The Road to Berlin (168 page)

(ii) German war diaries/GMD

KTB/OKW
, IV/ii. 4 Abschnitt (D): ‘Dokumente, Befehle, Kapitulationsurkunden usw …’, pp. 1659–84; Anhänge, ‘Aufzeichnungen über Hitler …’, pp. 1684–1740. See also 1 Abschnitt: under Lagebuch 1–19 April, pp. 1215–51, and V Anhang: ‘Die letzten Wehrmachtberichte …’, pp. 1253–82 (with Abschlussmeldung); also under 3 Abschnitt (B),
KTB
, geführt von Major I.G. Joachim Schultz (= Naumann), 20 April-16 May, pp. 1451–98.

Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (OKM)/4
. Adm. Meisel war diary: command of Northern sector conferred on Dönitz (frames 17–41);
OKM/40:
Letztes Kriegstagebuch O.K.M. Dönitz (frames 42–112), for period 20 April-15 May 1945. T-608/Roll 1.

OKW/OKM. OKW/24
folder: Dönitz files, death of Hitler and succession;
OKW/1898:
Hitler order to Dönitz to defend Northern area (April 20);
OKW/2132:
from Speer’s files, telegrams/signals on Dönitz succession, displacing of Göring.… T-77/R775, 5500501ff, 5501186ff.

OKW North/Flensburg. OKW/2:
Folder, documentation on surrender, Keitel exchanges with Soviet generals Malinin and Serov (May 1945). T-77/R858, 5604775ff.

OKW North/Flensburg. OKW/4.2:
collection of material,
Politische Angelegenheiten
(for proposed German ‘White Book’), narrative of surrender, Anlagen of related papers, depositions (including an article, ‘Sowjetischer Mensch und europäisches Menschentum’). T-77/R859, 5605319–5705.

GenStdH/Org. Abt
. Summary of ‘
Operation ECLIPSE’
plans (dated Jan. 1945), German notations. T-78/R434, 6405864–6085. (See also
OKW
/2029 on ECLIPSE: T-77/R873, 5620228ff.)

FHO
(I). Situation Reports:
Lageberichte Ost
, March 1945 (daily reports);
Lageberichte Ost
, April 1945 (April 1–25); also
Lagebericht ab 23.4, Lagebericht Ost
Nr 1414 (April 29);
Lageberichte Ost
, 23–28 April 1945. T-78/R473, 6454661–5161.

(Vlasov movement)
. Folder: translations into German from
Za rodinu
(Feb. 1945), Vlasov’s assumption of command/600th and 650th Infantry Divisions, speeches Vlasov and Köstring. T-78/R501, 6489663–730.

(iii)
Soviet materials/documents, interviews, press, collected memoir material

(a)
Materials from Soviet military archives
. Planning/operational documents, Berlin:
Stavka
directives (2–23 April), beginning Directive No. 11059 (April 2) to Directive No. 11074 (issued 0045 hrs, April 23);
Front operational directives (operativnaya direktiva)
for 1st Belorussian, 1st Ukrainian, 2nd Belorussian Fronts, beginning operational Directive No. 00211/op, Staff 1st Ukrainian Front, 8 April 1945.… Also
operational orders (boevoi prikaz) for corps
, with intelligence/enemy order-of-battle reports
(razvedsvodka); archival records/capitulation proceedings/interrogations
—
Opisanie peregovorov s nachal’nikom Generalnovo shtaba Sukhoputnykh voisk Germanskoi Armii generalom pekhoty Gansom Krebsom i komanduyushchym oborony goroda Berlin generatom artillerii Veidlingom o kapitulyatsii nemelskikh voisk v Berline
(Report, Lt.-Col. Gladkii, Chief of Intelligence, 8th Guards Army).
(Note:
the record of the Chuikov–Krebs exchange I have taken from my own transcript of the original on-the-spot notation, set down
verbatim)
. Also:
Protokol
, interrogation of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (17 June 1945);
Protokol
, Interrogation of General Weidling by Maj.-Gen. Trusov (May 1945, no exact date recorded).

