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    Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945
    Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945
    Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945
    Ebook240 pages2 hours

    Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945

    By Jarosław Jerzak and Maciej Karalus

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    Panzers in Defence of Festung Poznan 1945 by Maciej Karalus and Jarosław Jerzak is the first book published in English to describe the bitter battle for Festung Poznań in 1945. That Polish city, occupied by the Nazis since almost the very beginning of the Second World War in 1939, was declared a fortress (Festung) on January 20, 1945, and for the whole month it saw heavy fighting between Wehrmacht and Waffen SS troops and the Red Army advancing directly towards Berlin. Among the garrison of the fortress a special part was played by a small heavy Panzer unit which possessed just one Tiger tank, two Panthers, one Panzer IV and a handful of Sturmgeschütze. Despite the difficulty and sparsity of sources, the authors were able to acquire an impressive wealth of information and memoirs, as well as rich iconography.

    Before Poland was able to regain her full political autonomy in 1990, the fighting in Poznań was described only by Zbigniew Szumowski and Stanisław Okęcki. These, however, were poor compilations, only marginally touching upon the participation of German Wehrmacht. These authors looked upon this subject through the lenses of Soviet documentations and historiographical propaganda of their times. Sadly, they could not or would not make use of the documents in German archives. Their cardinal mistake was to overestimate the strength of the forces at play (especially on the German side), and the glorification of the Soviet victory, foregoing an honest analysis of the losses of human life as well as equipment on both sides. This is the first book in English that allows the reader to follow the street fighting in Poznań through the eyes of the Wehrmacht soldiers, documenting the story of the German armored forces engaged in the battles for the city.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHelion and Company
    Release dateNov 2, 2018
    ISBN9781913118006
    Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945
    Author

    Jarosław Jerzak

    Jarosław Jerzak (born 1956, in Poznań) is a member of the Festung Poznań Aficionados Association. He is passionate about the subject of the fortifications of Poznań, armoured warfare and the history of the fighting for the Poznań Fortress in 1945. He has served in the Polish armoured forces, where he acquired a deep interest in the use of tanks in all theatres of battle in World War Two. He is the co-author of Armoured Assault Reserve as well as the author of a book about the Soviet armoured forces in the battle for Poznań.

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      Book preview

      Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945 - Jarosław Jerzak

      Preface

      It’s like that: waiting, then a sudden order. Our motto was: What will be, will be, no point in worrying ahead of time… Besides, (…) I have always had this slightly unreal feeling: We’ll make it. It was so intangible, inexplicable. And when action was over, you’d go to get ammo, fill up the tank, eat. The stress would let go and all of a sudden you were asleep somewhere. And then there’d be a thought: I’m still alive, God just was watching over me. He’d do it better than I ever could. And then again with new orders, new stress and no time to think. You only start to really think about it all many years later, and usually all on your lonesome.

      (…) When I got back from Russia in 1949, I knew only one thing: Never again, not with me! Because you shouldn’t test God twice.

      Alfred Kriehn – Armoured Assault Reserve Sturmgeschütz loader.

      Letter to authors, 3 March 2011.

      Introduction to the Polish 3rd Edition

      There were several reasons to republish Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945. For the most part, we were overjoyed at the warm welcome this book had received. It had reinforced us in the belief that – especially among citizens of the city and the region – the interest in the fighting for Festung Posen in 1945 was significant.

      We are, of course, aware of the imperfections and all manner of errors – both factual and editorial ones – that had found their way into the two previous editions of this work, for which we offer our sincere apologies to the readers. We would also like to thank all those who had helped us by pointing out the mistakes and inconsistencies of the previous publications. It is another reason for this new, revised, edition.

      The third and perhaps most consequential factor is that we were able to enrich our work with new information and photographs, which we were able to obtain since the book’s first edition in 2006. Thanks to this material we were able to verify certain facts as well as flesh out some of the episodes in new interesting detail. We also added two new chapters: Escape from Festung Posen and The Mystery of the Sturmgeschütz from Krzewata, Dąbrówka and Grzegorzew.

      1

      Before the Battle

      In January 1945, the Germans were preparing their defence of Festung Posen in a great hurry, and planned to combine all available tanks and cannons, as well as other armoured vehicles, to create the so-called Armoured Assault Reserve. However, the forces at their disposal turned out to be woefully insufficient. Initially, they decided to make use of the tracked vehicles of Sturmgeschütz Erastz- und Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500 (500th Training and Reserve Assault Gun Battalion), as well as tanks and other armoured vehicles in the repair stations all over the city, and Sturmhaubitze self-propelled howitzers from the "Großdeutschland" Division, which were halted in Poznań during their railway transport to the front. It is possible they also incorporated various vehicles that arrived in the city with the survivors of the Eastern Front, who had retreated from the rapidly advancing Red Army.

      Holder of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, Major Martin Buhr who was appointed the commander of Sturmgeschütz Ersatz-und Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500; previously led by Oberstleutnant Hoffmann-Schönborn for only a few days. He was replaced by Major Fritz Glossner in December 1944. (ZP)

      Presentation of Sturmgeschütz Ersatz-und Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500 in front of the Emperor’s Castle in Poznań, 1944. There are a pair of StuG III Ausf. C assault guns visible in the foreground. (ZP)

      StuG III Ausf. F assault guns of the 500th Battalion from Poznań presented during the same event. (ZP)

      Sturmgeschütz Ersatz-und Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500 was formed on 15 April 1943 and initially stationed in Burg near Magdeburg. Its first commander was a commandant of the famous school of assault artillery crews, Obersleutnant Hoffmann-Schönnborn (since 24 September 1943). On 2 October, he passed the leadership to Major Martin Buhr. Due to an increasing number of allied bombing raids over the Third Reich, the 500th Battalion was redeployed to Poznań in November 1943, ¹ and this is where, in the last December of the Second World War, Major Fritz Glossner took over command.

      The battalion was formed of four batteries. The headquarters and the staff battery were originally housed in the contemporary Military Court by Salt Street (Magazinstrasse), the so-called Treinkaserne in the city centre. The other three held quarters in the Kuhndorf Camp (Lager Kuhndorf) in Poznań-Golęcin, nearby the barracks of Fahnenjunkerschule V (5th Infantry Officer Cadet School). The trained crew were given accommodation in the adapted barracks for English prisoners of war. The unit also conducted training on the ex-Polish Biedrusko Proving Ground, known as Warthelager. The battalion had two basic functions: provide training for the crews of the assault guns and prepare experienced crews to re-join the war effort after their recovery from injury. The 1st Battery was responsible for the training of the motor vehicles personnel; the 2nd Battery trained tank crews and the 3rd Battery – the assault-gun crews. At the beginning of 1945, the 3rd Battery was deployed to East Prussia to defend Hitler’s Headquarters – the Wolf’s Lair in Gierłoża near Kętrzyn (Rastenburg) – and assigned to General Hauser’s Kampfgruppe. To replace it, a new 3rd Battery was formed. The previously mentioned subunit sent to East Prussia would be later moved into several divisions and fight against the Soviet offensive up until 24 January. On that day, those of the StuGs that were still operational were assigned to Sturmgeschütz Brigade 209 and the crew members shipped out to Altengrabow, east of Magdeburg. The battery’s commanders, at that time were Hauptmann Angelmaier and Hauptmann Arnold Friedrich Manfred Six was called to serve in the Wehrmacht and the 1st Battery of Sturmgeschütz Ersatz-und Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500 in October 1944. According to his testimony, due to the lack of vehicles, the personnel of the subunit were alsotrained for infantry purposes.² Just how spot-on that training was, time was soon to

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