Battle of Berlin: Tragedy of the Faithful „Panzergruppe Saalbach“

Sd.Kfz 250/7 n°339 of 3.Kompanie/SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11

Wreckage of Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250/7 n°339 on Friedrichstraße

The photos shows the knocked out command vehicle Sd.Kfz 250/7 halftrack n°339 of the Swedish SS-Hauptsturmführer and general staff officer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson at Friedrichstraße in Berlin. H-G Pehrsson was the commander of the so-called Schwedenzug of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11, also known as Panzergruppe Saalbach, of the multinational 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. One of the bodies lying around the vehicle is most likely SS-Hauptsturmführer Pehrsson's dead driver, his fellow Swede SS-Unterscharführer Ragnar Johansson. The Swedish SS reconnaissance platoons escape attemt took place the night between May 1 and 2 1945. They came under heavy Soviet fire near the Friedrichstraße-Johannisstraße intersection where the driver SS-Unterscharführer Johansson fell outside the halftrack. The female casualty in the rear view is thought to be a Scandinavian SS frontline nurse. Another SS volunteer lies dead above her on top of the halftrack. Note the chess board that stands discarded amidst the rubble and death. SS-Hauptsturmführer Pehrsson himself, commander of the very same vehicle, was wounded, but managed to get away from the Soviets at the time. Fortunately, Pehrsson had time to get rid of his uniform jacket and changed into a Wehrmacht one before being taken prisoner. He was sent to a prison camp, which he managed to escape from. Pehrsson then hide himself in an apartment in Berlin. After a while, he met another Swedish SS-man and together they left the devastated city and made it to the British occupation zone. On June 2 1945 they began an adventurous journey back to Scandinavia. Since the SS volunteers who had returned from World War II were not chased or discriminated in Sweden, Pehrsson had the chance to return to civilian life and found a good job as a salesman and engineer. Hans-Gösta Pehrsson died aged 63 on March 16 1974 in Stockholm. Source: the Memoirs of fomer SS-Oberscharführer Erik Wallin; Twilight of the Gods. Photos by Soviet propaganda photographer Mark Redkin around May 2nd 1945. RGVIA. PD.