#World War II German History #Everyone will, welcome to watch the tenth issue of the German SS series, this article put down the position, there is no praise, only from the perspective of the military to see history, writing is not easy, searching for pictures is more difficult, but the picture is absolutely packaged you are satisfied, like to like to like the collection, do not see not scattered and do not get lost.
Why didn't the 3rd SS Skeleton Panzer Division return to Berlin to rescue the Fuehrer?
In fact, it is not that I do not want to go back, but I do not have the ability to go back, and I have not received relevant orders!
So when the Soviet million-strong army was on the verge of falling under berlin, where was the skeleton division that was the Führer's guard?
The last years
January-May 1945 was the last years of the Skeleton Division's fighting, and the elite armored division with the craziest will to fight in the German Waffen-SS was now as old as if it were too old to fight anymore. Not to mention the return to Berlin to protect the Fuehrer, even the position in front of him can no longer be maintained.
In the final stages of World War II, Germany was already on three sides, facing crisis on the eastern, western and Italian fronts, and the skeleton division was located between Hungary and Austria, gradually retreating westward, which was then part of the SS Fourth Panzer Army, along with the ace unit of the Fifth Viking Division.
Two units and the deputy commander-in-chief of the country Dietrich led the SS Sixth Panzer Army south in Hungary, called "Operation Spring Awakening", which was the last attempt of the German army on the eastern front but failed to save the Hungarian capital Budapest, which was surrounded by Soviet regiments, and even the Hungarian oil fields where Germany last maintained the war were unable to do so.
The situation of inability to return to heaven
Although they were resisting to the death every day, retreat seemed to be the only option for the Germans, and the Skeleton Division was no exception, they had to defend against the Soviets and the Hungarian anti-water, and they could only retreat to the west while fighting.
On 21 March the Skeleton Division was transferred to the First SS Panzer Corps, which at this time also had Adolf Hitler's First Guard Flag Panzer Division, the Twelfth Youth Panzer Division, plus the Skeleton Division, arguably the most elite of the SS, occupying three of them, but the situation showed no signs of improving.
On the following two days, 23 and 24 March, the Skeleton Division fought two difficult defensive battles between Lake Balaton and the Danube, and although it won a small victory, it could not recover the defeat, and on the 31st the First Panzer Army retreated to the southwest of Oldenburg.
April Fool's Joke
On the first day of April, the Soviets finally burned the flames of war to Austria, and in World War II Austria sent a large number of high-quality troops to the Third Reich, which was also a buffer zone for Germany in the south, and now Vienna is about to encounter the baptism of war.
The Battle of Vienna was also the last large-scale battle of the SS Third Skeleton Division, and when the Soviets were approaching Vienna, the Skeleton Division and the 2nd Imperial Division, the 6th Panzer Division, and the 232nd Panzer Division under the 2nd Panzer Army began to jointly defend Vienna, the second capital of Germany.
However, the total number of these four incomplete armored divisions at this time was less than 4,000, and only 37 tanks could be driven, and the difficulty of defense in the face of tens of thousands of Soviet attacks could be imagined. To use a phrase Chinese commonly used to describe the German army at this time is the most appropriate, that is, "there is no grain and grass inside, no reinforcements outside, the city is broken, the people are dead, and the country will be destroyed."
But with only these German troops and later a small number of Führer's armored bomb divisions as the vanguard, the Germans had to withstand the Soviet army's indiscriminate bombardment for half a month, and the fierceness of the battle could be imagined, leaving every inch of land with the blood of both the Soviet and German sides.
On April 8 alone, the skeleton division had less than 1,000 members, and its elite troops of 20,000 men in its heyday had been destroyed many times, and as soldiers they fulfilled their loyalty and duty to the Fuehrer.
The Defensive Battle of Vienna ended on 14 April, and the Skeleton Division after that participated in only sporadic resistance.
On 15 April, the force was again replenished with 1,200 men, the last replenishment before the end of the war, but the end of the inability to return to heaven was already doomed, and the last division commander, Becker, was desperate, saying: "The war will end in 3 weeks, we have lost!" "
What is despair? There will be no heart, no soldiers, this is despair...
What is pain? Knowing that it is impossible to do, but still keep fighting, fighting, fighting again, knowing that there is no chance of victory, but still dragging a tired pace to resist, resist, and resist again, this is the last battle course of the German army.
summary:
The Third Skeleton Panzer Division was the most outstanding combat effectiveness of the 38 SS divisions formed in Germany, and it was also the craziest existence of the will to fight, and the First Guard Banner Panzer Division, the Second Imperial Panzer Division, the Fifth Viking Panzer Division and known as the most powerful SS Ace Panzer Division, usually playing the role of firefighter, fighting the fiercest enemies and fighting the most deadly battles.
However, they have also committed atrocities, which are not in line with the mission of the military and are not worth advocating.
From the first time the Danzig Home Guard first participated in the Polish campaign, the Skeleton Division has gone through 6 years, is a frequent visitor to the Eastern Front, and is also a thorn in the eyes and flesh of the Soviets.
Even if he wanted to return to Berlin to defend the Fuehrer in the final stages of the war, he had long lost the ability to return to Berlin, not to mention that in Hitler's eyes he absolutely did not allow his troops to abandon any inch of land on the front line, and any retreat without permission was regarded as disobedience to military orders, and even the withdrawal of his old friend and old comrade-in-arms Dietrich when the Hungarian counterattack was unfavorable without authorization made Hitler furious that this was an extreme betrayal, and he also ordered the removal of the honorary armbands on the uniforms of the officers and men of the Skeleton Division, the Imperial Division, the Hohenstaufen Division, and the Imperial Guard Flag Division Therefore, it can be seen that even if you want to go back to Hitler, you are not allowed.
Thus, at the last moment of the war, on May 9, the few remaining officers and men of the Skeleton Division surrendered to the American army, and were subsequently transferred to the Soviet Union, most of them were tried and executed, and the division commander Becker was hanged in 1953... The end of the history of the Skeleton Division!
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