Soviet East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive Operation (I)

Soviet Red Army steamrolling west in 1945

Ostpreußen refugees fleeing before the advancing Red Army

German refugees from Ostpreußen moving westward

Luftwaffe and Heer soldiers yield themselves prisoners in Ostpreußen

The massive Soviet East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive took place in the eastern Pommern and Danzig-Westpreußen region from February 10 to April 4 1945 before the Berlin offensive could proceed. The need to secure the flanks of the primary thrust delayed into April 1945 the Soviets' final push toward Berlin, which had originally been planned for February 1945. The Soviets had an extremely impressive array of forces confronting the Germans. The 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts in the north, with 12 armies, faced Heeresgruppe Mitte's three armies. On the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts the Soviets had 2,200,000 troops, 6,400 tanks and self-propelled assault guns, and 46,000 indirect-fire weapons. Against these two fronts Heeresgruppe A could muster 400,000 troops, 1,150 tanks, and 4,100 indirect-fire weapons. However, the Soviet forces took heavy casualties while penetrating westward, their greatest obstacle became the renewed fury of the German soldiers who were now fighting to defend their own homeland. Tens of thousands of German troops were sacrificed in trying to hold places that had little tactical or strategic significance. The Wehrmacht was driven westward in the relentless tide of the Soviet offensive and along with the German Army was a mass of refugees fleeing in terror from the Soviet Red Army, fully aware that the Soviets were raping and crucifying women and young girls on their advance westward. East European women were not spared either. Nazi propaganda - originally meant to stiffen civil resistance by describing in gory and embellished detail Russian atrocities such as the Nemmersdorf and Metgethen massacres - often backfired and created panic. Large numbers of the inhabitants of the German provinces of East Prussia, Silesia, and Pomerania died during the evacuations. A significant percentage of this death toll occurred when evacuation columns encountered units of the Red Army. Civilians were run over by tanks, shot, or otherwise murdered. In addition, fighter bombers of the Soviet Red Air Force, whose presence was now unchallenged in the sky, flew bombing and strafing missions that targeted columns of refugees. Credit: Military historian Ian Baxter and Wikipedia inter alia. Top image: a Soviet T-34-85 tank crossing a chilly river in Silesia during the Pomeranian and Silesian offensives in 1945. USSR propaganda photo. Public domain. Middle images: German refugees from the East Prussian capital Königsberg fleeing massacres in their homeland in February 1945. The West German search service reported that 31,940 civilians from East Prussia alone, were confirmed as killed during the evacuation. Photos by Vinzenz Engel. Credit: Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Fair use. Bottom image: German soldiers surrendering to the Soviets in eastern Prussia in early 1945. Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. Soviet Union stock photos.

Soviet East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive Operation (II)

Soviet fighter pilots strafed and bombed civilians and refugees en masse

SS-Obersturmbannführer d. R Otto Skorzeny in Ostpommern

SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel with fellow officers in Ostpommern

