The Battle of Halbe happened in the last days of April 1945 by the Spreewald Forest, near the river Spree, specifically in the village Halbe, about 100 km southeast of Berlin.
Having been surrounded by the Red Army, General Theodor Busse IX attempted to rally his army to the XII ° Army, under the command of General Walther Wenck, to deliver their men to the Anglo-American forces jointly. Besides being continually harassed by the Soviets, the Ninth Army was accompanied by caravans of refugees who were more difficult to remove.
Background Information
In late April, the start of the Battle of Berlin, the Ninth Army was stationed behind the Oder, protecting from Wriezen to Frankfurt. On April 17, the First Ukrainian Front broke Ivan Konev south of Frankfurt in order to get to Berlin from the south and meet with the First Belorussian Front of General Georgi Zhukov, surrounding the German capital with a classic pincer movement. Although his men were in danger of being surrounded, Busse decided not to withdraw south to face Konev because I thought that the Western Allies would reach Berlin first. On April 19, Busse said Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici:
By April 21 the Red Army was closing in on Berlin by the two Soviet Fronts to Zhukov and Konev. The Ninth German Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, could meet directly with tanks Konev, who came approaching from the southwest. Busse Konev surround was preferred since it had direct orders from Stalin to come to Berlin as soon as possible and personally wanted to reach the German capital before the forces of Zhukov. Heinrici’s suggestion to withdraw from the Oder Busse, against Hitler’s orders, was rejected by Busse, who now claimed to be kept in place until the forces in Frankfurt, led by Ernst Biehler, could make contact with the rest of the IX Army.
On 22 April, Hitler suffered a breakdown after finally accepting that the war was lost. To soothe General, Alfred Jodl suggested that the IX Army abandon the Eastern Front Busse and head west to meet with the XII Army on the Western Front, then return to Berlin together to lift the siege.
The chances of success of this plan were minimal since, at that time, the Army was surrounded by IX, and along with them were the remains of several Army Corps, totaling 80,000 soldiers. When Busse received orders, he realized that simply meeting with Wenck’s XII Army would be a feat.
That same day, Biehler, after being promoted to General, received permission to withdraw his men from Frankfurt, who took with them 30,000 wounded and refugees, to make contact with the IX Army.
The Battle
General Wenck Busse immediately called and said he was going to meet him, as Hitler had ordered, but would not return to Berlin but would cross the Elbe and surrender to the Allies. Wenck accepted April 24 and sent only to XX Corps at Potsdam to try to get to the refugees and the Berlin garrison, while the bulk of his army headed east to try to approach Busse, who, in his own words, Down went his way as a caterpillar.
The IX Army used the 31 tanks that were to lead the caravan that was going to break through quickly, trying not to give the Soviets time to stop. When the commander of the First Belorussian Front, Georgy Zhukov, realized the possible escape of the trapped forces in the siege, he immediately sent troops to reinforce Spreewald forest. Konev wanted the glory of capturing the IX Army to him, so he also sent troops to reinforce the siege.
On the morning of April 26, the German column managed to reach the weak point of the fence just as the two groups of Soviets completely closed the bag. Many Germans managed to cross before the outbreak of the battle, but others had to cross, making their way under heavy artillery and air strikes, and others were trapped. At this time, Hitler learned that Busse’s real plan was not to return to Berlin but to escape to the West, and furious summoned back to the IX Army, but General Busse ignored that order.
All that night and the next day, the Germans engaged in fighting to break the Soviet encirclement near the village of Halbe, but while some soldiers managed to escape, there was no mass evacuation.
On April 28, the Germans tried to break through again for the Spreewald Forest, and while many escaped, many also died in the attempt. The German column was then dispersed throughout the forest, and the Soviets began to encircle and destroy each segment.
The situation in Halbe was chaos; all units had been mixed, and troops of the Wehrmacht and the SS were blaming each other for the current disaster. At the same time, the younger soldiers deserted in droves and were hiding in the houses of the inhabitants. Some soldiers tried to remove them, but defectors killed them.
Finally, nearly 25,000 soldiers were able to break out and escape; some 30,000 German soldiers were killed, and the rest were captured and sent to prison camps. Many units were decimated; for example, the 32nd Panzer Grenadier Division SS had begun the withdrawal of 20,000 troops and, after ten days, had only 15,000 men.
Only two Tiger tanks continued to the end. German troops evacuated the area along with civilians in several attempts to break. In fact, until May 1, German soldiers were in small isolated groups and fled the Soviet encirclement, while the main contingent of troops to civilians fled until April 28.
After spending days without sleep and swimming across frozen rivers, Busse and his men managed to meet with the XII Army Wenck, completely exhausted; some fainted. However, the march was far from over, as they had to retreat immediately and continue with Wenck troops on 28th April because the Soviets were on their heels and could not stop until I contacted the Americans two days later.
Consequences
Today, in the cemetery in Halbe are buried about 20,000 Germans, and in a cemetery near the Mark-Zossen road are the graves of some 35,000 Soviet soldiers. However, each year, there are the remains of many soldiers, so it is believed that the death toll is much higher. It is also estimated that about 10,000 civilians were killed in the battle.
As assumed by Busse, escaping over 25,000 soldiers and thousands of civilians to the Soviet encirclement is a feat, and Busse and Wenck were remembered by many soldiers and generals who saved many lives by disobeying Hitler, but could have saved many more if they had done a few days earlier.