Walther Wenck

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Walther Wenck (September 18, 1900 - May 1, 1982) was the youngest general in the German Army during the Second World War. Prior to joining the Reichswehr in 1920, he was a member of the Freikorps in 1919 [1]. He commanded the German Twelfth Army which he ordered to surrender to the United States in order to avoid capture by the Soviets. Before surrendering, Wenck was to play an important, if unsuccessful, part in the Battle of Berlin.

Contents 1 Western Front 2 Berlin's Last Hope 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Western Front

Initially, Wenck's Twelfth Army faced the advancing American and British forces on the Western Front. But, as both the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards, the German armies facing both fronts backed into each other. As a result, the area of control of Wenck's army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for German civilians fleeing the path of the approaching Soviet forces. Wenck took great pains to provide food and lodging for these refugees. At one stage, the Twelfth Army was estimated to be feeding more than half a million people every day.

[edit] Berlin's Last Hope

On 21 April 1945, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered SS-General Felix Steiner to attack the forces of Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front which was encircling Berlin from the north. Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front was encircling Berlin from the south. Steiner was to attack with his Eleventh SS Panzer Army. Steiner, a long-time favorite of Hitler, could not comply. With few working tanks and roughly a division's worth of infantry, Steiner chose the life of his men over the life of the leadership, and declined to attack. Instead, Steiner requested that his "army" be allowed to retreat to avoid its own encirclement and annihilation.

As Steiner and the Eleventh SS Panzer Army retreated, Wenck's Twelfth Army became Hitler's final outside hope to save Berlin. Wenck was ordered to disengage the Americans to his west and attack to his east to relieve the city of Berlin. His army, only recently formed, made a sudden turn around and, in the general confusion, surprised the Russians surrounding the German capital with an unexpected attack. Wenck's forces moved towards Berlin in good morale. But they were halted outside of Potsdam by strong Soviet resistance.

On 28 April 1945, German General and Chief of Staff Hans Krebs, made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker. He called General Wilhelm Keitel at the new Supreme Command Headquarters in Fuerstenberg. Krebs told Keitel that, if relief did not arrive within 48 hours, all would be lost. Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on Generals Wenck and Busse. General Theodor Busse commanded the Ninth Army to the south of Berlin.

During the night of 28 April, General Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front. This was particularly true of XX Corps which had been able to establish temporary contact with the Potsdam garrison. According to Wenck, no attack on Berlin was now possible. This was even more so as support from Busse's Ninth Army could no longer be expected.

Late in the evening of 29 April, Krebs contacted General Alfred Jodl (Supreme Army Command) by radio: "Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended to attack. Thirdly of the location of the Ninth Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the Ninth Army will break through. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolph Holste's spearhead.

In the early morning of 30 April, Jodl replied to Krebs: "Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Secondly, Twelth Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of Ninth Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive."

As his attempt to reach Berlin started to look impossible, Wenck developed a plan to move his army towards the Forest of Halbe. There he planned to link up with the remnants of the Ninth Army and the Potsdam garrison. Wenck also wanted to provide an escape route for as many citizens of Berlin as possible.

Arriving at the furthest point of his attack, Wenck radioed the message: "Hurry up, we are waiting for you." Despite the attacks on his escape path, Wenck brought his own army, remnants of the Ninth Army, and many civilian refugees safely across the Elbe and into territory occupied by the US Army. Estimates vary, but it is likely the corridor his forces opened enabled up to 250,000 refugees, including up to 25,000 men of the Ninth Army, to escape towards the west just ahead of the advancing Soviets.

According to Antony Beevor in "Berlin, The Downfall 1945" (Chapters: The Bombarded City & False Hopes), Wenck's eastward attack toward Berlin was aimed specifically at providing the population and garrison of Berlin with an escape route to areas occupied by US armed forces. Beevor (page 286) quotes Wenck as saying: "Boys, you've got to go in once more... It's not about Berlin any more, it's not about the Reich any more." Their task was to save people from Red Army atrocities. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, then a young sapper with the Twelfth Army, described their emotions as a 'feeling of loyalty, a sense of responsibility and comradeship.'

[edit] See also

• Battle for Berlin - 1945
• Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff
• Helmuth Weidling, Commander of the Berlin Defense Area
• Felix Steiner, Commander of the Eleventh SS Panzer Army
• Theodor Busse, Commander of the German 9th Army
• Gotthard Heinrici, Commander of Army Group Vistula

[edit] References

• Bradley, Dermot. Walther Wenck, General der Panzertruppe. Biblio Verlag (January 1981). ISBN 3-7648-1177-3
• Ryan, Cornelius. "The Last Battle". Simon and Schuster (1966)
• Beevor, Antony "BERLIN, The Downfall 1945". Viking 2002; Penguin 2003