Battle of Berlin, 1945

Hi,
I've got a question about the weapons (artillery, canons) and vehicles (tanks, support vehicles) used during the Battle of/in Berlin.
Does anyone have a complete list or something similar which shows the complete garrison of the Soviet (including lent-lease) and German forces?

I would like to have this, because I'm currently working on a series of drawings about this battle and I don't want to show incorrect units.

 

Quite frankly, I don't think anything close to a complete list ever existed or will exist, particularly for the Germans. There were just too many ad hoc units using whatever was available for such a list to exist.
It should be more possible to do a Soviet list.

 

I agree with T.A.. It was so chaotic at the end to be able to keep detailed records of units and weapons for the Germans. In the end they used whatever then could get thier hands on for the defence. All kinds of odds and ends. Especially AFVs and vehices.

 

I understand. But do you know a few vehicles and/or weapons they most certainly have used? Like Königstigers and T34/85's?

 

You might like to check out this thread,

http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/23751-armor-berlin.html

 

And this is from my thread on WWI tanks in WWII,

"I was perusing some material on the Fall of Berlin, and I came across a photo of a British MkV Rhomboid Tank that was used in the battle by the Germans. Upon further reading, it appears to be one of the tanks that the British gave to the "White" Russians during the revolution. At the outbreak of Barbarossa, the Soviets used at least 4 surviving MkV's in the defense of Estonia near Tallinn. The Berlin tank is most likely one of these."



http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/22200-wwi-tanks-wwii.html

 

another example of an odd and end used.

​

The Wilton-Fijenoord​

An experimental type. After satisfying trials two of these cars were shipped to the East Indies in 1934. Results there were less satisfactory, the vehicles being too heavy for the roads and the aircooled engines suffereing from overheating, forcing the use of airplane gas rather than the normal gasoline. The 2 cars thus were sold back to the firm and returned to the Netherlands.
In February 1935 two vehicles were sold to Brazil. The third remained at the firm untill they managed to sell it to the army in return of a tax-reduction. June 1st 1938 the vehicle was issued to the Korps Rijdende Artillerie (Corps mobile Artillery), that already had the five Carden Lloyd tankettes and the three Morris armored cars.
It however was never armed because of lack of money. Of course it wasn’t used in May 1940. The Germans re-activated it in April 1945 for the defence of Berlin, still unarmed.

http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/hol/Wilton.jpg

 

Thanks again for all the information, JCFalkenbergIII!

 

do you have info's on the III. SS Schwere Panzer Abteilung equipped with the Königstiger which did great damage to the Soviet forces outside and in Berlin

 

IIRC too the Soviets used T-34/85s,JS-IIs and M4A2/76 Shermans among other vehicles.

 

Appendix 2: German Order of Battle for Operation Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 208 – 214)

Those units directly involved with the defence of Berlin are shown in more detail.