SS-Ustuf. Karl Brommann of s.SS-Pz.Abt.503 in Westpreußen

The Red Air Force took part in the mass killing of civilians by strafing refugees. German military and civilians retreating towards Berlin were hounded by the presence of low flying aircraft strafing and bombing them. Soviet fighter-bombers did range over much of the eastern provinces of the Reich at a low level during the last months of the war, shooting up anything that moved. The Soviet Red Army blew up ancient cities all over Pomerania, set alight churches and randomly executed groups of soldiers that had fought on until they ran out of ammunition. The Wehrmacht had neither the manpower nor the weapons to hold the Soviet onslaught. When the final attack began on the River Oder on April 16 1945 the German soldier was overwhelmed and slowly beaten back to the gates of Berlin. The road to the German capital - the heart of the Nazi empire - was now open from both the south and east. Top image: Soviet pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki pictured in the cockpit of an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft. SU stock photos. Second image: Austrian SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny visiting SS-Fallschirmjägerbataillon 600 on the Oder Front in February 1945. Skorzeny spent January and February 1945 commanding regular troops in the defence of the German provinces of East Prussia and Pommern. c. Bundesarchiv. Third image: Commander of the 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel with his regimental commanders in eastern Pommern in February 1945. To his left is SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Paetsch, and on his right is SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl-Heinz Euling, both Knight's Cross winners. The Wiking veteran Paetsch was fatally wounded aged 35 on March 16 1945 at Altdamm. He was posthumously awarded the Oakleaves. Euling survived the war and died aged 94 on April 14 2014 in München. Photo by SS-KB Peter Adendorf. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: the Nord and Nordland veteran SS-Untersturmführer Karl Brommann of the schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 503 and his tank crew posing for a photo in the Danzig area of West Prussia in early-March 1945. Standing in front of his Tiger II, often referred to as the Königstiger, is an unidentified member of the workshop company, radio operator SS-Unterscharführer Rüdi Bier, the Panzer commander Karl Brommann himself, loader SS-Sturmmann Josef Teitsch, gunner SS-Unterscharführer Emil Reichel and driver SS-Oberscharführer Martin Hoffmann. During the fighing in Danzig and Sopot, Brommann destroyed 66 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns along with 44 artillery pieces and 15 trucks. Following this action he was awarded the Knight's Cross. The schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 503 lost 39 tanks and destroyed 500 enemy tanks during its relatively short period of operation, a kill ratio of 12.82. Brommann was captured by the British on May 21 1945 and remained in captivity until Nov. 1947. In civilian life, he worked as a dental technician and passed away at age 90 on June 30 2011 in Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein. Credit: Ryan N81. c. Bundesarchiv.

Waffen-SS Foreign Volunteers: ϟϟ-Unterscharführer Johansson

SS-Unterscharführer der Waffen-SS Arne Johansson

Original SS-Division Nordland Cuff Title

Before the predominantly Nordic and Volksdeutsche 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland took part in the defense of Berlin it fought fierce defensive battles in Pommern and on the Oder. SS-Unterscharführer Arne Johansson from Göteborg in Sweden was one of many volunteers who fell in those battles. He had served with the Swedish Volunteer Corps during the Soviet aggression against Finland before he joined the Waffen-SS and the Nordland. In 1943 Johansson was assigned to the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Panzergruppe Saalbach. On several occasions the company commander had to calm down his fighting spirit, which came to fore when things started to get hot, but finally it cost him his life. Arne Johansson was KIA aged 30 during a counter-attack in Groß Wachlin east of Stettin-Altdamm on March 1 1945, leaving behind a wife and three children in Sweden. SS-Oberscharführer Erik Wallin, recalled the event in his classic postwar account Twilight of the Gods: A man was sent out to aid Arne Johansson after he was wounded by shrapnel. He was killed almost immediately by the Russians. Another group was dispatched and met the same fate. Finally, Johansson was retrieved only to be wounded once again. Seven to eight men fell during this episode. Johansson lingered on a while but died of his wounds. His final words were “I hope I have behaved like a good Swede... London born historian and author Sir Martin Gilbert remarked: All wars end up being reduced to statistics, strategies, debates about their origins and results. These debates about war are important, but not more important than the human story of those who fought in them. Ordinary men conscripted into the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine or enlisted men of the Waffen-SS did not fight for the NSDAP (the Nazi Party). Neither did the hundreds of thousands of European volunteers. There were certainly other values and beliefs involved. Perspectives that may be easily forgotten. Top image: Winter War veteran and SS volunteer Arne Johansson. Priv.coll. Bottom image: FU.

