Published in „Siegrunen“
Magazine – Volume XI, Number 1, Whole Number 63,
Spring 1997
An Eyewitness Report by
SS-Hstuf. F.W.
Translated by Gustav Jürgens
ABOVE: Estonian Waffen-SS sword and
„ E “
collarpatch. This was generally not well liked
since it resembled a „ slash mark “
across the „ E “
from a distance, similar to typical European traffic
signs. (Tammiksaar Collection, courtesy of Erik
Rundkvist).
A fter
heavy fighting in the east, the 20th Estonian SS Division was to
be reformed at the military training grounds in
Neuhammer at the
beginning of 1945. During this reorganization, units
of the 20th SS Division were caught up in heavy
fighting when the Russians suddenly crossed the
Oder River at Borkenhaim on 21 January 1945. The
Estonian volunteers were instrumental in
stabilizing that section of the
front.
The division finally finished its reformation in Lammsdorf, Upper Silesia
under the command of
SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-
SS Franz Augsberger. The 45th and 46th Waffen-Grenadier
Regiments der SS
under the respective commands of Waffen-Obersturmbannführer
der SS Alfons Rebane and Waffen-Sturmbannführer der SS
Paul Maitla, were composed solely of Estonians.
The signals battalion, artillery regiment,
maintenance company and other support element were made
up of mixed Estonian and German personnel while the
engineer battalion, anti-tank detachment and a
subordinated panzer-grenadier battalion were
all German in composition.
ABOVE:
The
Estonian volunteer,
Waffen-Unterscharführer der SS
Ants Teder. (Courtesy of Erik Rundkvist).
Once refit, the 20th SS Division was put into the northern flank of the
Upper Silesian Front from the right bank of the Glazer
Neisse River to Falkenberg/Dambrau. The
left-wing of the division was held by an
attached panzer-grenadier battalion under the command of an Army
Hauptmann (Captain); then came the 45th and 46th
Waffen-Grenadier Regiments under the Estonian
officers Rebane and Maitla. After a heavy
artillery barrage, the Russians launched an attack on a broad front on 15
March 1945. They managed to penetrate the defensive
lines in the area of the Grenadier Btl. 486
(Army) and 46th WGRdSS (Maitla). Without
waiting for orders from the division headquarters, Waffen-Ostubaf.
Rebane stopped the enemy penetration with a
counterattack. Waffen- Stubaf. Maitla then
received instructions from the division to
counterattack with his regiment as well, which he did successfully. Only
the counterattack initiated by the Grenadier Btl. 486
failed.
Close to the breakthrough area, a reserve regiment, (Rgt.
„ Schlesien”,
which was set up in Neisse), was brought during the night. Early on the
following morning (16 March), the Soviets launched a
successful attack from Grotkau. This assault, carried out on the right bank of the Neisse
River, had been directed against the positions of Bti.
486 and the neighbouring Rgt. „ Schlesien “ .
The Russian attack force was misdirected
and missed Bd. 486 but did strike the Rgt. „ Schlesien “ ,
completely
destroying it.
At 08:00, I arrived at Rossdorf-Jatzdorf, an area that was supposed to
be 8 kilometers behind the main line of resistance,
and met
Oberleutnant
Schumann, leading the 10 men that remained of his 5th Company of the
Rgt. „ Schlesien “ .
According to him, they were all that remained of the
regiment. The Russian spearhead that could already be
seen, was lead by T-34 tanks against the three
„Wespen“
( „ Wasp “ )
self-propelled guns that were attempting to
make a front. I immediately informed (20th SS)
divisional commander Augsberger about the situation and was ordered
to use all available forces in an attempt to defend
the town and hold it. The Soviet spearhead
however, had turned off the northern road towards
the west. Then it went along the left bank of the
Neisse River towards the town of Neisse. To the
best of my knowledge, there were no German
troops in this area at this time.
The following night I moved under orders southward about 30
kilometres to Korndorf, after first relinquishing the
command of a two- company combat group in
Jatzdorf to another SS officer. As soon as I
entered Korndorf, I was named the (town) combat commander by a
Major of the 56th
Panzerkorps. This officer had made a reconnaissance
drive and discovered that the neighbouring
town, 3 kilometres away, was
occupied by the Russians. During that drive, his
driver was killed and he had been wounded. This
officer then drove directly to General Koch-Erpach to inform him about the new
frontline situation.
