The Road to Berlin (130 page)

General Sokolovskii determined to put an end to this pointless equivocation. He proposed to Krebs an act of surrender and the announcement of the formation of a new government; the Soviet command would provide a radio transmitter in Berlin and the new government could also contact the western allies. Krebs thought that this proposal might conceivably recommend itself to Goebbels and asked to be allowed to make his way back to the
Führerbunker
. Sokolovskii pointed out that this was hardly necessary, since on Zhukov’s instructions von Dufving and the interpreter had already returned to the German lines in order to confirm Krebs’ own safety; when they returned ‘everything will be cleared up’, so there was no need for Krebs to brave the artillery fire. Von Dufving’s journey had been both hazardous and fruitless: the lack of cable—just fifty yards short—prevented the establishment of a direct link between Chuikov’s headquarters and the
Führerbunker
, while von Dufving found himself held by the
SS
the moment he reached the German lines. It took Bormann’s own order to have him released and brought to the bunker where he faced Goebbels.

What von Dufving reported came as no great surprise to Goebbels, who remained cool, calm and collected. Krebs’s mission stood little chance of success and the Russians continued to insist unwaveringly on immediate unconditional surrender. With his calm evaporated, Goebbels heatedly refused to entertain this in any form, sending von Dufving back to bring Krebs once more into the German lines. While von Dufving repeated his dangerous journey, reported to Krebs by telephone from a Soviet post—and tried once more to lay a telephone cable, only to have it severed by a shell—the talks at Chuikov’s headquarters were taking their final turn, with Sokolovskii ‘speaking plainly’: the German position was hopeless, Goebbels and Dönitz were not in contact but, after surrender, the Soviet command would make aircraft, trucks and radio transmitters available. With more details spelled out, Krebs proposed that he consult Goebbels and inform him of the ‘variant’ in the terms of capitulation. By telephone he made contact with his own command and set about reporting the capitulation terms—in particular, a radio announcement about Hitler’s death.

Goebbels now requested that Krebs return at once to report in person, as Krebs noted the Soviet terms and read them aloud for confirmation: (1) the surrender of Berlin; (2) all those surrendering to give up their arms; (3) officers and men alike to be spared their lives; (4) the wounded to receive medical care; and (5) the possibility of talks with the Allies to be secured by radio. Chuikov then rammed the point home with a final injunction.

Your government will be given the possibility of announcing that Hitler is dead, that Himmler is a traitor and to treat with the three governments—USSR, USA and England
[Angliya]—on
complete capitulation
. Thus we are acceding partly to your request. Will we help you establish a government? Absolutely not!
[Nyet!]
But we will give you the right to furnish a list of those persons whom you do not wish to see regarded as prisoners of war. We give you the right after capitulation to present a statement to the United Nations. The ultimate fate of your government will depend on them.

General Sokolovskii made his own report by telephone:

Greetings on the First of May. General Krebs has been here. I have been dealing with this business. Krebs asked that we help him to establish a government. The list of members is with the Marshal [Zhukov]. We could not go along with that. We demand the capitulation of Berlin—after which we will give them means of communication for an announcement to the United Nations about
complete
capitulation and a radio transmitter—to announce Himmler’s treason and that power is being taken by a provisional government. Goebbels will not agree—he wants
first of all
to establish a new government, he squirmed around.… But it didn’t come off! Goebbels has asked to talk with Krebs. General Krebs is now on his way back to Goebbels. Krebs, I will spell it—K-R-E-B-S, General of Infantry. Report this at once to the Marshal. Any reply from Moscow yet?

Taking up another telephone, Chuikov pronounced the epitaph on these futile talks: ‘Pour on the
“fausts”
, and the shells. And no more talks. Storm the place!’

Soviet guns and
Katyushas
fired massive salvoes into the frames of the solidly built government offices, into the
Reichskanzlei
and at the
Reichstag;
Chuikov’s 8th Guards were fighting for possession of the centre of the
Tiergarten
, while Bogdanov’s 2nd Guards Tank Army—supported by a Polish infantry division—pushed on towards the eastern edge of Charlottenburg in order to link up with 8th Guards in the Zoological Gardens. In the midst of this fiery conflagration an
SS
colonel appeared at 1600 hours at the crossing point in the front line used by Krebs, announced himself as an emissary of Goebbels and presented a package for Col.-Gen. Chuikov; the papers contained the German reply, signed by Krebs and Bormann, rejecting the Soviet demands for unconditional surrender and announcing the resumption of operations. Since the early afternoon the telephone link with the German lines had been kept open and operations suspended on that sector. The
SS
officer was hurriedly returned to his own side, the telephone cable cut and the sector made operational once more.