Soviet Seelow-Berlin Offensive Operation and Battle of Halbe

Breakthrough at the Halbe Pocket and surrender at the Elbe River

Highly decorated Waffen-SS Commander Jürgen Wagner at Elbe River

Unidentified SS-Untersturmführer being frisked at Elbe River

Surrendering to the U.S. Ninth Army on West bank of the Elbe

The last major defensive line outside Berlin was the Seelow Heights. Close to one million Soviet troops and more than 20,000 tanks and artillery pieces commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, attacked the position known as the Gates of Berlin between April 16 and April 19 1945. They were opposed by about 110,000 German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS troops and 1,200 tanks and guns, commanded by General Theodor Busse. The Soviet forces broke through the defensive positions, having suffered about 30,000 casualties, while the Germans lost 12,000 personnel. It was only one of several crossing points along the Oder and Neisse rivers where the Soviets attacked which led to the encirclement of General Theodor Busse's 9th Army and the Battle of Halbe, also known as the Slaughter at Halbe. The Battle of the Oder-Neisse was itself only the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin. On the night of April 28 1945, the German forces broke through the Soviet 50th Guards Rifle Division and created a corridor from Halbe to the west. Losses on both sides were very high. The remnants and several thousand civilians then retreated westwards towards the Elbe so that they could surrender to American forces on the west bank of the river. Nobody knows how many civilians died, but it could have been as high as 10,000. The most astonishing part of the story is not the numbers who died or were forced to surrender but the 25,000 soldiers and several thousand civilians who succeeded in getting through three lines of Soviet troops. Top image: Oakleaves holder SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Jürgen Wagner negotiating the surrender of his command with the Commander of the U.S. 405th Infantry Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Leroy E. Frazier at the Elbe River in early May 1945. Wagner had joined the Leibstandarte SS in 1933 and then deployed with SS-Standarte Deutschland in 1939. He commanded SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania of the Wiking Division from 1942 and the Dutch 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland from 1943. Wagner was extradited to communist Yugoslavia in 1947. He was sentenced to death and executed on June 27 1947. It is not precisely known for what he was indicted for. Credit: Benoit. Photo by U.S. photojournalist William Vandivert. LIFE photo archive. FU. Bottom clips: an unidentified SS-Untersturmführer surrenders to the U.S. 102nd Infantry Division at the rickety ruins of the bridge across the Elbe River near Tangermünde in early May 1945. All footage by U.S. War Department Film.

Soviet Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation – The Fall of Berlin

Mosquito 8K-K bombed Berlin 31 times bf its final sortie in April 1945

Youngsters conscripted into combat roles for the last defence of Germany

Civilians in downtown Berlin under Soviet bombardment in April 1945

Königstiger n°101 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.503 at Potsdamer Platz in May 1945

Soviet T-34 in bombed-out Berlin in May 1945

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered 20 armies, 8,500 aircraft, and 6,300 tanks to march toward Berlin in April 1945. According to the author and historian Antony Beevor about 1,500,000 Soviet soldiers took part in the assault on the Berlin Defence Area. The forces available to General Helmuth Weidling for the city's defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted German Army and Waffen-SS divisions. These divisions were supplemented by the police force, boys in the compulsory Hitlerjugend, and 40,000 elderly men of the Volkssturm. Civilian life in Berlin continued despite what is sometimes described as the largest artillery bombardment in history. The weight of ordnance delivered by Soviet artillery during the battle of Berlin was greater than the total tonnage dropped by Western Allied bombers on the city. People struggled to work in their offices, shops, and factories, while housewives lined up to exchange their ration tickets for the last amounts of food in the city. The most amazing feat accomplished by the people of Berlin was perhaps the fact that even at this time the post office still delivered letters to residents of the city. In the meantime, British Royal Air Force Mosquitos were conducting large tactical air raids against German positions inside Berlin on the nights of April 1945 and only over a 5-day period a total of 380 bombers were targeting the Berlin Defence Area. As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, they became concentrated into a small area in the city centre. By then there were about 10,000 German soldiers in the city centre, which was being assaulted from all sides. The Soviet Red Army committed heinous atrocities during, and in the days immediately following the assault in many areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops engaged in mass rape, pillage and murder. They looted stores and banks, shot innocent civilians, and raped countless number of women. Over 90,000 women visited doctors in Berlin as a result of rape. Berliners, especially women anxiously waited and prayed for Allied troops to come and liberate them from the systematic rape and torture of the Red Army. But American and British troops did not arrive to help them, not before a two-month long Red Army occupation. According to the author Peter Antill the number of German losses in Berlin was about 22,000 military dead and 22,000 civilian dead. In A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures by the author Micheal Clodfelter, the number of civilian casualties is unknown, but 125,000 are estimated to have perished during the entire operation which included the battles of Seelow Heights and the Halbe. Top image: according to the author Barry Blunt this particular British RAF de Havilland Mosquito ML963 code 8K-K of 571 Squadron completed 31 bombing raids on Berlin before it was finally lost on a raid to Berlin on April 10/11 1945. Credit: Nathan Howland. Second image: Stettin and Stralsund teens from a so-called Hitlerjugend Volks­sturm in conversation with a HJ leader and former Panzerjäger Leutnant d. R. Rudolf Krause. During the Battle of Berlin, Hitlerjugend and even some pre-teen Deutsches Jung­volk formed part of the last line of German defenses and were reportedly among the fiercest fighters. The picture was not taken in Berlin itself but at the Pyritz front north-east of Berlin in Feb. 1945. Immensely outnumbered, they didn't stand a chance. This was around the time Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta Conference to discuss the division of Europe along their respective spheres of influence. Third still from the intensive Soviet artillery bombardment of Berlin in April 1945. Fourth image: a knocked out Königstiger n°101 of the Waffen-SS near the Columbushaus at Potsdamer Platz in May 1945. Potsdamer Platz was almost completely destroyed during the Battle of Berlin. Only Weinhaus Huth and the ruins of the Hotel Esplanade were left standing in the once so lively square. Bottom image: Soviet Red Army in vanquished Berlin in May 1945. Credit: Olga Shirnina. SU stock photo. All photos in the PD.