During the day, somewhere between 300 and 500 troops arrived in
town. I organized them into a combat group. In the
evening I relinquished command of them to an
Oberst von Mohr from 56th
Panzerkorps. These soldiers had not been members of the 20th SS
Division; I do not know what unit they belonged to,
only that they had been fighting for the past
three days. After passing them over to
Oberst
von
Mohr, I went with my staff, as ordered, to Tillowitz and then to
Friedland. The divisional staff of the 20th SS, which had been in
Falkenberg, was now transferred to Friediand. It was here that I found
out that the Russian assault wedge that had attacked
the city of Neisse had linked up in
Neustadt with another Russian unit advancing from
Opel, thereby forming a pocket.
On 19 March, the order came to break out of the pocket, with division
commander Augsberger setting the town of
Ziegenhals as the goal to
reach. Up to this point, the old defensive lines north
of
Falkenberg were
still being held by the 45th and 46th Waffen-Grenadier
Regiments. I was ordered by Brigfhr. Augsberger
to use a spearhead from
SS-Panzerjäger
Abteilung
20 (SS-Anti-tank Detachment 20), to reach Ziegenhals and
prepare everything there for the arrival of the
division. Therefore I was one of the first
members of the 20th Waffen-Grenadier Division
der SS to
enter
Ziegenhals. I began immediately to set up a divisional staff
headquarters and to direct the troops into position.
The first to arrive were men from the battle-weary
Werkstaatkompanie
(Repair and Maintenance Company). They were followed by soldiers
from the
Pionier Bataillon
(Engineer Battalion), the
Nachrichten Bataillon
(Signals Battalion),
Artillerie Regiment
(Artillery Regiment), etc. Then
came the remainder of the engineers that had been in
Rossdorf, and
finally the troops of the 45th and 46th
Waffen-Grenadier der SS
Regiments, who had the longest route to march.
ABOVE: Estonian Waffen-SS frontline soldiers. (Erik Rundkvist
Archives).
During the breakout, the divisional staff under the command of Brigfhr.
Augsberger had a brush with a Russian anti-tank unit
which left Augsberger and his adjutant, Ostuf.
Hinz, mortally wounded. Because of this, the
arrival of the divisional staff in
Ziegenhals was delayed. For
three days therefore, I was the only German officer of
the 20th Waffen- Grenadier Division
der SS in Ziegenhals. The staff, or rather what was
left of it, arrived on 22 March under the command of
the 1 a, (first staff officers), Ostubaf.
Mützelfeld. On that same day, a Major Schiller from a
newly set up Army Corps was given command at
Ziegenhals with orders
to form new combat units out of the remnants of the
three 56th
Panzerkorps divisions that had been caught in the Tillowitz-Falkenberger
pocket.
I reported to Major Schiller that the 20th WGDdSS was not out of
commission or disorganized but had in fact been
ordered to
Ziegenhals
by Brigfhr. Augsberger, where I had reassembled it. Major Schiller
however, referred to a document which stated that the
20th SS Division had „ ceased
to exist “ . At this point in the conference, the
1 a, Ostubaf.
Mützelfeld entered and confirmed that such a document did exist. He
then rushed right over to Army Corps HQ, so he said,
to get the document corrected.
I personally received an order from Major Schiller to gather the 20th
SS Division together and occupy a section of the front
south of
Ziegenhals in strong point fashion. Before I could carry out the order,
Mützelfeld returned with a new directive stating that the Estonian SS
Division was no longer a „ routed “
unit but a corps reserve under direct Army
Corps command.
We left Ziegenhals on the evening of 22 March 1945, and immediately
received new heavy weapons and reinforcements. The
latter included an Estonian engineer battalion
that had been trained in Dresden and two police
companies. 20th SS was now attached to the 8th
Armee Korps
and was given a defensive line to hold that stretched to Bolkenhaim, 30
kilometers to the south. Our new divisional commander
was SS- Oberfiihrer Berthold Maack. The new
main line of resistance was held until 8 May,
when we received the order to retreat in stages to behind the
Oder River.
Even during these times of retreat, there were no desertions among
the Estonians. The only event that I remembered was
the disappearance without a trace of two
sentries. Whether they deserted or were taken
prisoner by the enemy was never clearly established. During
the retreat, which actually started on 7 May, the
majority of the personnel of the division ended
up as Russian POW's. The last time I saw these
comrades was in a prison in Jidn.
The Estonian volunteers of the 20th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS
never lagged in combat because they knew what they
were fighting for. They were fighting for the
freedom of Europe and they took this motto
seriously: Freedom or death!
ABOVE: Original Estonian Waffen-SS armshields in the national
colours of blue-black-white. (Tammiksaar Collection,
courtesy of Erik Rundkivst).