(b)
Interviews/Red Army officers and men
. These included MSUs Sokolovskii, Koniev, Rokossovskii, Chuikov, through to corps commanders (e.g. Yushchuk, 11th Tank Corps) to Colonel Neustroyev (then a captain) and unit level.

(c)
Press
. Contemporary press reports, plus ‘20th anniversary’ press reporting (1965):
Pravda, Izvestiya, Pravda Vostoka
(Uzbekistan),
Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, Turkmenskaya Iskra, Kommunist Tadzhikistana
and, not least,
Krasnaya Zvezda
.

(d)
Collected memoir/documentary materials
. See V.S. Veselov (General Editor),
Shturm Berlina. Vospominaniya, pisma, dnevniki …
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1948), 488 pp. (I found this a useful compilation of raw materials, especially at the level of unit performance.) This has now been superseded (or augmented) by 9
maya 1945 goda
, ed. A.M. Samsonov (Moscow: Nauka 1970), 760 pp.; though some of this memoir material had appeared previously, Professor Samsonov’s editorial control has ensured both authenticity and reliability: see under Zhukov, Koniev, Rokossovskii, M.Z. Zakharov (to Prague), Yeremenko (Prague), Bagramyan, Moskalenko, Lelyushenko, Pliev, Radzievskii, Sandalov. I have cited this work as 9
maya 1945 goda
.

Note on Soviet strength/Berlin operation

While it has become virtually a Soviet convention to cite the total of 6,250 tanks committed to the Berlin operation, specific order-of-battle and tank strength was 4 tank armies, 2 mechanized corps, 11 tank corps, 29 tank regiments for all three Fronts:
total 3,594 tanks
. Many tank formations had only 50–60 per cent of their full strength, with tank brigades and regiments distributed as infantry support. Strength in self-propelled/assault guns amounted to 3 brigades, 61 regiments and 25 batteries:
total 2,519
SP
guns
. See also ‘Berlinskaya operatsiya v tsefrakh’,
VIZ
, 1965 (4), pp. 79–86 (tables, strengths, deployments, list of Front command staffs).

(iv)
Polish materials

Duszynski, Z.,
Dzialania 1 warszawskiej diwizji piechoty im. T. Kościuszki w Berlinie
(Warsaw: MON 1952).

Gać, S.,
Udzial 2 armii Wojska Polskiego w operacji Praskiej
(Warsaw: MON 1962). 2nd Polish Army, Prague.

Krzeminski, G.,
Lotnictwo polskie w operacji berlińskiej
(Warsaw: MON 1970). Polish air force, Berlin.

Sta̧por, Z.,
Bitwa o Berlin, Dzialania 1 Armii WP kwiecień-maj 1945
(Warsaw: MON 1973). 1st Polish Army, Berlin.

Berlin: Soviet planning pp.
531
–
542

Diplomatic correspondence

Perepiska
… , see vol. 2: No. 283, Stalin–Roosevelt, March 29, complaint over ‘Berne negotiations’, pp. 213–15; No. 284, Roosevelt–Stalin, April 1, on the Polish question, pp. 215–18; No. 286, Stalin–Roosevelt, April 3, disputing the President’s view of the ‘Berne talks’, pp. 220–21; No. 287, Roosevelt–Stalin, April 5, on ‘vile misrepresentations’ of Stalin’s informants, pp. 221–2; No. 288, Stalin–Roosevelt, April 7, on German surrenders in the west, fierce resistance in the east for all points as unnecessary as a ‘poultice to a dead man’, pp. 223–4; No. 289, Stalin–Roosevelt, April 7, on the Polish question, pp. 226–8.

Vol. 1: No. 417, Churchill–Stalin, April 5, on the ‘Berne talks’, pp. 368–70; No. 418, Stalin–Churchill, April 7, on the Polish question (enclosing Stalin–Roosevelt letter), pp. 370–74; No. 419, Stalin–Churchill, April 7, disclaiming any intention of ‘blackening’ anyone, pp. 374–5.