Foreign Waffen-SS Troops Formed up to Resist the Soviets in Berlin

Adolf Hitler and adjutant Julius Schaub at the Reichskanzlei, March 1945

Schadpanzer or Pantherturm in Berlin, May 1945

Königstiger n°101 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.503 at the Potsdamer Platz, May 1945

Unknown SS-Ustuf. lay dead at Friedrichstraße in Berlin, May 1945

The Battle of Berlin is well known not only for being a fierce and bitter battle, but because a great number of its last defenders were not German, but were foreign volunteers particularly from Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. An extraordinary very close comradeship had grown up among the Waffen-SS foreign volunteers defending Berlin in the final battle of World War II in Europe. Author Theodor Hartmann writes in the conclusion of the book Waffen-SS: Its Divisional Insignia: By 1945, the Waffen-SS had proved by its combat success that European people could exist together, but as long as they recognized and accepted the national differences between one another. It had been in the Waffen-SS that, for the first time, Dutch had been commanded by Germans and Germans by Belgians. It was this idealism, dearly bought on the roads of Russia and later in its slave labor camps, that created an outstanding spirit of comradeship and combatant ability among all members, regardless of nationality or rank. On April 16 1945, the multinational 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland was ordered into the line east of Berlin. During this time, a 300 man unit of French Waffen-SS volunteers of 33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne and a company of Spanish SS men of Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101 under command of Hauptsturmführer der SS Miguel Ezquerra (1903-1984) were attached to the division. The Nordland was involved in constant combat all along it's front, pushing the division back into the city itself. By April 22 1945, it had been pushed back to the Tiergarten in the centre of Berlin. The remains of Nordland's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge and 24 Danmark, found themselves defending the bridges across the Spree. After a spirited but futile defense, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the Government District. Meanwhile, the main Soviet assault was towards the Treptow Park area, where the rest of the few remaining Panzers of SS-Panzer-Abteilung 11 Hermann von Salza were defending. SS-Obersturmbannführer Paul-Albert Kausch led the few Panzers and armoured vehicles in a counter attack and succeeded in halting the enemy advance, at the cost of his last vehicles. By April 26 1945, the defenders of the government district had been pushed back into the Reichstag itself, and were causing heavy casualties to the advancing Soviets. Top image: allegedly the last photo taken of the Austrian-born Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. It shows him and chief aide and adjutant SS-Ogruf. Julius Schaub inspecting bomb damage to the Reich Chancellery dining room on March 20 1945. The image is sometimes credited to photog. Heinrich Hoffmann. Credit: Facundo Filipe. Second image: a Panther, one of several that were dug into the ground in Berlin to be used as a desperate defensive weapon in 1945. These were tanks deemed too badly damaged to be repaired to running order. They were stripped of running gear and engines and were dug in at key junctions where they could cover multiple streets. Third image: a Tiger II known under the informal name Königstiger belonging to s.SS-Pz.Abt.503 near the Columbushaus at Potsdamer Platz. On April 28 1945 this Tiger n°101 attached to the Nordland and commanded by SS-Oscharf. Karl-Heinz Turk were ordered to stage an attack from the Potsdamer Bahnhof. They became engaged in a day-long melee with Soviet T-34-85 and IS-2 tanks. On the morning of April 30 1945 Turk's tank was hit on the right front corner. The immobile Kingtiger was abandoned in the evening on May 1 1945 after running out of ammunition. Photos PD.

