Battle of Berlin! with Mike and Michael

Insider guides, Michael and Mike, meet to discuss the plan of attack for the Battle of Berlin, following the lines of the 8th Guards Army from Seelower Heights in to the "Zitadelle" the name given to the heavily fortified government quarter. The race is on. May 1st is the deadline, the Reichstag must be taken by then!  

Lines of German defence. The Teltower canal was a tough obstacle for the Soviets to get through. Michael in full flight here discussing the artillery attack on the 23rd of April, or was he explaining the origins of his original basque beret „it is a soft, round, flat-crowned version, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool or crocheted cotton“.

Get up to the top floor of the Ullsteinhaus for a better appreciation of the importance of the building for German defences, radio communications and 360 degree visuals for the defenders.  It was harder than we thought to get up there, after pushing a few door bells, a computer company on the top floor let us in......briefly.

After the soviets broke through the defensive position of Teltower canal it was off to the second co-centric line of German defences, the S-Bahn (city train/overhead rail) ring around Berlin. "The dogs head" had to be broken. First through the Tempelhof Airport, artillery on the roof, interlocking fields of machine gun fire, dug in tanks on the southern and eastern flanks, and approximately 2 kilometers of open terrain to navigate before the airport itself! 

Artillery started hitting the airport on April 22nd, but the battle proper for the airport started on the evening of the 25^th, continuing on to about noon on the 26th. With the soviets taking the airport it was now on to the next obstacle, the landwehr canal. Mike and Michael head to the front of the Tempelhof airport, still a bombastic and imposing building today. Also, this airport was pivotal for the Berlin airlift in 1948/49.

A bit of fire damage from the war still can be seen on the facade of the airport.

This eagle's head was cut off its 4.5 meter high body, and given to the United States military academy at West Point NY, who then returned it to Berlin in 1985.

The surrender of the Berlin garrison took place on the 2nd of May 1945 in this house.  General Weidling signs the surrender, in the same apartment where the current Mayor of Berlin grew up, his dad still lives there today.

On to Anhalter train station to discussed the air raids, and the shelters in Berlin. Gotta love the art on the wall of the bunker - "those who build bunkers drop bombs"!

Then the Bendler Block, site of the OKH where Hitler informed the army on February 3rd 1933 the Nazi case for "lebensraum" and the Germanistaion of Eastern Europe. It was from this site that Weiding left to sign the surrender of Berlin forces in 1945. Here also many German army officers who plotted to assasinate Hitler in 1944 in Operation Walküre were executed.

Then off to the Reichstag........

Next up, Seelower Heights.

Plötzensee - Nazi execution site 1933-1945

John and Michael visited Plötzensee last week and have reported back to us about this harrowing site.

Part of an already existing jail, this courtyard complex was used to murder conscientious objectors, resistance fighters, alleged looters, those involved in the July 20th coup, and others. Almost 3.000 people, from 22 nations, though mostly Germans, were murdered here. During the early years those sentenced were beheaded by axe, thereafter by guillotine until it was damaged by Allied bombing in 1942. Then a steel beam was erected from which 8 hooks were employed for mass hangings. Prisoners were mocked before their deaths and piano wire was used to add cruelty. The durations of their demise was assiduously noted down to the second.

execution complex

This is a small but important memorial close to Berlin's centre. The site is well maintained and most of the information on display is also in English. It is a poignant visit.

http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/index_e.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_von_Trott_zu_Solz
http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/ploetzensee-memorial

execution room

road trip to Colditz

This week we staff snuck out of the office to join a few guides in exploring the infamous Colditz Castle, aka WWII POW camp.  Nick Jackson, one of our star guest guides, hosted us on an amazing behind the scenes tour! Nick, a jack of many trades, works for the great Berliner Unterwelten association, documenting and researching Berlin’s underground history.  When not in the city he can be found exploring Third Reich sites, working as a travel journalist, and excavating, touring and lecturing in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Nick had us all hanging on his words as we visited the locations where so many unbelievable escape attempts, many successful, took place.

a bit of history first
"From 1939 - 1945 Colditz Castle becomes a prisoner of war camp for Allied officers from Great Britain and the Commonwealth, France, Belgium, Holland and Poland. The official name of the camp is "OFLAG IV C" and it is claimed that the castle is escape-proof. However, prisoners succeed in making their escape over 30 occasions despite the rocky crags on which the castle stands, the barbed-wire fences, the numerous guards and the searchlights" excerpt from
http://www.schloss-colditz.com/e_history/History.html

the train station where prisoners would have arrived

we head through town and toward the castle

Colditz town square. anyone who thought it would be warmer in the castle was wrong!

we arrive

site of one escape attempt, through the theater's stage floor

and another, through a basement store room

and out this very small hole

one can get an idea of the steep drops surrounding the castle

view of the former hunting park below, used as a sport area for prisoners. guess what, some successful escapes took place from there!

one escape route, through a shaft in the wall

the views were great

with the knowledge we could leave