Diplomatic history

Woodward, Sir Llewellyn,
British Foreign Policy
… , III, ch. XLV, Great Britain and Soviet–Polish relations, see pp. 500–6, Anglo–American exchanges for approach to Soviet government; pp. 519–23, meeting of Commission, April 2, Stalin’s replies to Churchill and Roosevelt (April 10); pp. 540–44, Soviet decision to conclude treaty with Polish Provisional Government, disappearance of 15 Polish leaders after March 27–28 meetings, Churchill’s disagreement with the idea of Yugoslavia as a ‘model’ for Poland. (The contrived numbers game between ‘old’ and ‘new’ political representatives in the government of Yugoslavia gave Marshal Tito’s adherents 23 seats out of 28 and, of the remaining five, two were assigned to Partisans, thus making Tito’s grand total 25, leaving only three seats to the suoporters of the Royal Government.)

Documents on Polish–Soviet Relations 1939–1945
, vol. 2:
1943–45
, No. 323, invitation for Polish leaders to a conference with ‘the Representative of the 1st White Russian Front command …’, Warsaw, March 11, pp. 543–4; No. 331, Raczynski–Eden, on the arrest of Polish political leaders, April 1, pp. 553–5.

Jagodzinski mission’

See Edward J. Rozek,
Allied Wartime Diplomacy. A Pattern in Poland
, p. 365, quoting vol. X, p. 17 of the Mikolajczyk Papers. Once again I must express my indebtedness to Professor Rozek for his assistance in treating this aspect.

Soviet materials

(i)
Stavka directives

No. 11059, dated 2 April, to 1st Belorrussian Front (the discrepancy of 1–2 April in dating may be that Stalin signed on 1 April as frequently stated but the directive became operational as of April 2); No. 11060, dated 3 April, timed 2100 hrs, to 1st Ukrainian Front (Koniev); No. 11062, dated 6 April, to 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovskii).

(ii)
IVOVSS
, 5, pt 1, pp. 246–63, preparation and planning of Berlin operation: on Anglo–American planning, Berlin as an objective, Eisenhower’s decision and British objections, German preparations to defend Berlin, German strength (1 million men, 10,400 guns, 1,500 tanks, 3 million
Faustpatronen
, 3,300 combat aircraft), Soviet planning conference 1–3 April,
Stavka
plan for three-front operation, also offensive operations on southern flank (4th, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts) to deny German command freedom of manoeuvre, Stalin’s reply to Eisenhower with statement of Soviet intention to take Berlin with a portion of Red Army forces, summary of Front operational plans/directives, air support planning, assault bridging/combat engineer support, Soviet ‘disinformation’ (2nd Belorussian Front misleading ‘deployment’ of 2nd Shock Army along Stettin axis, 1st Belorussian Front efforts to suggest an attack from the flanks, not the centre).

IVMV
, 10, pt 1, pp. 310–25, military-political situation in mid-April, planning/ preparation of Berlin attack: German defensive preparations for Berlin,
Stavka
planning for speedy operation, Stalin’s reply to Eisenhower (giving general indications of the timing of the Soviet offensive), summary of
Stavka
directives, Front command decisions, Zhukov’s plans for use of two tank armies, and attempts to build up powerful ‘shock groups’ and high tactical densities, heavy artillery concentration (also Zhukov’s utilization of searchlights), air support planning, engineering support, problems posed by shortage of time and need to regroup, role of
maskirovka
(deception) with Koniev carefully screening his redeployment to the right flank by installing dummy tanks and continuing normal radio traffic on his left, large-scale distribution of instruction leaflets on assault river crossing and fighting in built-up areas.

(iii) Babadzhanyan, A.Kh.
et al., Lyuki otkryli v Berline
(1st Guards Tank Army). See under ‘Last Battles’, pp. 289–99, 1st Guards Tank reverts to 1st Belorussian Front, preparations for Berlin operation, formation of ‘assault groups’—3 to a mechanized brigade, 2 to a tank brigade—command/staff exercises April 5 in Birnbaum, address by Marshal Zhukov, map exercise with objectives identified by numbers, Malinin (Front Chief of Staff) on German order of battle, features of Berlin fortifications, Zhukov’s final briefing on operational assignments, assignment in detail to 1st Guards Tank Army, co-operation with 8th Guards Army, planning for 11th Tank Corps, 11th Guards Tank Corps and 8th Guards Mechanized Corps, reinforcement for 1st Guards Tank Army—290 tanks and
SP
guns.