Battle of Berlin: ϟϟ-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS Sørensen

Danish Per Sørensen as Legion-Obersturmführer

A Berlin defender lies dead as Soviets rush into the city

The Danish volunteer Per Sørensen joined the Waffen-SS and Freikorps Danmark in 1941. In the years to come, whether in the tough back-and-forth fighting that raged in the relief corridor to the Demyansk Pocket or in the Belarus, Estonia, Latvia or Pommern, Sørensen was always found in the hottest spots with his Schmeißer MP dangling from his neck. SS-Sturmbannführer Per Sørensen received command of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark east of Berlin in April 1945. The last commander of 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland's regiment Danmark died from a sniper's bullet in the city of Berlin on April 24 1945. The same day, elements of 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front completed the encirclement of the city. On the next day, in the midst of the desperate battle for Berlin, Sørensen was given a military funeral in the Ploetzensee cemetery by European volunteers from the Nordland Division. Meanwhile, the Soviet investment of Berlin was consolidated, with leading Soviet units probing and penetrating the S-Bahn defensive ring. Top image: screenshot from Danish propaganda film showing Per Sørensen wearing the trifos collar tabs as Legion-Obersturmführer in 1941. Sørensen was awarded, among others, the rare Ehrenblatt des Heeres, the German Cross in Gold, the Iron Cross First Class, the Infantry Assault Badge and the Wound Badge in Silver. Public domain. Bottom image: Red troops advancing into the heart of Berlin with the Jewish Soviet propagandist Ilya Ehrenburg's leaflet distributed in 1945 in their pockets: Kill them all, men, old men, children and the women, after you have amused yourself with them! ... Break the racial pride of the German women. Take her as your legitimate booty. Kill, you brave soldiers of the victorious Soviet Army. Photo by Soviet photojournalist Ivan Shagin. Russian State Military History Archive (RGVIA). PD.

Battle of Berlin: Tragedy of the Faithful „Nordland“

Vehicles of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge

Dead soldier next to a Horch 108 of the Nordland

Shot-up vehicles of 11.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland

The survivors of the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, under command of SS-Brigadeführer Dr Gustav Krukenberg, held out against overwhelming odds when trapped in Berlin. On April 30 1945, they were issued that those who could were to break out to the west. The breakout from the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker started at 23:00 hours on May 1 1945. The breakthrough route began at the Weidendammer Brücke and ran further northwest along Friedrichstraße. The breakout faltered – as civilians and soldiers were mowed down by Soviet fire. Several small groups managed to reach the Americans at Charlottenburg, but many more did not, among them the Swedish SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson's 3rd Company of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 who fought a desperate and ultimately useless battle to escape the surrounding Soviets. The few Waffen-SS volunteers of the Nordland who surrendered to the Soviet Red Army were sent eastward, most never to be seen again. Top image: vehicle of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge at Oberwallstraße in Berlin. The photo was taken in early May 1945 by American William Vandivert who was the first Western photojournalist on the scene after the battle for Berlin ended. His photos speak of death and destruction. William Vandivert found almost every famous building in Berlin a shambles. LIFE photo archive. Fair use. Middle image: a dead soldier next to a Horch 108 heavy off-road passenger car on Friedrichstraße in Berlin around May 2nd 1945. This vehicle like the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track towing a light infantry howitzer seen in the background belonged to the Nordland division. Russian State Military History Archive. Bottom image: Volkswagen Schwimmwagens of the Nordland division. One with the tactical marking of (motorized) divisional headquarters. The photograph was taken at Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin-Mitte in July 1945 with the Deutscher Dom in the background. Public domain.