At 1830 hours on 1 May the Soviet command returned its reply. Every Soviet gun and
Katyusha
in Berlin reopened fire in a stunning, smothering barrage. Under orders to carry through a final storming attack, Soviet formations pushed forward and closed the trap tight. 3rd Shock Army coming in from the north linked up just south of the
Reichstag
with units of 8th Guards; Bogdanov’s 2nd Guards Tank Army also effected a junction with 8th Guards and 1st Tank Army in the
Tiergarten
. Rybalko’s 3rd Guards Tank Army had cleared the area of Wilmersdorf and Halensee, while Lelyushenko’s tanks with infantry from the 350th Rifle Division broke the German resistance on Wannsee island. Inside the
Reichstag
itself Neustroyev’s assault units had opened tentative negotiations for the surrender of the German garrison blockaded in the cellars and lower chambers: the Germans demanded to speak to a Soviet colonel, and Lieutenant Berest—wearing a captured sheepskin cape to hide his lieutenant’s shoulder-boards—found himself suddenly ‘promoted’ to fill the role of this indispensable colonel.

At Chuikov’s command post General Sokolovskii complained about the slow progress—‘a hop, skip and a jump and we would do it, only about 300–400 metres remain but we seem to be crawling along’. Chuikov pointed out that with the war as good as won his troops were not taking any chances and had no desire to die in Berlin at this point. Snatching what rest he could in a series of cat-naps, Chuikov was roused at 0125 hours on the morning of 2 May with a relay from 79th Guards Rifle Division recording a transmission from LVI
Panzer
Corps timed at 0040 hours: ‘Hello, hello. LVI
Panzer
Corps speaking. We request a cease-fire. At 1250 hours Berlin time will send emissaries to the Potsdam Bridge. Recognition sign—white flag. We await reply.’ The signal was sent five times in Russian. The Russians signalled in turn: ‘Understand you. Understand you. Am forwarding your request to higher authority’, and was answered, ‘Russian radio station, hear you. You are reporting to higher authority.’ These signals were also picked up by 39th Guards Rifle Division and 4th Guards Rifle Corps. Intensely irritated at the thought of yet another round of talks with Krebs, Chuikov settled down to sleep a little more but it was soon apparent that something quite different was afoot. Once alert to this, Chuikov sent two staff officers to meet the German emissaries, though with strict instructions to discuss nothing but unconditional surrender and an immediate laying down of arms. The German officers would be allowed through the lines of 47th Rifle Division.

At the Potsdamer Brücke Colonel von Dufving, accompanied by two majors, informed Colonel Semchenko commanding 47th Division of General Weidling’s decision to capitulate with LVI
Panzer
Corps. Von Dufving handed over a document to this effect signed by Weidling himself. Semchenko asked von Dufving how long it would take to enact this surrender: a minimum of 3–4 hours, replied von Dufving, though speed was absolutely essential to take full advantage of the darkness and circumvent Goebbels’s order that anyone going over to the Russians would be shot in the back. On hearing this, Colonel Semchenko, with Chuikov’s permission, decided to send von Dufving back to his own lines at once with notification of the acceptance of the surrender of LVI
Panzer
, instructions to organize the surrender of men and laying down of weapons at 0700 hours, while the commander of LVI
Panzer
with his staff would cross the lines at 0600 hours to be taken prisoner first. The two majors with von Dufving would remain behind as hostages.

