The film shows the withdrawal of armed SS-Panzergrenadiers from Prague in the
Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren where they organized the safe passage of many German civilians, non combatants and regular troops and SS rear area units. They were most likely soldiers of the brave and competent SS-Obersturmbannführer
Otto Weidinger's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 4 Der Führer of 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich. Ethnic German civilians residing in Prague, administrators, officials, and family members of the German military were the easiest targets of Czech communists. They had to flee by any means, including stolen vehicles, in order to save bare lives. The Sudeten German population of Bohemia-Moravia was expelled after the war and tens of thousands were murdered. In Prague alone, according to Otto von Habsburg (one of the architects of the European idea and of European integration) and Czech newspapers published in June 1945, there were 27,000
suicides of Germans within the three weeks following May 8 1945. On that day there lived roughly 60,000 Germans in Prague, to which must be added a large number of wounded soldiers in hospitals who were killed almost without exception. It is quite obvious that, in reality, the word "suicide" is simply a euphemism for murder and execution. The grainy film shows column of trucks with surrendering battle-hardened Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht troops passing trough Czech civilians in the U.S. occupied zone of Czechoslovakia (see Sign Limit of advance – all U.S. troops) in April 1945. It includes shots of G.I.'s who directs route of surrender and disarms officers in a staff car. Truckloads of surrendering elements of Das Reich and civilians riding past the camera. Two Luftwaffe officers talking to U.S. officer and an SS-Obersturmbannführer from either an SS Guard Battalion or the Waffen-SS who seems satisfied — they made it out. German civilians and soldiers walking up road. Long line of surrendering troops marching down the road. Faces of troops as they pass the camera. Film Edited by Stabswache de Euros. Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Producer: U.S. Army Air Force 4th CCU. PD. External link:
Waffen-SS and regular panzer troops (20.Panzer-Division) surrendering to U.S. troops near Pilsen in former Czechoslovakia on May 9 1945.
A lot of the Germans and civilians with the Germans that you see in this film clip may not have survived. For many, the horror is about to begin. They were handed back to the Russians or put into POW compounds run by the newly liberated peoples of Czechoslovakia. Keep in mind, the Americans were told to leave Czechoslovakia to the Russians and any prisoners taken were Russian zone POW's.
ReplyDelete"One of the units mingled in the column is the "Der Fuhrer" Regt. of "Das Reich" Div., the reason their vehicles were swamped with wounded soldiers and hospital personnel because of a rescue. The "Der Fuhrer" Regt. passed through Prague and evacuated the military hospital before the good people of that city could slaughter them. That's why there are wounded Heer, Luftwaffe, and nurses in the column. It was quite the drama. -MB"
ReplyDeleteSS-Führerin Ingeborg-Alix Prinzessin zu Schaumburg-Lippe was close to Prague in early May 1945. It appears that it was her who urged SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Weidinger and his regiment to go into Prague and rescue as many Germans as possible from the Czech pogrom. Weidinger also mentions meeting her outside of Prague in his memoirs.
DeleteThe 2nd SS Division, “Das Reich,” was a battlefront mainstay for Nazi Germany throughout WWII―from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the final surrender in May 1945. In between it was switched back-and-forth between east and west depending on the crisis, and it fought in nearly every major campaign, from Barbarossa to Normandy, and from Kharkov to the Ardennes.
ReplyDeleteThe Obersturmbannführer in the film have been identified as Michael Kneissl, who was in the column that left Prague and arrived at the Ejpovice camp on 9th May 1945. He was sent back to the Czechs and executed according to Axishistory.
ReplyDeleteIn one of the videos from this episode you see an American pointing to a weapons pile yelling at the Germans to discard their personal weapons. The SS officer from that vehicle is seen saying "no". Then the group drives off.
ReplyDeletePOW's that surrendered to the US in Czechoslovakia were turned over to the Soviets. The White Russians couldn't surrender to the US forces. Most were slaughtered by the Soviets. The most comprehensive account of these things is in a book called Patton's Vanguard The Final Battles by Don Fox. Interesting reading of the events surrounding the surrender.
ReplyDeleteNeznáte někdo prosím identitu důstojníka Luftwaffe?
ReplyDelete