soviets. for years this has been a huge bone of contention with the few surviving German units that did bleed out in the capital and the units that were termed "cheaters" by moving continaully westward towards US captivity. .......interesting I think
I think that the heading was meant to mean that this was the official OOB but the units that were actually involved are "shown with in more detail". I don't think that it was meant to mean that all the units were actually involved in the battle. Thats the jist I get. But thats just my opinion LOL. Appendix 2: German Order of Battle for Operation Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 208 – 214) Those units directly involved with the defence of Berlin are shown in more detail.
possibly it could easily work both ways and it has with numerous books published since the 1950's. The Battle of Berlin in name is a strange one as for the Luftwaffe it was a projection of protection for the capital city since January 1945's end till end of the war. In fact interviewing LW veterans that participated on the Ost front use the term in regards to all aerial conflict with the Soviets, there is not one "special" date to be used above any other. A close friend serving in the Heer although he was fighting up in ost Preussia, his remarks is that it all ran together , we just surivied and tried to exist from day to day during the actions of defense and brief counter-thrusts agasint the Soviets. the W-SS 561st Panzer-jagd Abt. was in the same mode defending in the trees to the east of Berlin taking on whatever the Soviets tried to push through, closing small gaps defending Heer/Fallshirmtruppen, brief counterattack followed by retreat amidst buildings and heavy timber growth what wasn't already blown to bits. Sucidal attacks by both sides, brief lulls and then all hell breaks loose again ....