OKW RESERVE (later allocated to the LVI Panzer Corps, 9th Army)
18th Panzergrenadier Division (Maj Gen Josef Rauch)
30th & 51st Panzergrenadier Regts
118th Panzer Regt (part)
18th Artillery Regt
ARMY GROUP ‘VISTULA’ (Col Gen Gotthard Heinrici)
III SS ‘Germanic’ Panzer Corps (SS Lt Gen Felix Steiner)
(divisions later allocated to the 9th Army)
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Jurgen Ziegler / SS Maj Gen Dr Gustav Krukenburg)
23rd ‘Norge’ Panzergrenadier Regt
24th ‘Danmark’ Panzergrenadier Regt
11th SS ‘Hermann von Salza’ Panzer Btn
503rd SS Heavy Tank Btn
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Armoured Reconnaissance Btn
23rd SS ‘Nederland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Wagner)
(divisions later allocated to the 3rd Panzer Army)
27th SS ‘Langemarck’ Grenadier Division
28th SS ‘Wallonien’ Grenadier Division
3rd Panzer Army (Gen Hasso von Manteuffel)
‘Swinemunde’ Corps (Lt Gen Ansat)
402nd & 2nd Naval Divisions
XXXII Corps (Lt Gen Schack)
‘Voigt’ & 281st Infantry Divisions
549th Volksgrenadier Division
Stettin Garrison
‘Oder’ Corps (SS Lt Gen von dem Bach / Gen Hörnlein)
610th & ‘Klossek’ Infantry Divisions
XXXXVI Panzer Corps (Gen Martin Gareis)
547th Volksgrenadier Division
1st Naval Division
9th Army (Gen Theodor Busse)
156th Infantry Division
541st Volksgrenadier Division
404th Volks Artillery Corps
406th Volks Artillery Corps
408th Volks Artillery Corps
CI Corps (Gen Wilhelm Berlin / Lt Gen Friedrich Sixt)
5th Light Infantry Division
606th Infantry Division
309th ‘Berlin’ Infantry Division
25th Panzergrenadier Division
111th SPG Training Bde
‘1001 Nights’ Combat Group
LVI Panzer Corps (Gen Helmuth Weidling)
9th Fallschirmjäger Division (Gen Bruno Braüer / Col Harry Herrmann)
25th, 26th & 27th Fallschirmjäger Regts
9th Fallschirmjäger Artillery Regt
20th Panzergrenadier Division (Col / Maj Gen Georg Scholze)
76th & 90th Panzergrenadier Regts
8th Panzer Btn
20th Artillery Regt
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Division (Maj Gen Werner Mummert)
1st & 2nd ‘Müncheberg’ Panzergrenadier Regts
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Regt
‘Müncheburg’ Armoured Artillery Regt
920th SPG Training Bde
XI SS Panzer Corps (SS Gen Mathias Kleinheisterkamp)
303rd ‘Döberitz’ Infantry Division
169th Infantry Division
712th Infantry Division
‘Kurmark’ Panzergrenadier Division
502nd SS Heavy Tank Btn
Frankfurt an der Oder Garrison (Col / Maj Gen Ernst Biehler)
V SS Mountain Corps (SS Gen Friedrich Jackeln)
286th Infantry Division
32nd SS ’30. Januar’ Volksgrenadier Division
391st Sy Division
561st SS Tank Hunting Btn
ARMY GROUP CENTRE (Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner)
4th Panzer Army (Gen Fritz-Herbert Gräser)
(later transferred to the 9th Army)
V Corps (Lt Gen Wagner)
35th SS Police Grenadier Division
36th SS Grenadier Division
275th Infantry Division
342nd Infantry Division
21st Panzer Division
12th Army (Gen Walter Wenck)
XX Corps (Gen Carl-Erik Koehler)
‘Theodor Körner’ RAD Division
‘Ulrich von Hutten’ Infantry Division
‘Ferdinand von Schill’ Infantry Division
‘Scharnhorst’ Infantry Division
XXXIX Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Karl Arndt)
(12 – 21 April 1945 under OKW with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
‘Schlageter’ RAD Division
84th Infantry Division
(21 – 26 April 1945 under 12th Army with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
84th Infantry Division
‘Hamburg’ Reserve Infantry Division
‘Meyer’ Infantry Division
XXXXI Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Holste</I>)
‘von Hake’ Infantry Division
199th Infantry Division
‘V-Weapons’ Infantry Division
1st HJ Tank Destroyer Bde
‘Hermann Göring’ Jagdpanzer Bde
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (Gen Maximillian Reichsherr von Edelscheim)
14th Flak Division
‘Leipzig’ Battle Group
‘Halle’ Battle Group

Ungrouped Formations ‘Friedrich Ludwig Jahn’ RAD Division (Col Gerhard Klein / Col Franz Weller)
‘Potsdam’ Infantry Division (Col Erich Lorenz)"

Antill, P., Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945, Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945

 

Appendix 1: Soviet Order of Battle for the Battle for Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 196 – 207)

Units are listed as they were deployed from north to south on 16 April 1945, with those having assaulted the city in greater detail.