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

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

Wreckage of Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250/7 n°339 in central Berlin

Photos shows the knocked out command vehicle Sd.Kfz halftrack n°339 of the Swedish Generalstabsoffizier und SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson at Friedrichstraße 107 in central 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 Pehrsson's dead driver, his fellow Swede SS-Unterscharführer Ragnar Johansson. The Swedish SS recon 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 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. Pehrsson himself, commander of the very same vehicle, was wounded, but managed to get away from the Soviets at the time. Fortunately, he had time to get rid of his uniform jacket and changed into a Wehrmacht one before being taken POW. Pehrsson was sent to a prison camp, which he managed to escape from. He then hide himself in an apartment in Berlin. After a while, he met another Swedish Waffen-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-Oscharf. Erik Wallin; Twilight of the Gods. Photos by Soviet Astrakhan photog. Mark Redkin around May 2 1945. Russian State Military History Archive.

Battle of Berlin: European Waffen-SS Troops Fought To the Bitter End

Inside the Führerbunker, May 1945

Outside the bunker at Friedrichstraße, May 1945

A fallen volunteer of SS-Regiment Danmark, late April/early May 1945

The last stand in the streets of the German capital Berlin was made in the face of insurmountable odds against which any sort of victory was utterly impossible. The volunteers of the European Waffen-SS knew this would be their last battle. They were not ardent committed National Socialists, but rather vehemently anti-Bolshevists enlisted in the hope of eradicating the threat that Communist Russia posed to Western and Eastern Europe. The bonds shared by its soldiers as the result of having fought side-by-side for years held many of them together. A few Waffen-SS foreign volunteers did manage to escape Berlin, but the reprieve they attained was often temporary. Credit: WHN. Top image: mold covered SS officers cap on floor inside Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's command bunker where he and Eva Braun allegedly committed suicide. The photo was taken two weeks after Hitler's death by William Vandivert, the first Western photojournalist to photograph the Berlin ruins and the Führerbunker located near the Reich Chancellery. He used candles to illuminate the dark rooms in the bunker, searching for clues about Hitler's last moments. It was evident that the Russians who first had entered the bunker had looted it thoroughly. LIFE photo archive. Fair use. Middle image: German POWs stumble through Friedrichstraße in the heart of Berlin to an uncertain destiny - passing by the Swedes destroyed SPW half-track n°339 - many would not live to see Europe again. According to Rüdiger Overmans of the German Office of Military History 35.8 % who entered Soviet captivity died. Several hundred thousand of these POWs had been transferred by the U.S. to the Soviets which used them, alongside Soviet captured POWs and German civilians, as forced laborers. The last major repatriation of German POW survivors of the forced labor camps occurred in 1956. The photo was taken by Soviet propaganda photographer Mark Redkin in early May 1945. Redkin worked for Soviet newspaper Krasnaia Zvezda. Bottom image: a Soviet Red Army soldier having his photograph taken next to a fallen Berlin defender in the heart of the bombed-out city. The photo was taken in the corner of Chausseestraße and Oranienburger Straße late April/early May 1945. The dead is wearing a field tunic of an SS-Hauptsturmführer with an unreadable Waffen-SS cuff title on the lower left sleeve. The Danish national arm shield below the SS arm eagle indicates that he was a Waffen-SS volunteer serving with SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark of the multinational Nordland Division. For some reason this SS officer had been armed with a Fallschirmjägergewehr 42, the paratrooper automatic rifle FG-42, and used a paratrooper helmet. Pinned to his uniform is also the Iron Cross First Class. The fallen has never been positively identified. Bottom photos by Russian State Military History Archive (RGVIA). PD.