Meanwhile day was dawning and the Soviets, seeing our column, brought it under violent fire. We turned around with the hope of leaving via Gesundbrunnen towards Pankow and from there on to Wittenau.
Following Brunnenstrasse we were suddenly hit by well directed mortar fire at the level of Lortzingstrasse, apparently coming from the railway ring. We sought shelter in the courtyard of a building on the corner, where SS-General Ziegler was mortally wounded near me by explosions that wounded other members of our group. Soviet infantrymen that had infiltrated the quarter took us under fire in turn, obliging us to turn back towards the city.
At the level of Ziegelstrasse we saw the ‘Tiger’ tank I had placed at the disposal of the Chancellery the day before, burnt out and abandoned, with no trace of its crew. All the area, including the Weidendammer Bridge, was still clear of the enemy at 0900 hours that morning.
By 1500 hours all resistance had definitely ceased in Berlin. That evening the German armies in Italy and Austria also capitulated.
Having succeeded in hiding myself away with some friends in Dahlem for several days, I eventually surrendered to the Soviet authorities in Berlin-Steglitz.
The known success of the Charlemagne contingent in the battle for Berlin is summarised in the following table:
| Name | Formerly | Tanks | Decoration | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SS-Lt Wilhelm Weber | SS | 8 | Knight’s Cross | - |
| Sgt Eugène Vaulot | Navy | 8 | Knight’s Cross | Killed |
| Ssgt François Appolot | Navy | 6 | Knight’s Cross | - |
| Sgt Jules Bocau | SS | 4 | Iron Cross I | - |
| Gren Claude | - | 4 | Iron Cross I | Wounded |
| Sgt François de Lannurien | SS | 3 | Iron Cross I | - |
| Sgt Albert | SS | 4 | Iron Cross I | Killed |
| Gren Audry | LVF | 2 | - | Killed |
| Gnr Blaise | - | 1 | - | Killed |
| Gren Aubin | - | 1 | - | - |
Chapter Nine
Finale
The events in Berlin did not signal the end of the Charlemagne as such. There was still the group left behind at Carpin and about another 1,200 men at Wildflecken
The three trucks carrying ninety men of the Storm Battalion that had found their route to Berlin cut returned to Carpin, and the elements of the second echelon were reorganised. The remnants of the Division, amounting to 700 men, of which 400 were now non-combatants, prepared for the final offensive across the Lower Oder as part of the 9th Panzer Army.
At 0700 hours on 20 April, following a short but intensive artillery preparation, the Soviets crossed the Oder south of Stettin. Counterattacks with the feeble forces available on the 21st failed and the Soviets were soon attacking the second line of defence. On 25 and 26 April, while the remains of the Division were still reorganising, the Soviet masses crossed the river at different points and broke out of the Schwedt bridgehead. Stettin was surrounded on the 25th and the Oder front collapsed. The line Prenzlau–Pasewalk held out until the evening of the 26th, but was breached at Prenzlau the next day.
At 1000 hours on 27 April a Soviet spearhead of seventy tanks was reported only 15km from Carpin. It was the end. The Soviets pressed on fiercely, overwhelming all opposition, and the remains of the Wallonien, Langemarck (Flemish) and Latvian SS Divisions, together with the 1st Naval Division, withdrew to the line Neustrelitz–Neubrandenburg.
The remains of the Charlemagne were organised roughly as follows:
Commander: SS-Colonel Zimmermann (but hospitalised in Neustrelitz)
Deputy Commander: Major Boudet-Gheusi (1) SS-Captain Hochhauser
Liaison Officer and Ic: SS-Second-Lieutenant Bender
Reserves: Lieutenant Bénétoux (IIa/b), Lieutenant Audibert, Second-Lieutenant Radici
Battalion 58
Commander: SS-Captain Kroepsch
5th Company: Officer-Cadet Aumon
7th Company: Lieutenant Fatin
8th Company: Second-Lieutenant Jacques Sarrailhé
Construction Battalion
Commander: Captain Roy
Medical & Veterinary Services
IVb: Lieutenant Dr Métais
IVd: Second-Lieutenant Verney
Motor Transport
IVa: SS-Captain Hagen
IVb: SS-Lieutenant Meier
The Charlemage no longer came under the 9th Panzer Army’s Rear Services and was tasked with defending the anti-tank barrier at Carpin with one company and the Furstensee barriers on the Berlin–Neustrelitz road with the other two companies.
At 1800 hours on 27 April, Major Boudet-Gheusi moved the divisional headquarters behind the barriers to Zinow. Next morning an armoured division of the Wehrmacht made an unsuccessful counterattack towards Woldeck, and that evening the Russians occupied Bergfeld at 1800 hours.
Major Boudet-Gheusi withdrew his headquarters to Neustrelitz and sent the company that had been guarding the Carpin anti-tank barrier, but meanwhile relieved by the Wehrmacht, to join the two other companies at the Drewin and Fürstensee anti-tank barriers.