2ND BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky)
2nd Shock Army (Col Gen I. I. Fedyurinsky)
108th & 116th Rifle Corps
65th Army (Col Gen P. I. Batov)
18th, 46th & 105th Rifle Corps
70th Army (Col Gen V. S. Popov)
47th, 96th & 114th Rifle Corps
49th Army (Col Gen I. T. Grishin)
70th & 121st Rifle Corps
191st, 200th & 330th Rifle Divisions
19th Army
40th Guards, 132nd & 134th Rifle Corps
5th Guards Tank Army
29th Tank Corps
1st Tank & 4th Mechanised Bdes
4th Air Army (Col Gen K. A. Vershinin)
4th Air Assault, 5th Air Bomber and 8th Air Fighter Corps
1ST BYELORUSSIAN FRONT (Marshal G. K. Zhukov)
61st Army (Col Gen P. A. Belov)
9th Guards, 80th & 89th Rifle Corps
1st Polish Army (Lt Gen S. G. Poplowski)
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th Polish Infantry Divisions
1st Polish Cavalry Bde
4th Polish Heavy Tank Bde
13th Polish SP Assault Artillery Bde
7th Polish Assault Artillery Btn
47th Army (Lt Gen F. I. Perkhorovitch)
77th, 125th & 129th Rifle Corps
70th Guards Independent Tank Regt
334th, 1204th, 1416th, 1825th & 1892nd SP Assault Artillery Regts
3rd Shock Army (Col Gen V. I. Kutznetsov)
7th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Christov / Col Gen Y. T. Chyervichenko)
146th, 265th & 364th Rifle Divisions
12th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen A. F. Kazanin / Maj Gen A. A. Filatov)
23rd Guards, 52nd Guards & 33rd Rifle Divisions
79th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen S. I. Perevertkin)
150th Rifle Division (Maj Gen V. M. Shatilov)
469th, 674th & 756th Rifle Regts
171st Rifle Division (Col A. P. Negoda)
380th, 525th & 783rd Rifle Regts
207th Rifle Division (Col V. M. Asafov)
594th, 597th & 598th Rifle Regts
9th Tank Corps (Lt Gen I. F. Kirichenko)
23rd, 95th & 108th Tank Bdes
8th Motorised Rifle Regt
1455th & 1508th SP Assault Artillery Regts
5th Shock Army (Gen / Col Gen N. E. Berzarin)
9th Rifle Corps (Maj Gen / Lt Gen I. P. Rossly)
230th, 248th & 301st Rife Divisions
26th Guards Corps (Maj Gen P. A. Firsov)
89th Guards, 94th Guards & 266th Rifle Divisions
32nd Rifle Corps (Lt Gen D. S. Zherebin)
60th Guards, 295th & 416th Rifle Divisions
11th, 67th Guards & 220th Tank Bdes
92nd Independent Tank Regt
396th Guards & 1504th SP Assault Artillery Regts
8th Guards Army (Col Gen V. I. Chuikov)
4th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. A. Glazonov)
35th Guards, 47th Guards & 57th Guards Rifle Divisions
28th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt Gen V. M. Shugeyev)
39th Guards, 79th Guards & 88th Guards Rifle Divisions
29th Guards Rifle Corps (Maj Gen P. I. Zalizyuk)
27th Guards, 74th Guards & 82nd Guards Rifle Divisions
7th Guards Tank Bde
84th Guards, 65th & 259th Independent Tank Regts
371st, 374th Guards, 694th, 1026th, 1061st, 1087th & 1200th SP Assault Artillery Regts
69th Army (Col Gen V. Y. Kolpakchi)
25th, 61st & 91st Rifle Corps
117th & 283rd Rifle Divisions
68th Tank Bde
12th SP Assault Artillery Bde
344th Guards, 1205th, 1206th & 1221st SP Assault Artillery Regts
33rd Army (Col Gen V. D. Svotaev)
16th, 38th & 62nd Rifle Corps
2nd Guards Cavalry Corps
95th Rifle Division
257th Independent Tank Regt
360th & 361st SP Assault Artillery Regts
16th Air Army (Col Gen S. I. Rudenko)
6th & 9th Air Assault Corps
3rd & 6th Air Bomber Corps
1st Guards, 3rd, 6th & 13th Air Fighter Corps
1st Guards, 240th, 282nd & 286th Air Fighter Divisions
2nd & 11th Guards Air Assault Divisions
113th, 183rd, 188th & 221st Air Bomber Divisions
9th Guards & 242nd Air Night Bomber Divisions
16th & 72nd Air Reconnaissance Regts
93rd & 98th Air Observation Regts
176th Guards Air Fighter Regt
226th Air Transport Regt
18th Air Army (AVM A. Y. Golovanov)
1st Guards, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Air Bomber Corps
45th Air Bomber Division
56th Air Fighter Division
742nd Air Reconnaissance Regt
1st Guards Tank Army (Col Gen M. Y. Katukov)
8th Guards Mechanised Corps (Maj Gen I. F. Drygemov)
19th, 20th & 21st Guards Mechanised Bdes
1st Guards Tank Bde
48th Guards Tank Regt
353rd & 400th Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts
8th Guards M/C Btn
11th Guards Tank Corps (Col A. H. Babadshanian)
40th, 44th & 45th Guards Tank Bdes
27th Guards Mechanised Bde
362nd, 399th Guards & 1454 SP Assault Artillery Regts
9th Guards M/C Btn
11th Tank Corps (Maj Gen I. I. Jushuk)
20th, 36th & 65th Tank Bdes
12th Motorised Rifle Bde
50th Guards Tank Regt
1461st & 1493rd SP Assault Artillery Regts
64th Guards Tank Bde
19th SP Assault Artillery Bde
11th Guards Independent Tank Regt
12th Guards M/C Btn
2nd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen S. I. Bogdanov)
1st Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen S. I. Krivosheina)
19th, 35th & 37th Mechanised Bdes
219th Tank Bde
347th Guards, 75th & 1822nd SP Assault Artillery Regts
57th M/C Btn
9th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen A. F. Popov)
47th, 50th & 65th Guards Tank Bdes
33rd Guards Mechanised Bde
341st, 369th & 386th Guards SP Assault artillery Regts
17th Guards M/C Btn
12th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen M. K. Teltakov / Col A. T. Shevchenko)
48th, 49th & 66th Guards Tank Bdes
34th Guards Mechanised Bde
79th Guards Tank Regt
387th & 393rd Guards SP Assault Artillery Regts
6th Guards Independent Tank Regt
5th Guards M/C Regt
16th Guards M/C Btn
3rd Army (Col Gen A. V. Gorbatov)
35th, 40th & 41st Rifle Corps
1812th, 1888th & 1901st SP Assault Artillery Regts
2nd, 3rd & 7th Guards Cavalry Corps
3rd & 8th Guards Tank Corps
244th Independent Tank Regt
31st, 39th, 51st & 55th Independent Armoured Train Btns
1ST UKRAINIAN FRONT (Marshal I. S. Koniev)
3rd Guards Army (Col Gen V. N. Gordov)
21st, 76th & 120th Rifle Corps
25th Tank Corps
389th Rifle Division
87th Guards Independent Tank Regt
938th SP Assault Artillery Regt
13th Army (Col Gen N. P. Phukov)
24th, 27th & 102nd Rifle Corps
88th Independent Tank Regt
327th, 372nd Guards, 768th & 1228th SP Assault Artillery Regts
5th Guards Army (Col Gen A. S. Zhadov)
32nd, 33rd & 34th Guards Rifle Corps
4th Guards Tank Corps
2nd Polish Army (Lt Gen K. K. Swiersczewski)
5th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th Polish Infantry Divisions
1st Polish Tank Corps
16th Polish Tank Bde
5th Polish Independent Tank Regt
28th polish SP Assault Artillery Regt
52nd Army (Col Gen K. A. Koroteyev)
48th, 73rd & 78th Rifle Corps
7th Guards Mechanised Corps
213th Rifle Division
8th SP Assault Artillery Bde
124th Independent Tank Regt
1198th SP Assault Artillery Regt
2nd Air Army (Col Gen S. A. Krasovsky)
1st Guards, 2nd Guards & 3rd Air Assault Corps
4th & 6th Guards Air Bomber Corps
2nd, 5th & 6th Air Fighter Corps
208th Air Night Bomber Division
98th & 193rd Guards Air Reconnaissance Regts
222nd Air Transport Regt
3rd Guards Tank Army (Col Gen P. S. Rybalko)
6th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. A. Mitrofanov)
51st, 52nd & 53rd Guards Tank Bdes
22nd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde
385th Guards, 1893rd & 1894th SP Assault Artillery Regts
3rd Guards M/C Btn
7th Guards Tank Corps (Maj Gen V. V. Novikov)
54th, 55th & 56th Guards Tank Bdes
23rd Guards Motorised Rifle Bde
384th Guards, 702nd & 1977th SP Assault Artillery Regts
4th Guards M/C Btn
9th Mechanised Corps (Lt Gen I. P. Suchov)
69th, 70th & 71st Mechanised Bdes
91st Tank Bde
383rd Guards, 1507th & 1978th SP Assault Artillery Regts
100th M/C Btn
16th SP Assault Artillery Bde
57th Guards & 90th Independent Tank Regts
50th M/C Regt
4th Guards Tank Army (Col Gen D. D. Lelyushenko)
5th & 6th Guards Mechanised Corps
10th Guards Tank Corps
68th Guards Tank Bde
70th Guards SP Assault Artillery Bde
13th & 119th Guards Independent Tank Regts
7th Guards M/C Regt
28th Army (Lt Gen A. A. Luchinsky)
20th, 38th Guards & 128th Rifle Corps 31st Army
1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lt Gen V. K. Baranov)
152nd Tank Bde
98th Independent Tank Regt
368th Guards, 416th & 1976th SP Assault Artillery Regts
21st, 45th, 49th & 58th Independent Armoured Train Btns

 

Das Ende Zwischen Oder Und Elbe Der Kampf Um Berlin 1945. JC several of the German named units had nothing to do with Berlin except the fact they were fighting east of the big city and retreated not within as for some but to the north and south not to be entrapped by the Soviets.

for years this has been a huge bone of contention with the few surviving German units that did bleed out in the capital and the units that were termed "cheaters" by moving continaully westward towards US captivity. .......interesting I think

 

I think that the heading was meant to mean that this was the official OOB but the units that were actually involved are "shown with in more detail". I don't think that it was meant to mean that all the units were actually involved in the battle. Thats the jist I get. But thats just my opinion LOL.

Appendix 2: German Order of Battle for Operation Berlin (Le Tissier, pp. 208 – 214)

Those units directly involved with the defence of Berlin are shown in more detail.

 

possibly it could easily work both ways and it has with numerous books published since the 1950's. The Battle of Berlin in name is a strange one as for the Luftwaffe it was a projection of protection for the capital city since January 1945's end till end of the war. In fact interviewing LW veterans that participated on the Ost front use the term in regards to all aerial conflict with the Soviets, there is not one "special" date to be used above any other. A close friend serving in the Heer although he was fighting up in ost Preussia, his remarks is that it all ran together , we just surivied and tried to exist from day to day during the actions of defense and brief counter-thrusts agasint the Soviets. the W-SS 561st Panzer-jagd Abt. was in the same mode defending in the trees to the east of Berlin taking on whatever the Soviets tried to push through, closing small gaps defending Heer/Fallshirmtruppen, brief counterattack followed by retreat amidst buildings and heavy timber growth what wasn't already blown to bits. Sucidal attacks by both sides, brief lulls and then all hell breaks loose again ....