Precisely at 0600 hours General Weidling with his senior staff officers surrendered to the Russians and within an hour Weidling was brought before Chuikov. However, even before Weidling had crossed the lines Chuikov received a report
of yet another delegation bent on talking with him, a delegation ‘from Goebbels’. This deluge of delegations swept the sleep from him, and he ordered that they should be brought to his command post. Hans Fritzsche, Goebbels’s deputy, had decided to intervene himself, sending a three-man delegation accompanied by a single soldier to the Soviet command. There was the inevitable letter and explanation, addressed this time to ‘Gospodin Marshal Zhukov’:

As you have already been told by General Krebs, the former
Reichskanzler
Göring—not to be found. Dr Goebbels is no longer among the living. I, as one of those remaining alive, beg you to take Berlin under your protection. My name is well known. [Signed:] Director of the Propaganda Ministry, Dr Fritzsche.

Chuikov eyed his visitors—one formally attired in morning dress—with some astonishment.
‘Was wollen Sie?’
, was all he could manage;
‘Berlin retten’
, replied his visitors. The letter read, Chuikov then asked when Goebbels committed suicide and was told that same evening (1 May), his body also being burned. Where is Krebs? No one knew, except that there seemed to be a new Chief of the General Staff. Chuikov then reminded the delegation of the Soviet terms—unconditional surrender. The Germans did not demur. Did this Fritzsche know that the Berlin garrison was on the point of surrendering? No, neither he nor the present delegation were aware of this. Would the German troops accept Fritzsche’s order? Indubitably, came the reply, for Fritzsche’s name was a byword in Germany and in Berlin. Marshal Zhukov had Fritzsche’s letter relayed to him by telephone, while Chuikov tried to find out about the fate of Krebs and Bormann; it was rumoured that Krebs had committed suicide and Bormann had been killed in a gas explosion in the
Führerbunker
.

At 0645 hours, 2 May, after his talk with Zhukov, Chuikov confronted the German delegation:

Marshal Zhukov accepts the surrender of Berlin and is issuing orders for the cessation of military operations—that is the first thing. Second: inform all soldiers, officers and civilians that all military property, buildings and communal valuables must be intact. And no demolitions! Especially of military installations! Third: you will proceed with one of our officers to Herr Fritzsche, he can then make his broadcast and then be brought back here. Fourth: I affirm—we guarantee the lives of soldiers, officers and generals, medical aid to the wounded. Fifth: see that there is no provocative shooting and other sabotage.

Chuikov then ordered Colonel Vaigachev to escort the delegation back to Fritzsche, arrange the broadcast and then have Fritzsche and his staff back at Chuikov’s
HQ
.

On the way out Fritzsche’s delegation came face to face with General Weidling—an icy encounter. Chuikov opened the interrogation at once:

Chuikov:
You are the commander of the Berlin garrison?

Weidling:
Yes, I am the commander of the LVI
Panzer
Corps.

Chuikov:
Where is Krebs? What did he say?

Weidling:
I saw him yesterday in the
Reichskanzlei
. I assumed that he was going to commit suicide. At first he upbraided me for the fact that unofficially surrender had started yesterday. Today the order to surrender was issued to all troops. Krebs, Goebbels and Bormann rejected capitulation, but quite soon Krebs himself was convinced of the tightness of the encirclement and decided—in spite of Goebbels—to put an end to senseless bloodshed. Let me repeat: I have issued orders for surrender to my corps.

General Sokolovskii then took a hand in the proceedings, asking Weidling about the whereabouts of Hitler and Goebbels. Weidling replied that both had committed suicide, Goebbels with his family, Hitler with his wife. So this, remarked Chuikov, is really the end. Weidling agreed; to waste more life would be sheer madness, criminality. On being asked about his military service, Weidling pointed out that he had been in the army since 1911, starting in the ranks, at which point Weidling was wholly overcome by his feelings. Chuikov busied himself with a telephone call to Zhukov, followed by Sokolovskii who pointed out that Weidling’s authority was ‘relative’, that the German surrender was proceeding in the sector of 3rd Shock Army and 8th Guards but not elsewhere. Sokolovskii turned at once to Weidling and suggested that he write out an order for a general surrender.

Weidling explained that he could not issue an order for general surrender since he lacked communications: isolated groups might continue to fight, many had no knowledge of Hitler’s death since Goebbels forbade any announcement of it.
SS
troops did not come under his authority and they had plans to break out to the north. Sokolovskii persisted, urging Weidling to sign a surrender order—‘better late than never’. Weidling finally sat down and wrote: